Page 86 of Lethal Game

"Oh, but she is," a man with a thick accent said as he slapped her hard across the face.

Her eyes flew open, tearing up from the sting of the slap. She gazed into cold gray eyes. The man with the silver hair, the man Jason had been hunting for years, was suddenly right in front of her. He was tall and dressed all in black and appeared fit for a man in his mid to late fifties.

Cruel amusement lifted his lips. "Ah, so you are awake, the child of Alexei Bruno."

"I don't know who that is."

"Of course, you do. He's standing right over there. My once very good friend, Alexei."

"If he's your friend, why are you doing this?"

"Because he betrayed me. Now he must pay. Sadly, you will pay, too."

"I don't believe you're at all sad," she said, drawing another evil smile.

"You're right. I have no feelings whatsoever about you orhim. I have a mission, and I need you both to complete it." He looked back at her father. "You will finish the job you started by six-thirty. If you are not done, your daughter will be punished for every minute you are late."

She had no idea what time it was now because she couldn't see her watch, but it sounded like she might be safe for an hour or two. After that…

She shuddered at what they might do to her, terrified she wouldn't be able to survive it, that her mother would be left alone, that her father might be forced to watch her die, or she might be forced to watch him die.

She had never in her life imagined she could end up in a situation like this, trapped in a dirty, dark warehouse with an insanely evil man whose only intent was to hurt and kill as many people as possible. Of course, he wouldn't have mercy on her. He had no soul. No conscience.

Her only chance for survival was probably in Jason's hands. But knowing how few leads he probably had, that would take a miracle. And the clock was ticking…

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

He didn't know what it would take to find Alisa, but some divine intervention might be required, Jason thought, as he and the rest of his team spent the next three hours studying security footage around the city in a desperate attempt to find a clue to Alisa, her father, and Novikov.

His eyes were blurring, his gut churning, and it took every ounce of energy he had not to scream from the insane amount of pain that ripped through him every few minutes when he thought about what Alisa might be going through. It was almost five, and she'd been gone too long. But it was unproductive to focus on the worst possible scenario because fear wouldn't get him to her any faster. It would only slow him down. But he kept seeing her face in his head, her eyes pleading with him to save her, and he didn't know how to do that.

The thought of losing someone who was becoming very important to him was almost paralyzing. But he couldn't afford to be paralyzed. He had to think, to act…

Stephanie suddenly showed up, taking a seat next to him as she put her cane against the desk. She'd come back to the office with the team, desperate to help, and Flynn had decided she was more valuable working for them than getting in the way. Hehad seen little of her since he'd returned, which had been fine with him. He still had mixed feelings about her going to see Alisa.

"Still pissed at me?" she asked, giving him a wary look.

"I'm too busy to be pissed," he returned, keeping his gaze on the security footage playing across his computer monitor.

"I just wanted to talk to you, Jason, and I thought I could find you at the hospital. I couldn't have predicted what was going to happen. If she hadn't been in the hallway, I wouldn't have even run into her."

"I've already heard this. Right now, I'm focused on finding Alisa, her father, and Novikov. That's all that matters."

"I agree, and I have a new lead from my CI."

He looked up from his screen. "What is it?"

"Pieter Moldev, an associate of Dominic Ilyin, owns three buildings in LA: a nightclub, a gym, and an automotive shop. The auto shop was closed last year. But my CI drove by and saw lights on in the back. I think it's worth checking out. Dominic or Novikov could be using the shop as a base for their operations."

"What's the address?" he asked, his gut tightening. Steph's CI had given them a lead on Dominic before, and it had been accurate. Maybe this one would be, too.

She rattled off the address, and he jotted it down on a notepad by his computer.

"What's going on?" Savannah asked, popping up from the cubicle across from him.

"Potential lead," he replied.

"Let's go," she said immediately.

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