Page 138 of Saving Serena

“On it.”

“Who is this EPA guy?” Lucas asked.

“Don’t know,” Winston answered. “We have a voice, but his name isn’t mentioned.”

“Is every day this exciting?” Vincent asked in the background.

“Shut up or you’re walking,” Winston snarled.

It was several agonizing seconds before Jordy was in our ears again. “Pons is out of the office today. He has a house in the hills, which is where his cell is pinging.”

Whatever Jordy did to get the cell location couldn’t have been legal, but I didn’t fucking care. “Address?”

He rattled it off, and I plugged it into navigation.

Lucas consulted his phone. “Guys, meet us a half mile from the house at the corner of Wild Bush Lane.”

“Copy that,” Terry confirmed.

My stomach finally unknotted. We had the bad guy in our sights, and the most likely location to find my woman. Now it was time to gear up and rock and roll, like the old times.

Only this wasn’t just any hostage extraction, this was Serena, which meant total focus.

“We’ll get her out safe. It’s what we do.” Lucas was on the same wavelength as me.

Serena

My heart thunderedin my chest as I tiptoed down the hall, keeping my heels off the hardwood to avoid noise. Breathing silently was imperative, but difficult, as amped up on adrenaline as I was. “Silent movement is a skill,” the master chief had said. “Practice it.”

I hadn’t, and I winced when the heel of my shoe made contact with the first step down the stairs. Somebody needed to clue this guy in that carpeted stairs were the way to go.

I stopped and slipped off my heels, ignoring the master chief’s advice. “Don’t take off your shoes. Unless you have tough feet, or it’s all grass, you’ll injure yourself running barefoot and be caught.” I could put them back on outside. I’d already screwed up by forgetting to break off the heels.

Nearing the bottom of the stairs, I could hear Pons and the Russian nearby.

I looked around the corner and spied a door leading out the back side of the house.

Freedom beckoned, and for the first time today, a smile took over my face.

“Find a phone if you can.” I ignored my instructor’s words as I passed an office that most likely contained a phone. The fresh air outside was my goal. I refused to spend one extra second in this creepy house.

Reaching the door, I peered through the glass. A pool lay beyond a terrace of stone pavers, and beyond that, to the side of a small pool house, was a gate through the fence to the area of vines. That would be my escape route. A neighboring house couldn’t be that far away.

The voices behind me grew louder and were joined by footsteps.

“A half hour with her, then give me your bid,” Slimeball Pons said. “But that is after she and I have a chat about the key.”

From my limited view through the glass, I didn’t see anyone, but I had no choice. The deadbolt made a loud click when I unlocked it and pushed open the door.

Grinning with confidence, I took in a lungful of fresh air—freedom at last. With my shoes still in my hand, I hurried across the terrace and around the oval pool.

“Find her,” I heard Spinelli bark.

Fuck a duck.Without daring to look back, I ducked behind the outdoor barbecue, short of the pool house.

“Check the gate. She’s got to be here somewhere,” he yelled.

My heart pounded as I crouched down and listened to the running boots pass on the other side of the barbecue island.

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