Page 110 of Captive Lies

“My wife, Beatrice … she was taken by our enemies to send her father and me a message,” Sully swallowed hard. “They tortured her, cut her up, and then dumped her in front of myhouse.”

“Jesus,” Grantwhispered.

“The waiting was agony, but that moment when they dropped her off, when I didn’t know whether she was alive or dead … it was the worst fucking feeling in my life,” Sully said. “I got her back, but it changed me. We’ll get Blaire back, Grant, but that’s not gonna be the end of thefight.”

Grant already understood what Sully meant, but he let the manspeak.

“You’ve lost her once when she was captured by Orlov,” the other man continued. “The fear of losing her made you put a tracker on her? Am Iright?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ll be a basket case for a while. You’ll be afraid to let her out of your sight. Not for a single moment if you have achoice.”

“I’m fucking fine withthat.”

Sully grinned. “I know you are. I see men like you all the time. We’re fiercely protective of our women.” He paused. “Welcome to theclub.”

Grant didn’t know if Sully made him feel better or worse, but it was of some comfort that the other man understood what was at stake. Grant didn’t give a damn about the twenty-six billion dollars, he’d give up everything he owned if he could get Blaire and Val back. Money could be made. Blaire and his sister wereirreplaceable.

Before Grant could respond, Tyler walked in. “We have a lock on Blaire.” His man was confused. “Severallocks.”

Sully swore viciously and called for Viktor. He came into Grant’s office with thesenator.

“Just what we feared wouldhappen.”

Viktor swallowed a curse. “I’ll get Tim and MDI onit.”

“What’s going on?” the senatorasked.

“Why is the tracker showing twenty-five locations for Blaire?” Grantasked.

The AGS boss looked grim. “What I think … Yashkin has developed an anti-serum that would momentarily mask the signal. Spencer would have injected it into Blaire, then he’d have extracted enough blood to float three carrierdevices.”

“Carrier devices?” the senatorrepeated.

Viktor nodded. “Recent technology. Just discovered two months ago. It mimics the host’s blood frequency. Equipped with a booster and redirectors, it can keep the blood viable for three days relayingsignals.”

“That’s some serious crazy shit, Baran,” Grant muttered. “So one of those signals is Blaire and the others are decoys? Can you crackit?”

“That’s why we need my analyst, Tim. MDI is the manufacturer of the BloodTrakserum.”

“You think they’ll give you access to proprietary information?” Grant asked, knowing the importance of intellectualproperty.

“Oh, they will,” Viktor said arrogantly. “It’s a blow to their ego to have their technology hacked, besides the CEO of MDI is sort of my brother-in-law.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Grant lips tipped up in a faint smile. The way these two men seemed unfazed by the obstacles coming at them inspired confidence in their ability and that went a long way in stabilizing his emotions enough for him to function and seereason.

“Seems like a good idea to invest in military contractors,” Grant murmured. His father shot him a disapproving look. Being the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee would put them in a clear conflict ofinterest.

Viktor chuckled briefly. “That’ll put you at the top of your game if protecting your woman is your priority. Although, I warn you, our types don’t play nice with men in suits of non-militarybackground.”

“I’m a fast learner,” Grantreplied.

42

Blaire

“Wake up!”

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