Page 83 of Fury

“Negative confirmation,” Blank comm’d, bringing the team up to date on the situation. Davis shook his head as he and Fury continued their search of the hotel exterior.

Where was the twerp? He veered from the group. Decided to search a wider perimeter. In alcoves. Around trees. Under tables. Fury drew in deep breath after deep breath but never alerted.

They were missing something.

One of the perimeter guards walking the other direction nodded to him. “Nothing like babysitting billionaires,” the man said in Arabic. The sneer on his face deepened.

Davis huffed like he thought the same, surprised the guy had even acknowledged him, unlike the rest of the security staff. “Least it pays the bills, right?” he replied back in the language he’d been forced to master in Special Forces.

The burly guy hesitated.

Flip . . . had he said it wrong?

The guard barked a laugh. “Barely.”

Expelling a breath he’d held, Davis noted Fury sniffing the air around the newcomer. Davis scanned the guy and didn’t like the way he tensed. Was he trouble? He prayed not. But then Fury moved on, giving Davis a glance that saidNegative, let’s keep searching.

With a nod, Davis excused himself. After a glance back, he let Fury lead them inside the hotel through a back door. The interior matched the exterior. Everything from the luxury marble floors to the gold accents and fifteen-foot stone walls screamed extravagance.

Fury sniffed around to a point.

Davis reached for his mic, but the shepherd lifted his head and moved on, panting happily.

No alert.

Frustration streaked over Davis’s shoulders. “Seek-seek.” He refocused his working dog.

Fury trotted down the hallway.

“Alpha Seven.” Chapel’s voice in his ear rattled.

“This is Seven, go ahead,” Davis replied, watching Fury move past every door without so much as a tail wag.C’mon, dude. . .

“Einstein is MIA,” Chapel stated. “Two and Three are unable to locate the objective but are Charlie Mike.”

Davis paused. So Bennion and Glace hadn’t found Hollyn. Anger rattled through him. How the blazes had she gone missing?

“Einstein sighted our target but Two and Three could not confirm.”

He knew Chapel paused for him to give the expected “good copy,” but that was not anything good, and he didn’t trust himself to speak.

“Take Fury and haul it over there and put that force multiplier to work.”

Now that . . . “Good copy.” Davis stalked farther from the party. “Fuss.” Fury threw him an annoyed look but snapped into place. They hustled for the Jeep. It would take at least fifteen to twenty minutes to get across town. Minutes they didn’t have.

Never should have left her side.

* * *

NEAR LLH HOSPITAL, ABU DHABI, UAE

“Leila?” Hollyn couldn’t believe her eyes. “I saw you die!” Yet here she was. Standing in the hallway. Very much alive.

But this woman before her wasn’t the same one Hollyn had come to call best friend over the last year. Gone was the kindness that had always been one of her most admirable traits and made her approachable. Instead, this version of Leila was a roiling ball of anger and distance. Something dark—sinister, even—hung in the air and made Hollyn take a step back. Right into Archie.

“Surprise.” Leila grinned like the Cheshire cat. The nefarious vibe radiating off the woman was almost palpable.

Get out of here. Run. Now!

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