Page 26 of Hold Me Before You Go

Robert.

My gut was telling me Robert had something to do with Brandon’s “death.” Clearing my throat, I cut in. “Something is telling me Robert was behind this.” All eyes landed on me. “We need to get in contact with the Hales. Soon.”

Dominic was heading to St. Louis to have a conversation with Carrie’s old in-laws when she was kidnapped. Everything had been derailed. My eyes met Dominic’s. “When we’re done with Gelling, I need you to head back to St. Louis.”

He nodded once.

I shifted the conversation then. “Ash, what’s your plan?”

When Ash was in the Navy, he was in charge of mission coordination, much like he was with Red Snake. He also had dozens of kills under his belt, most of them powerful threats to the American government. He, along with his team, broke into countless secured locations seamlessly. He was clean and swift. That was why he was the best man for figuring out how Red Snake was going to break into a prison to talk to Bradley Gelling.

Ash rose from his seat and turned to grab something. A second later, he was rolling out the building layouts for the prison, the blueprints. At the sight, Jake muttered something under his breath before coming to the table. “Please don’t tell me we have to go through the sewers again,” he groaned, rubbing a hand through his long ginger hair.

My eyes snapped up to him. “You can sit this one out, Jake,” I offered, knowing he didn’t like small spaces.

He shook his head once. “I’m not sitting anything out until we have Carrie back,” he said firmly.

“Good,” Ash said. “And no, we don’t have to through the sewers, but I might have to place a few bombs.”

Dominic looked to the ceiling. “Fucking hell. This is like Kansas City all over again.”

“Relax,” Ash assured him.

Before I could say anything, Hayes beat me to the punch. “Ash, you blew up a fucking parking garage.”

Ash, being Ash, wasn’t phased in the slightest. “What’s your point?”

“It was a fucking building, that’s the point,” Jake deadpanned.

“Was anyone hurt?” Ash asked. “No, and the job got done and we got paid. Moving back to the prison, this should be a simple in and out.” He pointed to the main entrance. “Dominic will enter here and check in at security while the four of us enter through here.” He dragged his finger across the thick paper, pointing at a smaller entrance in the far corner of the west building.

“Why that entry point?” I asked, standing so I could get a better look, Hayes and Dominic following suit.

Ash looked to Jake, letting him take over for a moment as he answered, “There’s only one security camera in that section, and it has a blind spot. We’ll have a ten-second window to get the door open and get inside.”

“From there,” Ash said, pointing down the long hall, “we’ll head down this hall, make a right, and then it’s a straight shot to where Dominic will be.” His finger landed on a small room in the west end of the structure.”

“Good. We can get this done without going through the whole fucking campus,” Hayes said, nodding.

Ash’s lips thinned. “Don’t get too excited.”

“Why?” I pressed, stroking my bearded jaw.

“We’re going to have to go in dark.”

“Wonderful,” Hayes muttered, sighing.

My eyes snapped to Jake, jaw tight. “They got a scramble?”

He nodded once. “I could hack into it, stop the frequency, but that would draw attention to us, and—”

“—we need to be quiet,” I finished for him.

We continued going over more details, and once we were done, the boys left to get ready, leaving Hayes and me in the meeting room alone.

I braced my hands on the table and bent my head as I took a deep breath, closing my eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

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