Page 121 of The Twilight Theft

I didn’t have time for this. When had he left the hotel room? An hour ago? Even if he met Craig at the office, how far away could they be by now? I needed a tracker on that man.

“Brie!” I practically shouted into the phone as the thought flew through my brain. He’d put the tracker in his pocket after we found it on the cat. “Drew’s got the tracker we put on the dragonfly. Find him!”

“On it,” came the reply from my phone.

“Jayce,” said Emmett. “Drew’s not our—”

“Use my backpack to carry the statue.” I snatched the earpiece from his ear and ran for the back door. Voices filtered through my comms and a wave of peace battled with the panic rising inside me. “I’m going after Drew.”

“Emmett, do you have the bird?” asked Scarlett.

Tune them out unless they’re talking to you. I hit the back door and kept to the shadows in the alley behind the buildings.

A map appeared on my phone with a red dot.

Brie said over the earpiece, “Got a signal, but I can’t guarantee it’s him.”

The dot hovered over Drew’s office. Perfect. He was so close, running would be more efficient than calling a car. “It’s our best guess.”

“Come back here,” snapped Emmett. He must have taken Rav’s earpiece. “We need a plan.”

“That’s your job.” My job was rescuing my man before he ended up on the wrong end of a Fenix fist. Or gun. “Tell me when you’ve got one.”

Chapter 45

Drew

Craigmarchedacrossmyoffice, toward the scarred man with the gun. “Put that away, Enzo. Drew’s on our team.”

“He’s not on my team.” His accent was thick. Southern Italian?

I should have gotten more details about him from Jayce. The Reynolds crew had been throwing information at me so quickly once Noah appeared, I’d barely kept up.

“And he’s not on your team, Bishop.” Enzo side-stepped Craig to keep the gun trained on me. “Not yourrealteam, sì?”

“Drew had a copy of Wyatt’s safe key.” Craig turned back to me, widening his eyes as he approached. “We were going to purge the safe of any incriminating evidence.”

“And speaking of incrimination…” Enzo shouldered past Craig, raising the gun toward my face. No suppressor, so shooting me would bring unwanted attention, but from the sharpness in his eyes, he likely wasn’t the type to care. “Where’s the bird?”

“I don’t know.” I lifted my hands higher, to show the key I had dangling from one finger. Giving them access to Wyatt’s private information was wrong, but self-preservation was more important than a few ethics.

Enzo’s scarred cheek twitched slightly. Hewantedto shoot. He’d use any excuse I gave him.

“Vanessa’s gone to get the bird.” Craig’s gaze was steady, his voice calm but firm. “I’m bringing Drew on board. He’ll be a valuable asset.”

I extended the key to Enzo. The best choice was to go along with Craig’s assumption I’d join them. Or his lie, whatever it was. “I convinced Wyatt to give this to me, so I could find out what he knew.”

He touched the gun to my forehead.

Stay calm, Drew. You’ve faced worse. I pointed over my shoulder. “And the information about the Flame of Khvarenah is in my safe. Put the gun away and we can look at it.”

Craig exhaled quietly, his relief palpable but unspoken.

Enzo’s dark eyes narrowed, but he lowered the gun an inch—a small but significant concession. “If you try anything, you’re dead.”

“Obviously.” I backed up slowly, keeping my eyes on the Italian. With a quick check over my shoulder, I reached into the safe and retrieved the thumb drive. I’d been such a fool for acting at Craig’s urging to find out what happened to Alex. What was I thinking I’d do with the information? Who would I tell? What would it matter?

How had I missed that he was manipulating me?

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