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“Wilford? Wilford!” Ten called for the cat, hoping and praying the mean fluffball had stowed away in Kostya’s SUV when the cargo door had been open. It would have been easy for the cat to jump into the back while Kostya was ferrying first aid supplies between vehicles. “Wilford!”

The white beast yowled pitifully and poked his head up over the back seat. He howled and whined as Ten cajoled him to come closer. Eventually, the cat decided he could trust Ten and scampered across the seats.

“Oh, you crazy fucking cat.” Ten cuddled the fluffy demon in his arms, earning a quick bite in the process. “Asshole,” he grumbled and stroked the cat’s dirty fur. “I’m going to forgive and forget about that bite because of what you just survived.”

The cat turned its gaze upon Kostya. His hackles rose, and he hissed and spit.

“Keep that thing away from me,” Kostya warned. “I can’t stand cats.”

“Yeah, well, he clearly doesn’t like you either.” Ten scratched between Wilford’s ears. “We’re going to get your mom back. I promise.”

“Okay, that’s it.” Kostya shook his head. “You have to stop working for Vivian. Look at you? Cuddling a cat and talking to it like it’s a baby. It’s disgusting.”

Ten ignored Kostya’s barbs, fully aware the cleaner was trying to rile him up and keep him from getting maudlin as they prepared for what was sure to be a bloody night. “I’ll remember that when you’re holding your first baby with Holly.”

Kostya’s gaze jerked away from the road. “Do I look like father material to you?”

“You’ve taken care of your spiders like a father.”

“Yeah, and what a dysfunctional mess our little family cobweb is!”

“Holly’s mother was far worse than you.” He was one of the few who knew the full score with regard to Holly and her parents. “Frances,” he clarified, “and Holly turned out fine.”

“Okay. We’re done talking about this.” Kostya slashed his hand through the air, and Wilford followed it with his predatory gaze. “You just sit there and hold your cat while I drive.”

Ten smirked and glanced out the window as the Texas countryside blew by in a blur. Somewhere out there, Nisha was scared and helpless.

Did she know he would move heaven and earth to find her? Did she believe that he would do anything to save her?

Does she know how much I love her?

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tenrubbedhisachinghead.This is pointless.

A dozen feet away, Podcaster Chad was tied to a chair, blubbering and bawling like a baby. Boychenko, Kir, and Stas had encountered zero problems obtaining him from his house and bringing him here to answer questions. He had already pissed himself, and he hadn’t experienced anything more than a couple of slaps from Stas.

Kostya pinched the bridge of his nose. “Chad, if I have to open my black bag, you’re really, really not going to like it.”

“Please,” Chad begged, snot running down his face. “Please. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, we’ve heard the apologies.” Kostya sighed. “We don’t care about any of that. We want to know what you know about Nisha Jackson, Kiki Acevedo, Chess Mendoza, Tony Guerrero, or Adrian Umansky. This is a give-and-take. Okay? You give me information, and I don’t take pieces off of you.”

Chad wailed. “I’ll tell you anything you want.”

“He already told you what he wants!” Stas shouted right in Chad’s ear, and the idiot started to sob even louder.

Ten hated this side of their world. It was messy and violent and successful maybe six out of ten times. Kostya would say that was still better than half, but he wasn’t so sure it was worth all the trouble. And, anyway, where the hell was the boss?

Fox had given Kostya information, but it wasn’t as helpful as they had hoped. She managed to locate the helicopter, but it had dipped below the radar for a while. When it appeared again, it was headed in a different direction. Kostya figured they had set down in a field somewhere, handed off Nisha, and taken flight again. They were no closer to finding her, and nothing in the file he had received from Pete was useful either.

Fox was now back at Chad’s place, going through his computer and external hard drives looking for clues. They hadn’t heard from her yet, and Ten wasn’t sure she would find anything that could point them in the right direction.

“I didn’t know it would go like this.” Chad finally started to offer something useful. “I was only supposed to be the go-between for the lawyer and the guards she wanted to be paid off to get Kiki out of prison.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t ask why she wanted him out of prison.”

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