Page 77 of Duplicity

Her right hand remained in her pocket.

“And this is Talia.”

The woman they’d brought—or the woman who had brought them—came all the way up to her and touched Cat’s cheeks. “Girl.” She kissed Cat on the forehead. “Let’s save your man.”

Cat hadn’t even told Talia what was going on between her and Simon. She must’ve figured it out somehow. Or Simon had mentioned Cat. “I brought the phone.”

Liam said, “Hand it to Talia. Then show me your injury.”

Talia’s brows rose. Cat set the phone in her outstretched palm, but it was clear that wasn’t Talia’s biggest concern. “You’re injured, girl? You should’ve said something.”

Cat didn’t want to explain what had happened in the van when Simon had been abducted, but there was no point in holding back information that might prove useful. So, she toldthem all of it, including how Peter and Jasper were working on it as Vanguard, and Romeo had told her to go home.

Liam said, “I’ll check in with them.”

But he didn’t get out his phone or move at all.

Instead, he asked, “So you thought it was a good idea to go off on your own and save Simon?”

“I knew Talia would want to know that he had been taken.” That sounded good, right? “And if you guys need backup, I can shoot as accurately with my left hand as I can with my right.”

“Hmm.” Liam didn’t look all that convinced.

“You were right to call. I don’t just want to know. I can help.” Talia squeezed Cat’s good hand. “We’ll get him back, and if those Vanguard boys wanna help out on a federal operation, then we won’t turn them down.”

One of the other two men snorted.

“What do we do?” Cat bit her lip. “There’s no way to find him with the network, right? It won’t show us GPS.”

“Let’s go to the car, and we’ll talk it through.” Talia waved her to the hangar where the pilot walked around under the plane, looking at something or other. An SUV was parked in the corner.

The other two men, Niall and Josh, headed back onto the plane. They reappeared a few seconds later carrying plastic crates, which they set in the back of the SUV and popped open. Niall tossed Liam a bulletproof vest.

Liam lowered it over his head. “Take off your jacket.”

Cat mashed her lips together but did it one-handed, sliding the jacket down off her right arm without wincing too much.

“Stitches?”

Because she’d been to a doctor? Cat said, “Jasper cleaned it and wrapped it with a bandage.”

Liam didn’t look happy. He waved his fingers at Josh, who tossed another vest over. He had her shift her arm so he couldlower it over her head, and then he secured the tabs on her sides. “Talia, do you have anything that would work as a sling?”

Josh loaded a pistol and holstered it on his hip, then handed a rifle to Niall along with a clip.

“Try this.” Talia came up with a scarf from her purse, purple with a silver pattern. She lifted Cat’s arm with it, tucking her forearm against her front, and then tied the scarf behind her neck.

Liam got a pistol from Josh. “Left hand?”

Cat held it out.

“This will velcro to the front of the vest.” He slid the gun into a holster and gave it to her.

Cat pressed it against the fuzzy material on the front of the vest. “Okay, we’re ready to go. But we have no ideawhere.”

Niall said, “That’s why the plane didn’t leave. We have no idea where they took him.”

“To the estate where he was held the first time.”

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