Page 78 of Duplicity

Talia shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“So what do we do?”

“We pray.” Liam shrugged. As if it was as simple as that.

In a lot of ways, it was. But she also wanted to kick down some doors and find Simon. For some reason, her thinking that was amusing to them. Apparently, being injured and exhausted meant she had no filter on her face. “Talia?”

Talia handed the phone back, unlocked now. “I already put in the number. Send a message to it that he would know could only come from you. It’ll be delivered to every number on the network at the same time. If Simon has access to the system—which I have to believe he does because why else would they grab him—then he’ll see it. He can use it to tell us where he is.”

Cat turned and paced away a couple of steps. They were already gearing up, maybe because it was all they could do. Beready even if they didn’t know where to aim. When it came tofire, they would be beyond prepared.

She didn’t think it through too much. Something he’d know came from her…

The stars are bright tonight. Wish you could see them.

Maybe her mind was too tired to come up with something better. Or it was benign enough no one else would think anything of it other than that they’d received a message from a wrong number. How often did that happen on the network?

“Done.” She held the phone back out, but Talia didn’t make a move to take it.

The stylish woman—seriously, who was this put together in the middle of the night—opened her laptop on the hood of the SUV and began typing as fast as Simon usually did.

Cat stomped one foot on the ground, then the other, trying to inject some energy into her body. Her phone started to ring in her pocket, so she slid it out. Great. Romeo was calling. Probably to ask why she’d never showed up at their parents’. She sent him to voicemail. Once they had a location, they would call and tell Vanguard where to be. Until then, there was nothing to say to him.

“Got ’im.” Talia kept typing. “He saw the message. He’s on the network, but his permissions are limited. They’ve got him on lockdown. He sent me a code.”

Cat glanced at the three men, who simply stood waiting. Evidently, this wasn’t anything new for them, having to wait around for Talia to tell them which direction to shoot.

“We have coordinates.” She lifted the laptop off the hood. “Let’s go.”

Talia climbed in the front seat.

Liam went around to the driver’s side. Cat got in behind Talia but moved to the third row when the other two men got in behind her.

Cat asked, “Can you send them to me, and I’ll pass them on to Peter and Romeo?”

Josh twisted in his seat, clicking in his seat belt. “Simon’s brother and yours?”

She nodded. Her phone pinged.

“Sent.”

Cat stared at it.

Josh said, “You should be used to that stuff with Simon in your life.”

“It hasn’t been long enough, maybe?”

“How long has it been?” Niall asked.

Cat buckled her own seat belt. “A few days.”

She shook her head. How had it not been longer? Her arm hurt, she was exhausted, and the temptation to be grumpy was strong. She was craving pizza, if she was honest. Maybe one of these guys had a protein bar.

Talia said, “It’s an hour’s drive, so get some sleep.”

Niall shifted lower in his seat, stretching out his knees. “Few days always seems like longer in the beginning.”

Josh snorted. “Then a few years go by, and you can hardly remember a time before they were in your life.”

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