Page 30 of Finding Lord Landry

He eyed me as if suspicious I had an ulterior motive. “Rescuing two instead of one would increase the risks.”

I clenched my back teeth and tried to restrain my temper. “Then I’ll get another Executive Rescue team together, and I’ll offer them ten times whatever you’re paying to get my guy out first.”

Jim didn’t seem impressed with my bluster. “You’re threatening me while asking me a favor? You really are a Davencourt, aren’t you?”

“You’ll never insult me by comparing me to my father.” I stood and gathered my things. “I have to go. Apparently, I have a call to make and a company to bribe.”

“Wait,” he barked. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.” He glanced at the door before lowering his voice. “I need you to find us a plane that can get us from London to Ecuador as fast as possible. I sent mine to San Cordova with Jamie, and we need to get in the air in the next couple of hours if possible.”

That was easy. “Done.”

“You’ll owe me a favor, Davencourt. A big one. And you’d better hope nothing happens to my son because of this.”

I took a breath and steeled myself. The only favor I could imagine a finance executive like Winthrop wanted was political influence. It sounded like I was going to be forced to consider serving in Parliament sooner rather than later, no matter who helped get Kenji out.

But did it really matter who I owed a favor to if it meant keeping Kenji safe?

“Understood,” I said. “We can discuss it on the plane.”

He met my eyes. “This is going to upset the prime minister. There could be fallout for both of us.”

I nodded. He was right, but I didn’t much care. Maybe an upset prime minister would be the key to releasing me from parliamentary expectations.

I quickly texted our pilots before texting Nan to have a bag packed and sent to the airport for me. Jim did the same on his end, and within an hour, we were on the plane, awaiting the pilot’s final checks.

After ending a call with Executive Rescue, I tried texting Kenji again, though I knew it would be fruitless.

I’m working on a plan to get you out of there. Stay safe until then.

I glanced at my screen in shock as Kenji’s photo appeared a moment later. I quickly answered the incoming call.

“Baby?” I blurted, scrambling to keep from dropping the phone. “Are you okay?”

Kenji’s voice was unusually harried. “Landry, fuck. I can’t believe I got through. They have us all locked in our rooms. Men with guns. They… it’s bad. They hit a man in the head with the butt of a rifle and shoved a woman down onto the pavement.” He swallowed a sob, and the sound nearly brought me to my knees. “There’s a rumor they killed someone in the government. Now, there are men with guns patrolling the hallway outside our rooms. They don’t look like military. I need you to call a company called Executive Rescue. See if you can?—”

“Already did,” I said, interrupting in case we got cut off. “I’m working on getting you out. Stay safe, please. And if you get put into a group, find a guy named Jamie Winthrop and stay close to him.”

“You know Jamie?” he asked in surprise.

“His father and I are working together to get you both out of there. And Kenji—” I hesitated.

How was I supposed to explain all the things I hadn’t told him over the past tenyears—who I truly was, how I felt about him, why I hadn’t said anything before now—when we might only have tensecondsbefore we were disconnected?

In the end, we didn’t even have that long.

“Someone’s coming,” Kenji said, nerves clear in his voice.

“Find a weapon,” I instructed. “Corkscrew near coffee stuff, maybe? Your razor? What else?” I racked my brain to think of what he might travel with that could be used as a weapon, but I drew a blank. “Grab your portable phone battery in case they move you. Put the phone in your sock or something.”

“Wait, they’re…” I heard fabric sounds like he was moving the phone down against his chest. The sound of muffled shouting came through the phone, making me break out in a cold sweat. The pilot was waiting for me to finish my call before we could take off since even on a private plane, I wasn’t supposed to make cell calls. I worried about Kenji trying to reach me while I was in the air. The flying time to Ecuador would be at least fourteen hours.

“Kenji,” I pleaded softly.

“They’re pulling people out of their rooms, Landry. What do I do?”

My jaw ached. My throat felt like it was filled with cement. “Can you hide?”

“No, there’s nowhere to, ohfuck!”

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