Page 68 of Stray Cat

“A name.” Neal’s wolf rumbles came over the line. “I was able to hack into the guy’s number and pull up his calls and texts. He’s called Ron Becker. Lives off Harmon, near Sam’s Town.”

“He sounds familiar. Wait a sec.” Diego seated himself at Xav’s computer, which the kidnappers had also left intact, and logged into DX Security, scouring its records. “Shit.”

Diego sat back as the screen showed him its information on Ron Becker.

“What?” Cassidy leaned over him, her silken hair brushing his cheek.

“He used to work for AC Parkes,” Diego announced. “Neal—grab AC, drag him down here, and meet us at DX Security. He’s going to tell useverythinghe knows and where Xav and Lindsay are most likely to be.”

* * *

Dean reached into a pocket,and Xav tensed before the man slid out a cell phone. “While your girlfriend is enjoying herself, you can call your brother.”

Xav raised his brows. “I thought we were waiting for a reasonable hour.”

Dean shrugged. “I changed my mind. Have him fetch AC, and then we’ll give him another call when we get to the location and tell him an exact meeting point.”

“If I phone Diego from an unknown number, he either won’t answer, or won’t believe I haven’t been coerced,” Xav argued.

“Maybe.” Dean caressed the cell phone’s black face with his thumb. “But this ismynumber, which he can verify. He’ll believe that you found me.”

“Even so, Diego will be snuggled in bed with his lady. He won’t want to answer a call from anyone.”

“Be persistent.”

“All right.” Xav heaved a sigh as he reached for the phone. “I’ll put up with Diego reaming me out, if he even answers.”

Dean set the phone on the table next to the coffee maker and stepped away from it. He wasn’t going to let Xav come too close. “Convince him you’ve found me, tell him to fetch my brother, and say you’ll bring him to a location you’ll fix later. Pretend you’re being extra cautious about my enemies catching us.”

“And then I take my girl to Tahiti?” Xav asked with feigned ingenuousness. “I’ll need to grab my passport.”

“We’ll talk about that once I see my brother.”

Xav didn’t think much of AC’s chances of getting out of this alive, or his own, or Lindsay’s, or Diego’s either. Xav’s advantage was that Diego wasn’t stupid and had much experience saving Xav’s butt. Plus Xav had Lindsay and whatever wild ideas were in her head.

Xav took a step to the table and reached for the phone.

The lights went out.

The room didn’t go completely dark, because emergency lights above the door instantly glowed. That was too bad, because Xav couldn’t use cover of darkness to grab the phone or tackle his captors.

The remaining henchman drew his firearm. “What the fuck?”

Dean calmly opened a blind and peered through the office window. “Whole building is down.” He didn’t sound concerned.

“You hooked up to the grid out here?” Xav asked. “Or is it all generators?”

Dean shot him a derisive look, not about to tell him whether they were within a city’s power supply. “It goes off sometimes. This whole place needs work.”

“Probably abandoned for a reason,” Xav said, as though he commiserated.

“Probably.” Dean gave his guard a nod. “Check in with Ron.”

The man pulled out a handheld radio and clicked it to talk. “Anything going on? Ron, you there?”

When there was no response, Dean at last came alert.

The henchman was about to repeat his question when static sizzled on the walkie, and Lindsay’s voice came to them.

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