Page 38 of Strangers in Love

“Who wants to know?” He glared up at me like I’d done something more than just say his name.

“I’m an investigator hired by the Mercier family to figure out what happened to Aline.” It was the same thing I’d told everyone else – not wanting rumors going around about the ransom or the fact that we knew she’d been kidnapped – but Serle’s reaction was different.

“I don’t know anything,” he blurted out.

I took a step toward him, and he stepped back. His eyes darted to the side. “Only a guilty man runs, Serle.”

He shook his head, more color flooding his face. “I’m not guilty. I mean, come on, do I look like I could kidnap anyone?”

I reached out and grabbed his arm, dragging him into the janitor’s closet. He let out a surprised yelp, but he didn’t yell.

“How’d you know she was kidnapped?”

“I heard it, man! C’mon!”

I shoved him against the wall. “Then why didn’t anyone else here know?”

The blood drained from his face. “No. No.”

“Yes,” I snapped. “You might not have kidnapped her, but you know something. Spit it out, and I won’t beat the shit out of you.”

“Y-y-ou can’t do that,” he stammered.

“Like hell I can’t.” I lowered my face so it was only a couple inches from his. “I’m not a cop. I’m not a government official. You’re not in America. I don’t give a damn about your rights, and neither does anyone else.”

He must’ve seen I meant it, because he started talking then, the words spilling out of him.

“These guys came up to me the second week I was here, asked if I wanted to make some money. A shit ton of money. All I had to do was give them the names of volunteers who came from rich families. The Merciers are loaded, and I just lost my job. Why shouldn’t I get some money when they have plenty to spare?”

Motherfucking bastard.

I controlled my temper and pulled out my phone. I made him repeat everything so I could record it. I’d take him back to Miss Little for him to give permission for her to give me his personal information. Then I’d take everything back to Cain and hope that it did some good.

Eighteen hours later, Cain announced that we had a location.

Twenty-Seven

Eoin

The building was locatedon the edges of the city, far enough out of the way that there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic, but still close enough to not be completely isolated. Two stories high, it was barely visible above the surrounding trees, both the ones inside the fence and the ones outside. What it lacked in height, it made up for in width, spreading over at least an acre. The fact that there weren’t any windows I could see on the ground floor made me think that it’d been specifically built for things like this.

Considering the little bit Cain had been able to find on the group that owned it, it wasn’t really a surprise that they’d have a base like this. Every year for the past four years, a handful of people who came to Iran, either as workers or tourists, vanished for a few days before suddenly showing up again.

Sometimes, they were hurt, but not always. Some simply left the country, not telling anyone about what’d happened until they were back in their home country, but others did go to the police. Not that it did much good. I didn’t know if it was corruption, fear, a combination of the two, or something else that kept the authorities from investigating, but whatever the reason, no arrests were ever made.

The fence surrounding the property was chain link and not electric, but the security we could see would’ve been enough to discourage pretty much anyone. Besides, if they didn’t have to worry about the police showing up, they probably just focused on keeping their hostages from escaping. Hopefully, that’d made them lazy because we were outnumbered almost two-to-one just outside, and who knew how many more armed men were inside.

The plan was to get in and out with as little contact as possible. In a perfect world, we’d be able to sneak in and out without anyone realizing we’d been there until they went to get Aline for the exchange. Of course, what wewantedto happen and what wouldactuallyhappen weren’t the same thing.

Still, we stuck to the plan.

The lights on the fence and the building made it hard to find a place where we could cut the fence, but Fever had done it. As we squeezed through the small space, I was glad that Fever was only two inches shorter than me. I was just barely under the maximum height allowed in the army, and I couldn’t count the number of times I’d almost not made it through something because the person who set it up hadn’t quite gotten the right clearance. Fever had probably dealt with the same problem since he was only an inch under the Marines height restriction. Either way, the fact that he’d thought of it made me feel like a real member of the team.

I turned sideways and leaned against the tree, letting its shadow hide me while I waited for everyone else to get into position. Adrenaline pumped through me, but it was different than it’d been in the past, driven almost as much by fear as anything else.

Fear that things could go as bad as they had in Iraq. We were hundreds of miles from where it’d happened, but I would’ve felt the same way if I’d been home in the States and doing something like this. Working with a team again brought back the memories of what it had been like to know that someone had my back, but every time I thought about the four guys here with me, I was reminded that none of them were Leo. I trusted them because Cain trusted them, but it wasn’t the same.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I almost missed the signal to move. As I stepped into the next shadowed spot, I told myself that I needed to get over this shit or I would cost someone else their life. One of my four teammates.

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