Page 68 of Knight's Journey

“Stop bullshitting me, Singer. I’m burned when it comes to Armando and Elian. You know I can’t get close to them, much less execute them. The only way out of this is to bring your hostages back and turn yourselves in.”

“Stop dicking around, Wilder. I want the De la Peñas executed, and I want it done by you. My sources tell me you’re one hell of a sharpshooter. If you’re creative enough, you won’t have to get too close in order to take them out. You have twenty-four hours, or I start sending the hostages back a piece at a time.”

Singer ended the call before he could negotiate proof of life. Zane battled the urge to fling his phone against the side of the house, knowing he should have asked for proof upfront instead of taunting Singer to prolong the call. He shoved the phone back in his pocket and glanced up at Jay and Cole. “I’m guessing you figured out the gist of the call.”

“The only way to get your mother and the kids back is for you to kill Armando and Elian,” Jay said.

Cole hung up, his expression grim. “The call was bounced over multiple towers. BB said the call didn’t last long enough for them to pinpoint a location. We’ve got nothing. Do we really believe he’ll release them even if Zane kills the De la Peñas?”

“Hell, no,” Zane answered. “And we have twenty-four hours to figure out what we’re going to do, or I get to add assassin to my resume.”

“Then let’s hope Thumper has some answers. Let’s regroup with the rest of the team at KSI. It’s time to end this once and for all.”

The door opened in the middle of Jay’s suggestion, and Zane stared into the determined face of Bridget Kincaid. She closed the door behind her and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’m coming with you.”

“It’s better if you stay here with everyone else,” Jay protested. “We’ll leave a few people here with you to be safe, but I doubt the kidnappers will come back at this point. We’ll have Kat and Sydney keep you all posted every step of the way. You have to let us do our jobs. We’ll bring everyone home. It’s what we do, and we’re good at what we do.”

“Well, you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t exactly trust any of you right now. I want to be there for my niece and nephew whenever you find them, no matter what. It’s what my sister would want. I’ve already let Mat and Lowe down. I’m not doing it again. I’m going with you even if I have to walk there myself.”

“We don’t know how traumatized the kids are going to be when we find them. It’s a good idea to have someone along who’s a familiar face to them,” Cole added, and Jay considered their arguments.

“All I agree to is for you to come to KSI with us. We’ll play the rest by ear. We can’t do our job if we’re worrying about your safety, too, so if I tell you to stay put, you’ll stay put. Understand?”

For a moment, Zane thought she would disagree. But then she nodded her head. They turned to go inside as Sam opened the door.

“You guys need to see this.”

They stepped inside to hear a deep beep which reminded Zane of an underwater sonar. Everyone had gathered around the TV in the living room, and Zane fought his way through the crowd to see what captured their attention. Cole and Jay came up from behind to flank him. They stared at the map of the county which filled the TV screen. A red dot flashed from a northwest quadrant of the map.

“What the hell?” Zane drawled. “What is this?”

“It popped up on the TV out of nowhere,” Zaida explained. “I swear no one touched it.”

“Is this some kind of locator beacon?” Cole asked.

“Oh, my God!” Bridget exclaimed, effectively drawing everyone’s attention. “It’s Marlowe.”

“You don’t think…” Audra’s voice trailed off as she glanced from the TV to her daughter and back.

“She’s right. Damn, if Marlowe didn’t somehow send us her location using the TV satellite,” Wyatt explained. “She told me the last time we talked on the phone that she was hoping to use something like this for her project for the Technology Fair. She was having trouble figuring out exactly how to make it work, but she thought it would be helpful in tracking missing persons. This has to be her!”

“You can’t be serious!” Ivy exclaimed, glaring at Wyatt.

“She’s just a girl,” Oran jumped in, and Bridget would have jumped across the room to slap them both if Zaida hadn’t placed a restraining hand on her arm.

“Panther,” Jay started, but Cole quickly replied with an “On it!” before placing a call on his cell. When BB answered, Cole gave him the details of what they were seeing and then sent a picture of the TV screen. After a few final words, Cole hung up.

“We need to go. BB said he should have something by the time we get there.”

“Yeah, I’m coming as back-up,” Brick said. “We have enough people here to keep an eye on everyone, and I want to take down the bastards who messed with our family.”

Bridget glanced at her parents. “I’m going too. I want to be there when they find the kids.”

“Well, we’re coming, too,” Oran interjected, but Wyatt sent him a glare that was highly effective in having others obey him. It served him well in the military and worked for the most part with his daughters.

“You’ll do nothing of the sort. You are going to wait here with the rest of us, and you’re going to use this time to get your priorities straight.” Wyatt glanced back at his daughter. “Go, honey. They’ll want to see you. Keep us posted and be safe.”

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