Page 23 of Assassin's Heart
“I’ll tell you what I believe,” Windon said. “Either I bring back those recordings, or I’m dead, Leah. My usefulness is at an end. It’s this or nothing.”
“So you led them right to me and my child? You knew!” she shouted. “You knew they would never let me walk away; I know too much! Or at least that’s what they believe, but you brought them here anyway.”
“I had no choice,” Windon said. “Two days. That’s all I have, all I can give you. In two days you’ll have your daughter back. You know what I need to make that happen.”
Leah started to answer, but I broke in. “Two days, Windon. Be ready.”
Before he could respond, I clicked the call off.
“No!”
I caught Leah around the waist as she lunged for the cell. “He won’t put her back on.”
She struggled against me. “You don’t know that!”
“I do.” I dropped my chin onto the top of her head, wishing I could erase the longing, the pain in her voice. “But he gave us valuable information.”
Leah stilled. “Like what?”
I turned to Eli. “Think you got enough to trace a location?”
Outrage pulled Eli back. “Is that even a question, bro?” Picking up the cell, he jerked his head toward the elevator. “Give me a few and I’ll have what you need.”
Leah stared after him. I stared at her.
Levi cleared his throat. When I glanced his way, he raised an eyebrow.
I nodded in response. “Let’s fix you a plate,” I told Leah. “Then I’ll show you the bat cave.”
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Ten
Leah —
“Bat cave, really?”
Remi threw a grin I could only describe as sheepish over his shoulder as he led me out of the elevator. “What else would we call it?”
“An office?” Did assassins have offices? But as I looked around the massive basement, I knew he was right—this could only be called a bat cave.
Equipment was stacked everywhere, the walls lined with so many screens and monitors that the light paint could barely be seen. It looked like they needed a secretary. Or housemaid. The only thing missing was a massive glass case with the Batman suit in it, which I didn’t see. I did see a corner with a couch and a huge mass of video gaming equipment.
Guess they had to blow off steam somehow.
Eli sat at a station about halfway down the room, eating absently, his gaze locked on the screens in front of him. As we got closer, I realized he was watching traffic footage.
“Find anything?” Remi pulled out a rolling chair next to his brother and gestured for me to sit. After hearing Brooke’s voice, my restlessness had ratcheted up exponentially, but standing meant I was farther from the screens. I sat.
“Thank you.” I shot Remi a grateful smile.
A warm, massive hand landed on my shoulder. Remi gave me a squeeze.
“I managed to triangulate their location,” Eli was saying, either missing the byplay or ignoring it like I wished I could ignore Remi’s touch. “A grocery store parking lot on the west side of town. Too public to be a permanent location.” Eli clicked on an image of a car at the far, isolated end of a megamart lot. When he zoomed in, I could make out Ross’s face, but Brooke was no more than a vague, pale shadow between the driver’s and passenger’s seats.
“Could they be staying somewhere in the area?” I asked, swallowing back my disappointment.
“Unlikely.” Eli pointed to the top screen that showed heavy traffic on I285. “They’re good. They know where the cameras will follow them and where they won’t. They drove around a bit, got off the freeway, and disappeared.”
