Page 79 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
"Just get in the car," Shane said.
Madeline squinty-eyed Efrem. "What if I refuse? I don’t know anything about him other than he was a prick the last time we met."
"He’ll probably knock all of us out and we’ll wake up wherever Mom wants us to go."
Efrem smirked but shut the doors as soon as they got in. He drove them in silence for no more than five minutes to a different hangar. Shane recognized the sleek jet already on the runway.
On board her plane, Evie typed on a laptop computer. She’d changed into her combat-ready outfit of dark camo-style pants, boots, and a dark long-sleeved shirt. Although plain, the clothes were obviously not off-the-rack but designer. She didn’t glance up as she said, "Ah, good. You’re finally here."
Antonio rushed to close the shades on all the windows.
Shane remained standing, arms crossed. "You’re not coming with us to Croatia."
She waved a hand without looking up from the laptop nor stopping her typing. "Croatia was last week, love. They’ve moved. You traveling there is a death trap. Deep in your heart I want to believe you knew that too."
"How would you know where they were and are now?" Shane ran a hand through his hair. He scowled at Antonio when he gave his mother a lovesick smile.
"This, dear Shane, is something I never understood about any of you. Relying on the Brits to figure out your next step? Really? I taught you better than that. At first, I thought it was stubbornness that you didn’t want to do your own leg work, but with projects like this…"
"I haven’t been working for the Brits for over a year."
"Then why aren’t your people on this?"
"We’ve had trouble tracking them." Stubbornly, he wasn’t going to admit his mother’s people were better. Likely, the reason they had trouble tracking FenCor was the mole in their midst tampering with intel.
"I had my people track the workers in the facility after Flynn and Roman freed Ky in China. We’ve been watching them ever since then. Learned a lot about their security and schedules."
"Did the others know you were tracking them?" Shane frowned.
"Hell no. You know how weird Roman gets about the concept of me being close to one of his missions."
"Where are they? We’ll go deal with it. This isn’t your fight."
She snapped the laptop closed and scowled. "This is very much my fight. These people almost killed Ky when they imprisoned and tortured him. Now they’re messing with the rest of you. They’re toying with you like you’re pawns they want to keep off their trail while also wanting to snuff out all of you, including Madeline.Thatis my business."
He scrunched up his face, but then relaxed it, trying to remain calm. Baku sensed his anger and slithered inside him, ramping it up. He felt a small hand on his forearm slide down to grip his hand. Madeline held tight as if she sensed him on an edge.
"Where are we going? Where are they now?" Shane asked tightly.
"Bucharest."
The plane was already taxiing.
Antonio fell into a seat. "I used to have a house in Bucharest until World War I. Bastards bombed it."
"Mom, you can’t go near these facilities. They already incarcerated Ky in one of these places for months. He almost died, and he’s extremely good at covert ops. You…If they get you…" Shane shook his head. "I don’t want Madeline involved in this either. Antonio and I are enough to deal with this."
"That’s not how this is going to go. We’re all going to do this. Together. As a team. I’ll take three of my people, including Efrem."
"Is Dom doing this with you?" At least the mage wouldn’t allow them to capture her if everything went south.
Evie busied herself with straightening all the papers she’d spread over a seat, then packing up her laptop. "I can handle this without him."
"Does he know what you’re planning?"
"He’s busy with his own life. Far be it for me to play a part in it."
"You two are fighting." He tugged a hand down his chin. "I don’t give a flip if you’re waging war with each other. Call him right now."
