Page 105 of Taken Off Camera
“He has Saint,” I choke out. “He wants me tomeet him at a coffee shop in Brickwell. Alone. No police.”
Sebastian’s expression darkens. “Absolutely not.”
“He’ll kill Saint,” I whisper. “Travis hurt him while I was on the phone. I heard it.”
Gabriel moves to the main console, fingers flying across the keyboard. “I’m trying to track the signal. He’s bouncing it through multiple towers.”
“I’m going,” I say, the decision crystallizing in my mind even as I speak it. “Saint has had my back my entire life. I wouldn’t be here now if not for him.”
Sebastian steps in front of me, blocking my path to the door. “No. We’ll find another way.”
“There is no other way!” I try to move around him. “He gave me thirty minutes, and Brickwell is nearly that far from here. After that, Saint dies.”
“And you think he’ll let Saint walk away if you go?” Sebastian grips my shoulders, his touch firm but not painful. “This is a trap, Micah. We’ll lose youboth.”
The truth of his words registers but doesn’t change my resolve. “I can’t abandon Saint.”
“No one’s abandoning anyone,” Gabriel interrupts, pushing between us. “Sebastian, we’ll follow in a separate car and keep our distance. Let Micah appear to comply while we track him.”
Sebastian whirls on his cousin. “You want to use my mate as bait?”
“I want to keep everyone alive.” Gabriel meets Sebastian’s glare without flinching. “This Travis guy expects us to either hold Micah back or send in an army. He won’t expect a middle approach.”
Fury radiates from Sebastian in waves, his Alpha pheromones filling the room. “If anything happens to him?—”
“Then we’ll already be dead,” Gabriel cuts in, calm in the face of Sebastian’s rage. “But this gives us our best shot.”
My heart hammers, counting down the seconds we don’t have to waste. “I’m going with or without your help, Sebastian. But I’d rather have you behind me.”
Sebastian’s expression shifts from anger to fear to resignation before settling into grim determination. “We do this my way. Every step.”
“Twenty-eight minutes left,” I remind him, already moving toward the door.
Gabriel grabs a case from a cabinet by the wall and flips it open, revealing an array of surveillance equipment. “I need ninety seconds to set up comms.”
Sebastian’s hand finds mine. “When this is over?—”
“When this is over, Saint and I will both be safe,” I finish for him. “And Travis will wish he never subscribed to my channel.”
Gabriel approaches with a flesh-colored communication device. His fingers brush the hair near my temple as he fits it into my ear canal. “This is a two-way comm. We’ll hear everything around you. Tap once to activate your microphone, twice to mute.” He demonstrates with a gentle touch to the outer edge. “Once for yes, twice for no if you can’t speak freely.”
Sebastian pulls me into his arms while Gabriel works, his arms encircling me in a brief, fierce embrace. “Follow the plan. No heroics. You verify Saint’s alive, then you get out. We handle the rest.”
I nod, breathing in his scent to steady myself. “Keys?”
Gabriel presses a fob into my palm. “Take the black SUV in spot three. We’ll be in the silver sedan behind you. Once we near Ashford Heights, we’ll start giving you distance, so don’t worry if you lose sight of us. We’ll still be with you.”
My fingers close around the fob. “He said no Alpha scent. He’ll smell you on me.”
“Not through these.” Sebastian opens a cabinetand pulls out an aerosol bottle. “Military grade scent blockers. Turn around while I spray you.”
A minute later, as we rush out, we almost crash into Jade and Milo, on their way back to take a shift monitoring the computers.
“What’s happening?” Milo demands.
“No time to talk,” Gabriel calls back. “Man the computers. We’ll fill you in from the car.”
Sebastian leads me to the elevator, and we ride it down to the Rockfords’ private garage.
