Page 3 of Battle King (Princes of Devil's Creek 4)

I hated lying.

ChapterTwo

MARCELLO

After we arrived at Giovanni Angeli’s compound, I called Sonny. I needed to know how The Lucaya Group got to Drake. With all his gadgets, weapons, and security, he should have been impossible to reach without leaving a pile of bodies behind.

Sonny answered on the second ring. “Cello, hey.”

My best friend was the only person who called me that and got away with it.

“Tell me everything you know about Drake’s kidnapping.”

“They took Drake on his way home from a demonstration for the Army,” Sonny said, frustration dripping from his tone.

I shook my head. “How the fuck did they get to Drake with soldiers surrounding him?”

“They waited until Drake was twenty miles from the testing site before they ambushed his convoy. Tate Maxwell was with him.”

“Shit.” I sat down to get my bearings, tugging at the ends of my hair, and sand shook from it. “If they took Tate, they know he’s important to Drake.” I brushed out the rest of the sand with my fingers. “They’re going to use him to get information from Drake.”

Sonny exhaled loudly into the receiver. “Yeah, but Drake can handle interrogation.”

“He won’t sit there and watch them torture Tate.” I held the phone to my ear and lowered my voice. “I’ll go in with Alpha Command to get them. But I need time to access Drake’s system to triangulate their location. Do you have any leads?”

“I don’t know how to do that tech stuff.” Sonny snickered. “Good thing Drake’s been teaching you and Cole.”

“I’ll start working on an extraction plan with Alpha Command. But I can only do so much from here. Where’s Cole?”

“He’s at home. Grace just delivered Hale.”

Not the best timing.

Hale was Cole’s first child with his wife.

I couldn’t imagine having to leave Alex hours after she delivered my son.

“Cole is ready to go and knows the risks,” Sonny said. “He’ll do whatever it takes to get Drake back.”

Cole Marshall was Drake’s cousin on his father’s side and graduated from York Military Academy. He had the proper military training and started work at Battle industries last year. As an engineer, he had access to Drake’s software and knew the ins and outs of his business.

He was the only person other than Tate Maxwell who knew enough about Lovelace and Drake’s protocols. I hated asking him to come with me and Alpha Command, but it was necessary.

It was high risk, and for that reason, I couldn’t tell Alex the truth. Instead, I had to act like it was a regular mission with Alpha Command. She would overreact and panic, putting herself back on bed rest. And with how high her heart rate and blood pressure had been throughout this pregnancy, I didn’t want to upset her.

None of us did.

I sat on the closed toilet seat and leaned forward to rest my elbows on my thighs. “What about the container girl?”

He paused for a moment and then chuckled. “I don’t know what to do with her. I could turn her over to my uncle Declan. But the girl seems innocent. I doubt she has any involvement in her father’s businesses.”

“She may be useful,” I pointed out.

If Luca weren’t preoccupied with the Drake situation, he would have used her to get something from her father.

“I’m keeping her in the apartment next to Damian’s torture room.”

I snickered at the thought. “I’m sure that place smells great.”

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