Page 9 of Twisted Empire

Ignoring her threats, I dashed through the apartment’s living room. My gaze caught on a purse I recognized as Yvonne’s from the first moments in the car—the purse she’d stuffed my phone in. Without slowing down, I caught hold of the straps and yanked it off the sofa.

I spared a quick glance out the living room window, but I couldn’t see anything in the dark except the glow of city lights through the night that had fallen while I was trapped. My stomach flipped over.

It’d definitely been hours. The guys would be frantic.

I darted out the front door. The second it slammed behind me, Yvonne’s screeches faded away. I sprinted toward the elevator—and jerked to a stop when I saw the floor number on the digital display creeping upward.

Someone was riding up. Maybe to another floor—or maybe it was Doom’s Seed’s people or the man himself coming straight here.

Shit. I dove into the stairwell at the end of the hall instead. My shoes thundered over the stairs as I dashed down them as fast as my feet would fly.

I’d won my freedom, and I was not letting myself get caught again.

CHAPTERFOUR

Dexter

It was hard to feel hopeful about Madelyn’s fate when all we had was a cell phone and a blank-screened laptop sitting next to each other on the coffee table. But the woman Beckett referred to as “the Blood Hunter” was talking on speakerphone while the voice of one of her associates carried from the laptop, and apparently he had significant technological skills.

He didn’t appear to be all that keen on using those skills to help us, though. “Who exactly is this woman you’re trying to track down?” he asked with a note of suspicion in his voice.

Beckett leaned toward the devices on the table, his pale hair drifting across his forehead as his gray eyes turned even more intense. “She’s my girlfriend. Who was kidnapped, probably at least in partbecauseshe’s my girlfriend.”

“And I can assume you’re telling the truth because…?”

There was a rustling sound, and I got the impression the Blood Hunter had swatted him. “This is the Storm’s heir—the one I told you seems like he’s open to changing some things in the Devil’s Dozen. I wouldn’t have suggested we do this if I didn’t believe his story.”

“All right, all right,” the man said in a tone that had quickly turned teasing. “You’re the boss. Why don’t you have a tech genius of your own, Mr. Heir of the Storm?”

“I do,” Beckett said dryly. “But it turns out he’s not quite brilliant enough. Your ‘boss’ seems to think you might be able to top him.”

“Oh, probably.” The man on the other end tsked his tongue. “No phone signal to track, and no way to trace the kidnapping vehicle?”

“Exactly.”

Logan leaned forward from where we were all poised around the coffee table, his broad hands flexing and clenching. I was sitting rigidly still, but his obvious edginess resonated with the tension winding through my body.

Wehadto find Madelyn. How could we have lost her—and like this? Logan’s mom still alive, taking her hostage…

I wasn’t sure how sheorLogan were going to be okay after this.

“Are you going to show us what you’re doing?” Logan demanded. “All we can see is a black screen so far.”

“Don’t worry, we’re all linked up. There’s just nothing to show yet.”

“So, youaregoing to show us something at some point?” Slade asked, his casual tone a little more terse than usual. His dark brown eyes held a glint that looked more dangerous than amused. He was just as worried as the rest of us, even if he was better at hiding it.

“I’m getting to that,” the hacker said. “All in good time. Give me her number.”

As Beckett rattled it off, I frowned. “But there’s no way to track her phone right now.”

The man chuckled. “Ah, that’s where you’re mistaken—and where the Storm’s tech guy failed. Someonereallyin the know would be aware that a lot of cellular companies have started adding a function to their firmware that allows you to turn a phone on remotely.”

“It’s not their fault they don’t have access to all the same info you do,” the Blood Hunter put in.

“I’m just stating facts.”

“You could be a little less patronizing about it.”

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