Page 10 of Twisted Empire

“All part of my charm.” I could practically hear the grin in the man’s voice, and my own hands clenched. I didn’t want him to be joking around right now—I wanted him to find Madelyn already.

Logan obviously felt similarly. “Great,” he said brusquely. “And you can activate this firmware function?”

“Yep! To be fair, very few people are aware this exists. It’s high-level law enforcement agencies pushing for the option, but the privacy violation makes it a major legal gray area. Thankfully, I don’t really give a shit about legalities.”

“Comes with the territory,” Beckett remarked.

A little curiosity had lit Logan’s gaze despite his frustration. “How exactly does it work?”

If he could still wonder about the technological side even with everything going on, maybe he’d come out of this all right after all.

“I’ve got to keep a few secrets to myself,” the man said as a faint tapping sound carried through the speakers. “Basically, I need to follow the data trail attached to your gal’s phone number to track down the activation code that goes with it. Then it’s like flicking a switch… except a lot more code-y.”

I shifted on my chair with a restlessness I couldn’t shake. “How long will you need for that?”

“As long as it takes,” the man said, very unhelpfully.

As we waited in uneasy silence, Logan squeezed his knuckles. Beckett got up and poured us all glasses of water from the sink, whether because he was worried about us getting dehydrated or just for something to do with himself, I wasn’t sure. Slade gave him a grateful nod. I took a sip from mine and set it down.

We still weren’t getting anywhere. What if Madelyn’s phone was outright broken, or—

“Got it!” the man crowed on the other end of the line. “Okay, now I need to home in on the signal, and when I’ve got a clear location, I’ll send it to your screen.” He paused. “You do realize that this kind of tracking via cell tower never gives an exact address, right? We’re going to be looking at a range rather than a specific spot.”

Logan had already scooted forward to peer at the laptop. “Of course.”

Several more seconds slipped by with the thumping of my pulse, and then an image formed on the screen. A map, contracting to show a smaller area even as its lines became clearer. In less than a minute, we were looking at a square of four city blocks.

Logan tapped at something with the trackpad. “That’s about an hour from here.” He pushed to his feet.

“But there are a couple dozen buildings in that section of the city,” Beckett said. “We can’t go bursting into all of them hollering her name and hope that’ll work out.”

The man hummed to himself. “Unfortunately, that’s the best I can narrow it down from the phone. If you can think of other factors that would come into play, I can do my best to account for those too. I’m assuming to hold a kidnapping victim, it’d probably be a place that’s not very busy, ideally not open to the public.”

My mind started to whirl with possibilities, the gnawing panic fading now that I had a concrete puzzle in front of me. I hadn’t been able to help much before, but fitting pieces together—that wasmyexpertise.

“The kidnapper wouldn’t have wanted to walk her across a public sidewalk with a gun on her,” I said. “It’ll probably be a building with a secluded parking lot, out of view around back or underground.”

“That makes sense.” The man clicked something, and several of the buildings on the screen grayed out.

My thoughts raced on, exhilarated by our progress. “There’d need to be a lot of space between where they’re holding Madelyn and anyplace bystanders would be nearby, to make sure if she shouted for help no one could hear her. So that would eliminate any of the smaller buildings that are open to the public, I think. At least those that don’t have basements.”

A few more buildings grayed out, but not enough. I drummed my fingers on the edge of the coffee table, and inspiration sparked.

“Are any of those buildings not open atallyet? Not quite finished construction or closed for renovations—someplace they could ensure there’d be no chance of anyone seeing or hearing her?” Our enemies didn’t have to be going to those lengths, but if theycouldbe that careful, why wouldn’t they?

The man let out a low whistle. “You know what, I think you’re on to something. There is one condo building here that’s finished construction but not yet officially open—no one’s moved in. At least not in the existing records.”

Beckett stepped forward, his eyes lighting up. “I bet that’s where she’s been taken.”

I didn’t want us to go rushing in without total confirmation, though.

“That one building—if no one’s living there yet, it wouldn’t be drawing any utilities, right? Can you check whether electricity, water, and heating have been active today?”

“I absolutely can. Ah, ha! All three have been drawn on as recently as this evening. Sneaky, but not quite sneaky enough to defeat the great Blaze.”

“You know you just gave them your name, don’t you?” the Blood Hunter broke in with amusement lacing her voice.

“Hey, it’s an alias anyway. And they do seem like okay people. What do you guys think? Ready to track down your woman?”

---