Page 67 of Savage Love

“Beth Wan,” I tell him in a low voice. “She’s the best hacker we’ve ever seen. A friend of Liam’s from way back. She’s helped us track down targets we needed to find a number of times. If anyone can get us Diego’s location quickly, it’s her.”

Nico nods, a low, appreciative whistle coming from between his lips as he watches her fingers fly over her keyboard. “I’m no good with technology,” he says with a low laugh. “But I’ll be damned if that isn’t the quickest I’ve ever seen anyone with a keyboard.”

Beth hasn’t so much as glanced at the camera, although I’m sure she can hear the conversation. She’s staring at the screen in front of her, going through result after result, swapping through tabs faster than any of us can follow. “You gave me the location of the abduction, although your guards couldn’t get a license plate read—it was gone before they got back.” There’s a derogatory note in her voice that says exactly what she thinks of their competence. “So I’m pulling street camera views to try to pinpoint it. It’ll take longer, but that’s all we’ve got. If I can get a shot of the license plate—” Her fingers fly over the keyboard, and her eyes narrow. “Just give me a minute.”

“We’re just going to wait on you,” Liam says. “You’ve never failed us yet, Beth.”

“There’s always a first time,” she says wryly. “But let’s hope it isn’t this one.”

“Have you sent anyone to the house?” Niall asks quietly. “I left Aisling at the estate, but—”

“Once you said Aisling was with Ana and Saoirse, we re-routed all security to the estate,” Connor says firmly. “That place is locked down with half an army. No one is getting to them. Not a fucking chance.”

It feels like an eternity as we wait on Beth. I know she can’t work any faster than she is—it’s already impressive—but I feel as if every muscle in my body is wound tight, waiting for her to saysomething. I know there’s a very real possibility that this might be the time that she can’t help us, and if she can’t, then we’re looking for Diego like looking for a needle in a haystack. He could be anywhere in the city. We can try to track his movements, and Beth can help with that as well, but there’s no guarantee.

“Here!” Beth crows her success as she points at the screen. “There it is. A van, four men, two women. The women were on the sidewalk—and then they’re not. No clear view of their faces, but dark hair—it could be them. And the location matches. As for a license plate—”

A few more taps, and she nods. “I doubt the records of it will have any names attached. Probably bought with cash. But now I can try to follow where it’s gone—” She hums under her breath as she looks at the screen. “Give me a few more minutes. I’ll figure this out. I just needed one lead, and now I have one—”

The minutes tick by, and I can feel my hands clenching into fists, my muscles aching with tension. All I can think about is what might be happening to Elena right now, to our child—to Isabella, too. What Diego might be doing to them, how he might be taking his anger out on them.

I need to get to her. I never should have left.The two thoughts repeat over and over, tumbling through my head, until I feel like I could go mad from it. Like Iamgoing mad, standing here waiting to be told where we might be able to find the woman I love.

It feels like an eternity before I hear Beth’s voice again.

“I have a location.” There’s satisfaction in it, and a smile spreads across her lips. When I glance sideways at Nico, I can see his gaze is fixed more intently on the screen than any of ours—and that’s saying something.

Looks like Viktor’s new second-in-command is smitten with our hacker.

I don’t have time to give that any more thought, though. Another beat passes, and then Beth claps her hands. “Here. This house. I’ll send Connor and Liam the coordinates.” She pauses, frowning. “If you’re going to go in, let me know. I’ll see what I can do about hacking into their security system if they have one. Might make things go a little easier for you.”

“Thank you—”

Liam starts to speak, but we never hear the end of that sentence. There’s a sudden, explosive sound, and the entire building shudders, sending the table and computer flying, knocking Connor off his feet, and sending the rest of us stumbling backward into walls and chairs as what is undoubtedly an explosion ripples through the building from somewhere—close enough to hurt us, but not close enough to instantly incinerate us all.

There are alarms going off everywhere. Liam picks himself up from the carpet, reaching for his brother, and looks at me with a pale and panicked face.

“We need to get the fuck out of here.”

Elena

When I wake up, my first instinct is to fight.

I don’t even know where I am before I start struggling. Something is holding me, and I think it’s still a person at first, but when I try to lurch forward and can’t, it slowly dawns on me through the lingering fogginess that I’m tied up.

To a chair.

Slowly, the world starts to come back into focus around me. I’m in what seems to be a warehouse, rope wrapped around me, sitting in a hard metal chair. There’s a horrible taste in my mouth, and my tongue feels stuck to the roof of it, and my head is pounding. Despite that, I twist to one side, looking for Isabella.

I only see a huge, dark-haired man in fatigues and a black shirt sitting on another metal chair, a gun balanced in his lap, and his gaze raking over me. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me.

I don’t like any of this.I was drugged.Panic sears through me all over again, not just because of the situation I’m in, but because I don’t know what the drug might do to the baby. Visions of the blood-soaked sheets a few weeks ago tear through my mind, except this time, I have no way of getting to a hospital, no way of getting to Levin—

Levin.A sharp pang strikes me in the chest, realizing what this will do to him. Tous, if I’m so lucky as to get out of this trap and back to him, which feels horrifyingly unlikely. This is his worst fear all over again—his wife and child in danger, in a situation where he can’t help.

How long will it be before he knows?He’s in New York. The guards would have come back to find that we weren’t there and raised the alarm. I have no idea how much time has passed—he could already have gotten a call and be on his way back to Boston by now. But I have no idea what Diego’s plans are. I could be on a plane somewhere else before Levin can ever get to me, and Isabella—

“Where is my sister?” I demand, the words coming out more slurred than I’d like from the aftereffects of the drug. “Where’s Isabella.”

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