Page 81 of Hard Limits

Yes, this woman was definitely his.

CHAPTER 30

BRAX

“You need a favour? Didn’t I do you enough favours this week already? Jerry says thanks for the mouthwash, by the way.”

“There have been some interesting developments,” Brax told Alexa. She was back to her regular form now—a cartoon avatar in an app.

“Like what?”

“I fell in love with one woman, and she turned out to be someone else.”

“You’ll have to elaborate.”

So he did. He detailed the events of the past twenty-four hours, from informing Indi of his divorce yesterday and waking in the morning and finding her missing, to her confession in the car, skipping the dirty parts because Alexa didn’t need to know about those.

“So I need an enhanced background check on Indali Vadera, plus anything you can find on the real Meera Adams. Indi’s concerned about her safety.”

“I don’t know how I missed this,” Alexa grumbled, sounding thoroughly pissed off. She didn’t often get things wrong, and on the rare occasions she did make a mistake, she tended to beat herself up about it. “I checked the DMV, her Harvard transcripts, her— Oh, whoa. They’re basically twins.” A picture flashed up on the screen. “See?”

At first, he thought Indi was on the right, but then he realised his error—that was Meera, and Indi had changed her hairstyle to match her friend’s. If you looked closely, you could see the subtle differences. Meera’s skin was a smidgen lighter, her eyes a slightly darker shade of brown. Was her nose wider, or did the camera angle just make it look that way? Or the lighting? It was like seeing double, except Meera wore a carefree smile and Indi was oh-so serious.

“They’re practically identical.”

“You’re sure they’re not related?”

“Apparently not. Can you take a look at Indi’s history? Her father’s name is Arjun Vadera, and her brothers are Rajan and Vimal.” In line with their “no more secrets” policy, Indi had given him the details on the drive back to Nyx. “The ex-fiancé is Karam Joshi. Where did you find the picture?”

“Indali Vadera’s Facebook page. She hasn’t used it in over a year. Before that, she posted about life at Harvard, medical stuff, more pictures of her and Meera. Eeuw, some guy got a chopstick stuck in his bladder.”

“How the fuck would he do that?”

“How the hell should I know? I’ll dig deeper, okay? Into Indi’s background, not the chopstick thing. That’s gross.”

“And Meera Adams?” Brax recited her last known address. “She’s been out of touch for a while. Indi says she can be impulsive, but she’s also reliable when it comes to calling.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Anything else?”

Alexa’s tone was sarcastic, but Brax ignored that.

“Since you travel a lot and seem to move in some interesting circles these days, do you know of any Portuguese-speaking guns for hire? I’m speaking metaphorically. I need people with investigative experience who’ll do whatever it takes to find a missing woman. Dawson’s already agreed to come.”

His old roommate had joined the U.S. Navy after they left Blackstone House, and he’d made it all the way to the SEALs before he got dishonourably discharged for punching a senator. The general consensus was that the senator deserved everything he’d gotten, but the powers that be had decided to make an example of Dawson.

“Ask Ari too. She works part-time for that weird dude in Vegas, but her days are flexible, and she’s smart.”

“I’ll try her.”

“Hand on heart, do you honestly think bad shit happened to the real Meera?”

“I don’t want to worry Indi more, but from what she’s told me, there’s a definite possibility that her friend has come to some harm.”

“Let me check around and see who else is available. Have you found a plane, or do you need one of those too?”

“I need one of those too. Do you have a contact?”

“Give me a few hours, and keep an eye on your phone.”

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