Page 168 of Abduction

Now that Remmy was calm, they began digging in. It was time.

“What do you have?” Maura asked. “Did Calyx have anything we can use?”

He nodded and pulled out the paper from his pocket.

“She has the two names. Apparently, one of her connections heard the mercenaries talking about it after she was paid to ‘escort’ them.”

So hookers.

They knew Calyx had a bunch of friends from the business that worked the streets, and they trusted her information.

“I’m going to say that she did say something to me that has me worried.”

They were curious.

“What?” Jagger asked.

“Calyx feels like something bad is coming. I happen to agree. It feels off. All of this. I don’t know why, but that annoyingly accurate gut instinct that kept me alive for a long time is warning me.”

Maura sat there, and they knew she was running numbers in her head.

“She said she heard Artemis left to go back to Germany,” he added.

“She’ll be here,” Maura said. “She’ll want to see us destroyed, and THEN she’ll bail. She didn’t torture you with those photos not to see you broken. Someone gave Calyx some faulty intel.”

“On purpose?” Jinx asked.

“I wouldn’t be shocked,” Maura admitted. “She knows her adversary. She knows Remington, she knows Elizabeth protects us, and she knows how we think.”

Remmy had to share.

“I’m going to go pick her up and bring her back here later. If we’re circling the wagons, and protecting everyone, I need to make sure she’s safe. I can take her to my hidey-hole if it’s not okay.”

Jagger stopped him.

“She’s welcome here. Just be low-key when you get her out. Take her around town and make sure you’re not found.”

Oh, he would do that.

“Okay, so we have two names,” Maura began but was stopped before saying anything more.

They heard the chime of the patio alarm again, and immediately, Zayn pulled his gun, making sure he was ready just in case.

“Uh, that’s going to be Elizabeth,” Rogue said.

“Maybe I like pulling a gun on her,” he said. “Let me be a dick.”

When she came in, she shook her head.

“Someone let you be a dick for way too long, Marine. Your face is beginning to look like one.”

“HEY!”

Maura laughed.

“What?” she asked. “You say shit all of the time and she catches you. Use your internal dialog, Zayn.”

As she dropped her messenger bag on the counter, Tommy was right behind her.

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