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Kelsey and Logan stood in the kitchen, their heads together.
The change in Kelsey was particularly interesting. She gave off such a tough, take-no-shit attitude that seeing her… Softer? It was different.
“TL?” Harper said.
Logan glanced over and nodded. “Everyone circle up.”
Jessica had to wonder who that statement was for. The only people missing were Logan, Kelsey, Harper, and her, but whatever. Jessica let Harper guide her into a chair between him and Baruti.
Logan placed Jessica’s cell phone on the table and remained standing. He tucked his hair behind his ears before launching into it. “Recapping where we are. Last night Samuel was abducted from the hotel. We have yet to receive demands or any sort of communication from him. It took Diha a while, but she was able to track Samuel’s cell phone for a while. That signal has since died or been deactivated. Last known location was southeast of here. I want to get wheels and eyes on that location as soon as we’re able. I’m going to divide people up into teams to cover more ground. Every minute counts.”
Jessica continued to listen, but there wasn’t much substance to Logan’s directions. They were merely going to look at places, see things, not people. As she listened, she began to formulate her own plan. But it would go nowhere if she didn’t get her phone back from Logan. That’s where the end of all this was going to start.
Wednesday. Edward Residence, London, UK.
Maxwell sipped his tea and looked over the man now restrained in his cellar.
The idiot Oliver had brought the bastard straight here. What a fucking moron. Not only had Oliver failed to deliver the woman, he’d brought this sorry sack of bones.
“Has he said anything?” Maxwell asked.
The two handymen he kept on retainer both shook their heads. They weren’t big on speaking. They saved that for their tasks.
“Bugger,” Maxwell muttered.
Oliver stood in the shadows, wringing his hands. The fool. It would have been better to bide their time instead of making a premature grab for someone that could very likely do nothing for them.
Maxwell snapped his fingers and pointed at Oliver then the ground in front of him. Oliver hesitated for a scant moment before crossing to stand in front of Maxwell.
“Do you know why I am displeased?” he asked.
Oliver flinched. “Yes, sir. I understand, sir.”
Maxwell drank the last of his tea. “Tell me how you’re going to fix this.”
“Oh, well, uh…” Oliver glanced over his shoulder at the Black man then back to Maxwell. “He’s fucking the girl. The blonde. Jessica. He’s her boyfriend.”
Maxwell eyed the man. He was tall and nicely built. It stood to reason that a person with features as symmetrical as this man’s would be viewed as attractive. But did he believe Oliver’s story? Or was this the rat trying to scurry out of the fire?
“That only matters if she cares enough about him to do something stupid.” Maxwell crossed his arms over his chest. “Have you heard from her?”
“Supposedly she got on a plane and left.” Oliver shrugged. “Haven’t heard from her.”
Maxwell wasn’t willing to over-play this weak hand.
The Americans had tucked tail and run from the Armsman. He’d enjoyed that little show to the very last act, so it was a shame to be roped into this nonsense.
He did the mental math.
Jessica Chapin would be back on US soil by now, just barely. Did she even know her man was in trouble?
A move had to be made. He wanted to flush his quarry into the open and have this nonsense done with once and for all.
“What about the laptop, sir?” Oliver asked.
“Hm.”
Maxwell didn’t know a thing about the laptop except it existed. He’d have people in today to take a crack at it. Until then it was hard to say whether it was valuable or not as a bargaining piece. Not that he intended to bargain, per se. More like lure the bunny in then take care of her and all her friends. With any luck, he’d be able to clean this up in one go. After all, there were more important things that needed his attention.
