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Valentine filled me in. “The basic plan, if ye agree, will be this: We approach with caution, keeping a lookout for the cars belonging to the people we’re going to avoid. We’ll park up on a nearby road with lane access, and I’ll scout the area and retrieve that envelope. Assuming all is well, we’ll take the car to Molly’s, I’ll get out and run inside to get her bags. Molly will bring Tobi to ye in the back seat. No lengthy goodbyes or chat. No hanging around. Once we’ve got her safe, we drive for a while so I can ascertain if we’ve been followed. If we have, we go to plan B. If not, we’ll return home.”
I stared at him. “When you said you were in the military, you weren’t messing around.”
He gave a head waggle that was decidedly hot.
“What’s plan B if we’re followed?” I asked, shivering for multiple reasons.
“Did Raphael reply yet?”
I picked up his phone, noting the answer from his teammate.
“He gave a thumbs-up.”
“That means he’s available if we need him to pick ye and Tobi up by helicopter.”
My jaw dropped open. “You’re joking.”
“About safety? Never. If we have to enact that plan, it’s only a short flight. I’ll hang back and lead the family elsewhere.”
I’d fallen into an alternative universe with ultra helpful people and resources to burn. I was either lucky or dreaming. I couldn’t work out which. But the whole point was getting Tobi back, and if it meant taking what others had to offer, I’d do it.
Chapter 11
Valentine
A blue-black sky blanketed the streets of Stirling, the snow melted here—a benefit to those out on the prowl like myself. I slunk along the hedgerow, silent, and with my senses alert for any sound.
We’d made good time on the road, and it was gone five in the morning, few cars around and even fewer people, only a milk delivery van cruising by on its electric engine, the driver not spotting me.
My heart beat at a steady pace, and I breathed slowly, telling my body to remain calm, even though my adrenaline was up.
Back in the car, concealed two streets away, Mia had shown me on a map the house that was my target, then called her friend to tell her to be ready.
I was dead opposite the property, my focus on the lockbox in the front garden.
What reason would the arsehole family have to serve papers to Mia? They’d been trying to get her to sign something and issued threats against her daughter. They obviously wanted something, and I’d bet any money it would be at Mia and Tobi’s expense.
The front door of the house opened, and the homeowner peeked through the gap. She peered up and down the street, not spotting me, laid something on the step, then shut the door after herself.
I waited for a minute, nothing stirring. Sneaking across the road, I dove over her low fence, then darted to the shadows of the front door.
A thick white envelope waited, Mia’s name in bold type with her friend’s address beneath.
My stomach tightened.
This wasn’t what we’d agreed. Mia’s friend was supposed to have left me the lockbox key so I could retrieve the packet. But she’d already moved it.
With a muttered curse, I opened my backpack and took out my bug hunter. Passed it over the envelope. The indicator light turned red, my device silenced but the impact just the same.
There was a tracker hidden inside.
“Fuck,” I grumbled under my breath, another hit of adrenaline priming my limbs.
Decision time.
Movement of the paperwork would already have been picked up by whoever was monitoring that tracker. They’d almost certainly be on their way now.
Our time to take this slow was at an end.
