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“Facetime the brother,” Rowe said. “And hold the screen up so he sees her face first.”
With a nod, Noah did as Rowe instructed while Hanna began to curse Rowe with a new desperation. This was interesting.
Kyle answered the phone on the first ring, his frantic voice coming through and for a moment, Hanna was silent. And then she started sounding warnings.
Rowe snatched the phone out of Noah’s hand. “Gag her. I want to talk to my new friend.”
As Hanna fell silent, Rowe turned the phone so that Kyle saw only his face. The kid—or young man since he looked to be in his early twenties—was a mess. Thin and pale, his eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. His dark hair stood up in all directions as if he’d been pulling at it.
“Where the hell are you? If you hurt her, I will kill you all! I will burn down this entire city!”
Rowe forced a smile, trying to ignore the little pangs of guilt cutting sharply through his chest. When he looked at Kyle, he saw a shadow of Ian and it hurt. He could easily imagine that Hanna had been the one thing to get him through those weeks and months and years with Jagger. She’s probably tried to keep him together and sane…or at least somewhat sane. And now Rowe stood between Kyle and the one thing that had probably kept him balanced and breathing.
“Had a little chat with your sister,” Rowe started, cutting off Kyle’s rant. “I get the impression that you’re not our fire starter. In fact, I bet you can’t even light a cigarette without her help.”
“Fuck—”
“But that’s not your job, is it? It’s your job to protect her.”
Kyle was completely silent, but he didn’t need to say a word. His face crumbled and he rapidly blinked back tears. It was written on his face. He felt guilty for his sister’s capture. Blamed himself.
“You want your sister back?”
“What do you want?” His voice was low and sullen.
“Eric Eccelston.”
“The kid?”
“Yeah, Jennifer Eccelston’s son. I want him alive and unharmed in twenty-four hours.”
“That’s it? We’ll make a swap—the kid for my sister?”
Rowe grinned and Kyle actually cringed away from the phone. “I want the kid, unharmed, and I want you and your sister to leave the Cincinnati area forever.”
Kyle sucked on his lower lip, looking more than a little disbelieving. “You’d let us leave?”
“I want Jagger, not you. You and Hanna leave quietly and we’ll forget about this.”
The young man glared at Rowe for several seconds before sucking in a ragged deep breath. “Fine. Midnight tomorrow at 1034 Boron. Just you and Hanna. I’ll come alone with the kid.” He then ended the call.
It was for the best. Rowe paused as he was sliding Hanna’s phone into his back pocket. The address sent a chill down his spine. It was familiar. Too familiar but he couldn’t recall why.
“Why there?” Lucas snapped, his voice echoing in the large building. “Why would he pick that location?”
Rowe’s eyes jumped up to look at his friend. Deep lines dug into his face and he couldn’t take his gaze off of Andrei, who was watching his lover with a mix of confusion and concern.
And then it hit him why the address was so damn familiar. He, Lucas, and Snow had been there before. But things hadn’t ended so well. They’d crossed a line in that building…to save Andrei.Chapter 25Rowe flinched against the cold wind as it rushed in through the open garage doors, rustling stray bits of trash before rushing back out of the building. Hanna sat with her legs crossed on the rough concrete floor in front of him, her arms bound behind her back. She’d been quiet since they’d struck the deal to make the swap, and Rowe could only hope that she’d stick to their agreement. That’s not to say that he didn’t have a couple tricks up his sleeve.
He looked around the abandoned factory, his eyes skirting away from a heavy metal door tucked off to his right near the front of the building. He never expected to be back. Everything had gone almost according to plan that night. They’d all gotten out alive, but Andrei had come close to dying. Too damn close.
The wind rushed in again and Rowe reached up, touching the earpiece resting in his ear. “Snow White in place with the Apple,” Rowe said in a low voice. “Everyone check in.”
“Doc in place. Road is clear,” Snow came back immediately from his position on the top of the building just a bit down the empty block.
“Sneezy in place. Momma bird is waiting in the nest,” Jude replied in a tone that managed to convey both amusement and fear. Again, Rowe worried that he shouldn’t be here. Jude had taken up a position hidden in the offices. His job was to look over Eric, check his health when they got him and keep the little boy safe. Snow was not happy about Jude’s presence, but the paramedic had demanded to come along, immediately countering that someone would need to check over the child and Snow would be too busy protecting Rowe’s back. Rowe almost pitied the doc when it came to arguing with his man. Jude had a sort of commanding personality that made arguing hard. Snow, as tough and difficult as he was, didn’t stand a chance.
