The dog whined, then squeezed through two bushes. Sebastian got on his hands and knees, following Tucker to the other side. A clearing about thirty feet wide stretched in front of him.
Tucker whimpered as he approached a figure on the ground.
Time stopped.
All Sebastian could hear was the roar of blood rushing through his ears as he stared at the lifeless form. He walked closer, heart thudding in his chest. Tucker moved to the side, giving Sebastian an unobstructed view of his best friend. His knees buckled as he stared into Ike’s face, twisted at an unnatural angle with eyes closed.
Ike couldn’t be dead.
This wasn’t fucking happening.
Not on top of everything else.
He wasn’t going to lose his friend, too.
Sebastian scrambled to the ground, pressing two fingers to Ike’s neck while he dug in his pocket for his cell phone with his other hand. The phone rang as he concentrated on any movement from his best friend. A slight tremor brushed against his fingers.
“Where the hell are you?” Kane demanded. “We’ve been trying to reach you—”
“I found … Ike,” Sebastian forced the words out. “He has a pulse, but it’s weak. Not sure if he has any other injuries.”
“Hold on, we’re triangulating to get your location now,” Everett said.
A rustle of frantic discussion was white noise in his ears as he stared at Ike. He prayed that it wasn’t too late. That they could help Ike and get their friend back.
Bobby’s voice came on the line. “Sebastian.”
“Yeah.”
“Listen to me. Adonis and Kane are headed out there to get Ike. Everett is reaching out to one of his old DEA contacts, a doctor, to come to the compound to check Ike out,” Bobby said.
“Okay.”
“As soon as they arrive, you need to go,” Bobby insisted. “I’m sending Gabrielle’s location to your phone.”
“You found her?”
“Yeah, we found her,” Bobby said.
Sebastian glanced up as the clouds broke apart, allowing a glorious ray of sun to bathe down upon him and Ike.
Chapter40
It was night two at the safe house.
Alone with only a rotating cast of guards to protect her.
Most barely spoke, keeping a respectful and professional distance. She didn’t mind because none of them was the man she wanted with her. Missing Sebastian was palpable, like a physical presence in the house. She longed to talk to him, but there was no chance. She gripped her butterfly necklace and squeezed it between her fingers. The message she asked Serena to give Sebastian would have to be enough for now.
As the officers secured her into an unmarked vehicle in the alley behind Hotel Braganza, she’d begged Serena to go to Sebastian and tell him she believed in him. She didn’t believe Brad’s theory about Sebastian being her stalker. She never could because she knew the man that he was. The one who meant more to her than she’d ever dreamed anyone could. She was counting the seconds until they could be together again.
She just wished she could talk to Serena. Find out what Sebastian’s reaction had been to her message. But Brad had forbidden it. There were no cell phones allowed in the safe house. No Wi-Fi. No internet.
Gabrielle glanced down at her bracelet.
No way for Sebastian to find her this time since the signal emitted from the bracelet had to connect to Wi-Fi for him to find her.
She exhaled a resigned breath as her night guard knocked on the door.
