Page 108 of Locked and Loaded

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Lennox couldn’t take any more speeches. The pleas for the earth were wearing on her already scraped raw nerves. She stood slowly. Alex glanced at her. Lennox leaned over. “Just heading to the restroom.”

Alex nodded. She started to rise, but Lennox shook her head. “Just need a quiet moment. I’ll be fine.”

Alex held her gaze for a moment and then nodded.

Lennox walked out of the ballroom and down the hallway toward the ladies’ room.

“Um,” Mick’s voice came through the comms, “I just got off the phone with Fontaine’s contact in Malta banking. Does anyone know someone named Helen Carruthers?”

There was dead silence, and then, “Fucking hell. Are you serious?” from Archer Gray.

“That’s the name that I’ve got. It’s on the original documentation for the very first company.”

Gray swore a blue streak. “Fucking Arctic Circle. It should have been far enough.”

There was new swearing. “Fucking Helen Carruthers. She was a bitch from the get-go. We should’ve smoked her when we had the chance.”

Lennox was pretty sure that was someone named Flynn.

“Isn’t she in her nineties?” Ryker asked.

“Sixties or seventies,” Flynn responded. “Still. Fucking cold bitch.”

Archer’s voice had turned to ice. “She’s here. I can guarantee it.”

“In the hotel?” Armand asked.

“No. But somewhere close by. Let me do some digging.”

“Uh, guys?” Mick’s voice was back. “The cops are on the way.”

“What?” Mitch asked. “Repeat.”

“He is correct,” Armand added. “I have just received a notification. Interpol is coming as well. They received a ‘credible’ tip that there is human trafficking going on here and that a secret society they have been tracking for years is responsible.”

“Fucking bitch.” Archer snarled.

Rush asked, “You think she’s behind the cops?”

Archer growled audibly. “Yes, I do. What better way to bring down the Society that sent her away than to drag it into the light and blame human trafficking on us?”

“I concur, mon ami. This makes sense. We need to evacuate all our members now. We must get them to safety. And it pains me to say it, but the auction attendees as well. Some are members. We cannot take the risk.”

Lennox stood frozen in front of the mirror in the ladies’ room. This could not be happening. They were going to help Georgiou get away. She would never find out what happened to Chloe. Think. She told herself over and over.

Dragan’s voice echoed in her ear. “Word’s gotten out. All hell is breaking loose in here. Going to try and find Georgiou, but it’s pandemonium.”

“No. No. No. No. No!” Lennox couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. This could not happen.

Shaking her head, she gripped the edge of the counter so hard it dug into her palms. The pain cleared her thinking. What had Archer Gray said? It was a theatre of sorts. Where were the exits in a theatre? At the bottom by the stage.

She left the bathroom and sped toward the staircase. She was going to find Georgiou and get answers.

She came out of the stairwell in the kitchen area. “Where do the exits in the theatre come out?” she asked a young cook who was cutting vegetables.

“That way,” he said, pointing down a hallway.