Page 76 of Merciless King

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His building was easy enough to get into and I made short work of the security system. The pictures of him and his brother let us know which was his office. There was a laptop sitting on his desk, and Neco was in ten minutes later.

“He’s got everything encrypted. Only a man with something to hide has this kind of setup. I need to take it back to the agency.”

On the way back I heard from Zeke. They found the cab company and were following a lead, and in the meantime…fuck, I couldn’t think about what could be happening to London while we scrambled to find her, and still function.

Neco took the laptop to his office and I started going through CCTV footage, working out in a grid from the coffee shop. Basically, London was a needle in a haystack. And without her phone we couldn’t even track her through GPS. Terrence’s phone was either turned off or he’d ditched it for a new one.

Zeke and Hunter walked in thirty minutes later and shook their heads when I shot out of my seat.

“Got something,” Neco said. “Fuck, this shit is…it’s bad, Van. Dark net sick shit right here.”

“Tell me,” I gritted out.

“Stuart Coombs had a fucking blog, pictures, descriptions of the evil shit he did, and Terrence is all over it, the motherfucker’s number one fan.”

I stiffened at the mention of Coombs’s name, the serial killer who had almost taken London’s life the first time. We knew Owen had worshiped the evil fucker, but this was a whole new level of sick.

Neco clicked around. “There’s another blog linked to this one.” His fingers were flying over the keys. “This one’s all Terrence’s.” He cursed.

I stared at the screen. London. There were pictures of London all over it. London kneeling in the park, crying, covered in dirt, no doubt after burying her dog. London walking home. Working in her shop.

“There’s an audio,” Neco said. He clicked play under the title: First attempt at the flower shop.

London crying out echoed through the room from the speakers and lifted the hair on the back of my neck. The sound of a scuffle, her panicked cries, shit smashing. Then Owen calling his threats through the door.

I shoved my fingers through my hair, feeling so fucking helpless.

“He just posted something,” Neco said. “There’s a link, but it’s password protected.”

“Can you get in?”

“I’ll need a few minutes,” Neco said.

Hunter gripped my shoulder. “Let us check it out first.”

I shook my head.

“Fuck, Van, you might need to prepare yourself,” my brother said.

I spun on him instantly, grabbed him by the throat, and shoved him up against the wall. “Don’t…” I growled. “Do not fucking say that. Don’t even think it.”

“I’m in,” Neco said.

“She’s alive.” That was Zeke. “Van.”

I spun around and stared at the screen. London was in the middle of a room. Hands and feet tied, sitting in a chair. She was gagged, tears streaming down her face.

“He’s streaming live,” Neco said.

And we weren’t the only ones watching. Six others had tuned in to watch Terrence finish what Coombs had started.

“Is there any way to trace this, get their location?”

“I’m not sure,” Neco said. “I think so, but it’ll take some time.”

We didn’t have time.