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“What’s wrong? You’ve got a look—where’s Hartley?” Eli asked.
“Whoever blew up the Castle has her. He took our phones, knocked me out.” He lengthened his strides into a sprint, leaving a perplexed Eli trying to keep up.
“We’ll find her, Mont. Hey, wait!”
But Montgomery had already sped up into his highest gear, not caring that he stumbled on fallen branches or bumped against trees with his shoulders. He had to reach Topkapi. Without his tablet, he wouldn’t be able to see where their devices were. Where anybody’s devices were.
As he burst from the tree line, the elegant palace shone like a beacon in the growing light. He had to slow at the first gate, fumbling with the lock until a panting Eli ran up and swiped his card.
“We’ll get her,” Eli promised, trotting after Montgomery after he almost ripped the gate off its hinges.
Every second he didn’t know where Hartley was increased the pressure in his brain. He barreled into the building, Eli behind him, and into the elevator.
“Oh thank God!” Claire cried at the sight of them. She paced before a bank of monitors, her phone pressed to her ear. “Nobody’s answering.” She ran into Eli’s arms, looking behind him. “Why did Hartley go to the Treehouse? What was that noise?”
Mongtomery’s blood turned to ice. “Show me,” he barked, striding across the room to the computers. He clicked open the window with the map.
Four dots blinked on the screen, converged in the general area of the Treehouse. One was labeled Hartley; two, Montgomery; another Pierce; and the last was someone they all thought they trusted.
“Oh my God,” Claire murmured, her eyes wide. “Karol? But…Karol?”
Eli looked stricken. “Christ, I thought he was on our side.”
Rage boiled through Montgomery, black and corrosive. “Apparently not. Where’s the backup tablet?”
Claire pointed behind the monitor, and he reached to grab it, powering it on and opening the map.
“If Pierce’s phone is there…” Claire murmured.
“I doubt Pierce is actually there. He would have knocked him out, like he did me,” Montgomery said.
Just then the elevator opened and Pierced stumbled in, a hand on the back of his head.
“Where’s Karol? He knocked me out—” Pierce demanded, stopping when Montgomery brushed past him on his way to the elevator.
“Eli will update you,” he called, tapping the tablet’s screen.
“Wait, Montgomery!” Claire rushed over to grab his arm. “You can’t go out there alone.”
Eli stood behind her, loosening her grip on his arm, as if Montgomery might aggressively shake her off. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Montgomery calmed his voice. “I work better alone, but you should leave. All of you. This whole place could be rigged—even Topkapi, if he came back to rig it after your team checked it out.”
He locked eyes with Eli.
“What about you? I know youwantto work alone—” Eli said.
“Take your wife and my niece or nephew, and get out of here. Stay away from the properties,” Montgomery said, striding back to the elevator.
“He’s right,” Eli said, turning to wave Pierce to join them. “Let’s go.”
They crowded into the elevator together. Eli used Claire’s phone to contact his other men, who joined them.
Just as the doors slid open at the tunnel level, Claire slipped her arm through his, hugging it. “She’s a pain in our asses most of the time, but please,” she whispered in a shaky voice. “Bring her back.”
Montgomery clasped her fingers briefly in silent agreement.
They got out of the elevator, commandeering the two golf carts. As they drove toward the exit, the air thickened with dust from the explosion. Montgomery pulled his shirt over his mouth again as they stopped at the gate.
