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Odin’s guess was on the first though, since none of his people were hit either.
“Looks like Frost only has idiots left in his arsenal, boss,” Arl said, probably thinking the same thing Odin just had.
Before he could answer, the elevator dinged and the doors opened to show Loni waiting to get off.
When he spotted her, Odin frowned. “What are you doing down here?”
She tilted her head, clearly just as confused as he was. “Sir?”
“It’s not a hard question.” Had someone informed her that the fighting was contained? “If I put you on security detail, Loni, you aren’t allowed to leave his side until I tell you otherwise. Haven’t we been through this?”
“But…” She glanced between him and Arl, still obviously lost. “Didn’t you have Corbi relieve me?”
“What?” He shook his head. “I did no such thing. Why would I do that?”
“She said you no longer trusted me to guard over Hunter,” she explained. “That you wanted her to take my place…Sir, did you really not give her that order?”
Odin went cold.
He’d backed her into the elevator and hit the button for the top floor all in one move. The doors slid shut behind them, blocking the other two out, not that he noticed them any longer. “When? When did she tell you this?”
“It’s been about ten minutes,” Loni said, panic showing in her eyes. “The last I saw she was headed to your room.”
The elevator came to a stop and he practically ran out of it, pounding the keycode to unlock his bedroom door with enough force it was a wonder the screen didn’t crack. As soon as he got it open the fear he’d been feeling burst.
It was empty.
With a roar, he turned on Loni, grabbing her by the throat and pinning her to the hallway wall opposite the door. “Where the fuck are they?!”
“I don’t know!” She gripped his wrist but didn’t attempt to get him to release her. “I thought you’d given the order. It made sense. I’d messed up so many times already—”
“What the hell do you call this?!” Logically, he knew he wasn’t being fair. He would have believed Corbi’s lie too. Illogically, he wanted someone to blame, someone to take the brunt of his anger, and unfortunately for her, Loni was the only one here.
“Sir?!” Vetle rounded the corner, partially out of breath.
Arl must have informed him something was up.
“Check the security footage!” he snapped. “All of them! Find Hunter and Corbi now!”
“Wait,” Loni stopped him just before Vetle was about to go, tapping her multi-slate before Odin could curse at her again. “We can track her! We each have a trace in case one of us gets lost.”
Odin let her go. “Do it.”
Corbi was loyal, but there was no reason for her to have done any of this, which could only mean whatever she had planned, it wasn’t anything Odin would approve of. The fact that Hunter had gone with her…
“Got her!” Loni held up her multi-slate so he could see the screen. “They’re close! Just around the next block over!”
Odin took off, trusting that she and Vetle would follow without being told. Sure enough, he heard their steps come after him as he pounded down the stairs and out the nearest exit. Judging by the map on Loni’s device, they were somewhere off to the right, and he started running in that direction, his only thought to get to Hunter before something bad happened.
“I’ll grab a car!” Vetle called after them, Loni sticking only a pace or so behind Odin as they crossed the street.
In his desperation, Odin hadn’t even considered that he wouldn’t stand a chance of catching up to them if Corbi was driving. Still, he kept going, turning when Loni gave a new direction.
They were out in the open and just after a direct attack. There was no telling how many Frost soldiers were out here, lingering, having played it safe and not entered the club with the rest. Frost’s people aside, the whole city knew Hunter was a Whisper by now, which meant every thug and his grandmother who was cocky enough to think they stood a chance would consider Hunter a prize.
They kidnap him and hold him for ransom? Sounded like an obvious plan. Even a moron could come up with it.
Hunter had gotten better at fighting, and could certainly hold his own, but what if someone held him at gunpoint? With a blaster in his face, he’d be forced to do whatever the other person said.
