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Her eyes flashed. “Fuck you.” She stalked out of the room.
An uncomfortable silence followed. I didn’t bother breaking it, just concentrated on clicking through the satellite photos that existed of Helmsworth.
I stopped on an image that showed us the windows along the side, and we all let out a sound. This looked right. The right height. Arched windows. The missing panes, in that particular pattern, like missing teeth. The exact reverse pattern of what we had seen in the video. “Helmsworth,” Freya murmured, fingers flying on her laptop. “They specialized in barbed wire, razor wire, chain link. Went bankrupt eight years ago.”
We stared at the image on the screen. I shook my head. “Holy shit,” I whispered. “He was so close to us, all along. For months.”
“I want to see it today,” Freya said.
“No!” Jed and I said, in unison.
Freya gave us that look, the one we knew too well. “Don’t even try to stop me.”
“The six of us can go,” Remy said, not bothering to participate in the argument. “You, Jed, Freya, and the three of us. We can send in some of Shane’s drones to suss it out. Everyone else on the roster, plus Kat, holds down the fort here, to cover Holly.”
“Let’s get packed and ready,” I told them.
I walked back to the apartment to find Kat, angry at myself for bringing up her sisters like that. That was needlessly aggressive, and I had regretted it instantly.
I found her curled on the couch next to Holly. They were watching an enormous snake slither through a gothic dungeon on the screen while the boy wizard fought for his life. Didn’t seem very reassuring to me, but what did I know.
Kat did not acknowledge my existence, so I leaned over her shoulder. “Can I have a quick word in the kitchen?”
She turned blazing eyes to me. “Maybe, if the quick word includes an apology,” she said. “Otherwise, I’ll pass.”
“It does include an apology,” I said. “That’s first item of business.”
She studied my face for a moment and gave Holly a quick kiss on top of her head. “Be right back, honey,” she murmured.
She followed me into the kitchen, and leaned against the entryway, arms crossed over her chest.
“I’m sorry I said that,” I began. “I shouldn’t have brought up your sisters.”
“That’s for sure,” she said. “Don’t do it again. Or I am out of here like a shot.”
“Never again,” I promised. “But we are going to check out that warehouse.”
Her mouth tightened. “Oh, God, Ethan. Don’t.”
“We’ll be careful,” I told her. “We’ll send in a drone first. Shane designed them for just this kind of thing. We won’t go in ourselves unless it’s perfectly safe.”
Kat shook her head. “There’s no such thing, and you know it. Not with these people. They just reached inside your own house and smacked your little girl, right in front of you. Now you’re running right into the bag they’re holding open for you. Like a chump.”
I shook my head. “We’ll be in and out in no time. We’ll come right back to analyze any intel we gather. Don’t worry. We’re all of us boot-leather tough sons of bitches. We’re not running into anybody’s bag. I swear to God.”
“You’re tough sons of bitches who are not thinking clearly,” Kat said grimly.
“I’ve got a small army of guys staying here to guard you,” I assured her. “You’ll look after Holly for me? You won’t leave her alone?”
“Of course I won’t,” she grumbled. “But I hate that you’re doing this.”
I’m sorry, but we have to,” I said. “It has to be done, and it’s not as if there’s ever going to be a better time to do it. What else can we do?”
“Just be really fucking careful,” she said fiercely. “Promise me you will.”
“Always.”
I followed up with an ardent kiss, so passionate Kat swatted me away, laughing. “Save it for later, lover boy. I’m too uptight to appreciate your seductive wiles right now.”
