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“Me? I’m fine. I’d be a helluva a lot finer if you would answer your damn phone.”
“I told you. I can’t turn it on. It can be tracked.”
“Can I call you on this line?”
“This is supposed to be a secure line. It’s like government level secure or something. You can reach me at this number.”
“How will you know if your sister calls?”
“They’re checking messages. But, at this point, they believe something’s happened to her, too. Her credit and debit cards haven’t been used.”
“Damn.” The word comes out as a sigh. “She really is missing. I can’t believe you haven’t been calling me every single day.”
“I know. But I can’t. Just from our one conversation, they found me.”
“That’s what the secret agent duo said. Unbelievable. Are you any closer to finding Sloane?”
“Not yet. But if anyone can find her, they will.”
“Who the hell are they? Like ex-Navy SEALs? Rambo wannabes?”
“I don’t think Rambo was a SEAL.”
“Sage. Who. The. Fuck. Cares? Who are these people?”
“They work for a security company.”
“Bullshit. I had an alarm installed on my house, and these men do not work for CPI Alarm Systems or any CPI competitor.”
“Don’t be a dumbass.” I’m grinning, and he’s grinning too…I can hear it in his voice. “No, they handle special cases, like missing persons. The CIA and FBI are both clients. But I think that’s for cases where the US can’t be officially involved.”
“This is surreal, Sage.” A heaviness falls over the line. It is. All of it is. “You know, those men, they said that they may have burned your house down to flush you out. Like, they studied you and knew that you would reach out to me. Why would they do that? Did Sloane tell you trade secrets or something?”
“I swear, Jimmy, no. Sloane and I, I mean, you know. What she works on in the lab is so over my head. She was excited. She was making headway. I know that. She was frustrated at times. Her boss pressured her to work on cellular rejuvenation for anti-aging purposes, and as you know, she’s really into cellular re-growth for organs, but…she never seemed scared or worried. And none of that would be worth abducting her.”
Sam, our paranoid sibling, had been the one worried about unthinkable scenarios. Any email could be read, so he rarely emailed. He’d drop letters off to me and wouldn’t send them through the military base. He got Sloane and me into the habit of mailing letters too. But he’s been gone for two years.
“You said a man broke into your home and he had a silencer on his gun.”
The cylindrical device on top of the handgun had been a silencer. I recognized it from Sam’s stockpile. “Yes.”
“Did you see if he had any restraints dangling from his waist?”
“Like handcuffs?”
“Yeah, or rope or anything?”
I think back to my limited view through the crack in the dresser. “It was really dark. I couldn’t see much.” Not even his face. His steps were heavy on the wood. Methodical. I turn my attention to the clear blue skies outside the bedroom window. “Why?”
“It’s just a comment one guy said. When he found the listening device. He said that they were dealing with professionals. And the other guy, the Somerhalder guy, said… yet they missed. He didn’t say more, but it got me thinking. Sloane is missing. She’s a scientist, and she has no one in her life other than you.”
“That’s not true.”
“Really? I know you love her, but come, now. She’s as frosty as they come. And that’s me being generous. What if they want her to do something, like build a nuclear weapon, and she’s refusing, and they want to threaten your life to force her to do it?”
“Okay, first, whatever books or movies you’re into, it’s time for a change.”
“I’m serious.”
