Sunday. Safe House, Chicago, Illinois.BRENDEN STARED OUT OF the windows of the high-rise apartment. Seeing as the main Aegis headquarters was a ways out of the city, the company owned several properties here. Including this upscale apartment used as both a safe house and guest space for clients. He'd been here more times than he could count.A lot more times than he'd visited his family that was for sure.It was a thought that hadn't bothered him until today.Before moving to Seattle Brenden had made a token effort. He'd show up when he had to, but once he'd relocated from Chicago, he hadn't seen a reason to come back. The distance had always been a good thing.Warmth radiated against his back and he knew without looking that Priscilla was there.His gaze focused on the bit of movement reflected back at him, watching her figure then her features emerge in the glass."Settle in okay?" he asked."Yeah. Man, this is some view, isn't it?""Yeah.""I haven't been to
Monday. Safe House, Chicago, Illinois.PRISCILLA SLICKED ON A little gloss then stood back, giving her reflection a once over.She hadn't slept. Not even a little dozing. She'd been too angry. Then because her body was still recovering from the crash she couldn't go to the gym like she wanted. Midnight yoga then a bath was about as much as she could handle, and even that brought up memories.Baths would forever be ruined for her. She just couldn't sit there and not remember that huge soaker tub and Brenden holding her limp body.Fuck him.She'd thought they were similar. That they were both creating new lives. She'd been wrong.He was happy living in his rut, alienated from family, stuck in a bog, living the same thing day after day.Priscilla wanted more.He'd woken up the desire for companionship in her.Before Brenden she'd accepted that all men were in some form of competition with her. Now she had to wonder if there was someone out there like Brenden who could
Monday. Chicago, Illinois."WHERE THE FUCK DID they go?" Brenden twisted in his seat to stare at the eighteen wheeler that had narrowly missed crashing into them."Shit!" Nolan slammed on the brakes.The SUV skidded then hit something, throwing Brenden forward. If it weren't for the seatbelt snapping tight, he'd have hit the dash."Mother fucker," he snarled.He knew without looking this wasn't an accident. Blindly he groped for his weapon, pushing aside the dull ache from the collision.Priscilla was back there where he couldn't see her and he knew she was the target. The one they wanted.Brenden ignored the stabbing pain in his neck and lifted his too-heavy head to stare at two gunmen. Unlike the thugs from New Mexico these people were professionals. It was their gear, the weapons, how they held themselves. These were people on their level, and they'd kill Brenden before he could get to Priscilla."Grant? Riley?" Nolan said, his voice coming through the earpiece as
Monday. Asclepius Health, Chicago, Illinois.BRENDEN STARED DAGGERS AT the self-important officer taking his sweet time signing off on returning their gear.This was a waste of their fucking time.Cops had rolled up several minutes after Priscilla's abduction. Zain had been able to trace her phone and tracking bracelet to a block away. After that, he couldn't find anything. The cops had acted on what they'd seen and assumed their team was the problem. After a lengthy back and forth, involving their boss, lawyers and calling their clients at Asclepius, they should be on their way. But here they were, killing more valuable moments.The trail was cold.Priscilla and her kidnappers were long gone.A team like that, who knew what they were doing, should have her whisked away in moments. They'd change vehicles, drivers. Priscilla had vanished right from under his damn nose. And they all knew what was going to happen to her if they didn't find her."Guys?" Melody came around
Monday. Unknown.BY THE TIME THE third car she'd been in stopped, Priscilla was practically hogtied. She'd failed in the garage, but had gathered her wits to make a go of running for it when the car stopped a second time. Her kidnappers were ready for her though. They'd been on her in a second and gagged her.What good were all those years of training?She'd utterly fucked up from the moment she'd thrown up on her attacker. She was better than this.Anger fueled her as she was dragged between two men through an attached garage and kitchen into the main room of a house she'd never seen before.Her spit-soaked gag made breathing hard. More of her ached.God, what if they killed her? What if it really happened?Brenden would never know how she felt. She'd never get the chance to tell him he was missing out or change his mind. She knew he cared about her. They had something special, and it would die with her.When was the last time she'd spoken to her parents? Her sister
Brenden stepped back and examined the six foot stone and wrought-iron fence surrounding the property. Getting over it would be easy. The tricky part would be to remain undetected. The house had large windows. There could be a security system in place, cameras he couldn't see. But that was a risk he'd have to take.If he wanted to ensure he got inside, he had to move now, before the smoker was done.He sidestepped the tree and watched the smoker stare at his phone.This was Brenden's chance.He grabbed the top of the fence and using the tree, boosted himself up and over onto the property. The immaculately kept grass cushioned his landing and kept it silent.The smoker didn't glance Brenden's way at all.Time was not on his side though. He'd have preferred a more cautious approach, but this was what he had.Brenden sprinted forward, swerving right so the corner of the garage partially obscured him. He didn't draw his gun. If he had to shoot it was all over. A sound like tha
Tuesday. Richard Carlson's Home, Chicago, Illinois.PRISCILLA'S FEARS HAD ALWAYS been wrapped around the horrors that happened to her as a child. The trauma she'd endured was psychological. She'd always maintained that nothing could come close to that, until now.Real fear was watching the man she loved beaten until every new blow sprayed the floor, the furniture and her with his blood.Tears stung her eyes, and she jerked against the bonds securing her to the fireplace. All that anger, the need to go to his protection, and all she could do was cry?This was bullshit."Enough," the man named Arturo snapped. "We have to amend our plans."Damian stepped up to Arturo's side. "Secure him, spray the blood with the ammonia then get ready to go."Priscilla pulled on her bonds. There was no give, and they were so tight her hands were beginning to lose feeling.Two men dragged Brenden toward her then bound his hands and ankles. One eye was swollen and that same gash on the si
Tuesday. Unknown, Chicago, Illinois.BRENDEN SHOULD HAVE KNOWN better.He let his eyes shut again. Or more appropriately, his eye. The left was nearly swollen shut.Waiting for the team would have been the better choice. But how should he have known Priscilla's kidnappers had a timeline?He'd rushed in because he let his emotions get in the way, and now he might have blown their chances at getting rescued. His tracker was likely fried thanks to the EMP. The goons had taken and destroyed his phone. That left his one and only hope his comm unit.The device had a GPS tracking feature, but only when it was turned on. It was still in his pocket, but there was no way he'd be able to power the thing on to signal the team. If he could do that, he might as well give them a rundown.If Priscilla died because he'd been foolish, he hoped they killed him.Time dragged on.Their car ride got longer and longer as they left Chicago and its suburbs behind.Every so often he opened