by Leigh James
“I wouldn’t call the information ‘completely unverified,’ but I can’t tell you the source. I’ll leave it at that. I’m taking a risk by telling you, but I’m doing you a favor—you need to nip this in the bud, Gabriel. We just started distribution and I’ve always considered Dynamica a friendly partner. But if the patch changes in price or structure, my labs are going to be upset. Everyone’s been adapting to the new technology and making plans to convert to primarily using the patch for testing.”
I wanted to keep her focused on the upside. “That’s good.”
“Not if Lauren sells the company! This could permanently damage my reputation and my relationship with my labs, and I won’t be happy. Neither will anyone else. The Chinese can be difficult to deal with, and I happen to know that they will raise prices in an instant. No one wants that, especially not me.”
“Not me either. Thanks for the call, Olivia. I’ll be in touch soon.”
I hung up and started to pace, running my hands through my hair.
News of the impending sale had been leaked—which had the potential to blow up the deal. If my international partners got wind of the fact that the cutthroat and aggressively growing Jiàn Innovations might be purchasing Paragon, they would bail out of our agreement in droves. Li Na would not be pleased with the potential drop in earnings.
If she found out about this before we got Hannah back, there could be dire consequences.
Who had leaked this, and why? I stalk-paced around my office, considering the options. As far as I knew, Lauren hadn’t told her employees yet, just her board of directors. I hadn’t shared the news with anyone other than my brothers. Whoever had contacted Olivia was someone close to us, someone who understood that news of a sale to Jiàn Innovations would rattle our partners.
Someone who understood this could potentially implode the deal.
Olivia was upset, and she had reason to be: I hadn’t disclosed the possible sale, which meant I’d essentially lied to her. I’d built a massive empire on my own technical expertise, but more than that, I’d built relationships with people. People who believed they could trust Dynamica and trust me, because I delivered.
With everything going on, I hadn’t stopped to consider what was going to happen to my company’s reputation and prospects as a result of Li Na’s hardcore tactics. Paragon’s sale would cause shockwaves throughout my own ecosphere. I’d never been afraid of starting over, but I had people depending on me, including Lauren’s people, because I wanted to give them a safe haven when this was all over. That offer wasn’t born of pity; Lauren’s team was top-notch. If she became an executive at Dynamica, we could rule the biotech industry together.
But not if our reputations were trashed.
Maybe it was time to quit the business, I mused. I had enough money. I could go buy that island we’d visited a few short months ago. We could all live there happily ever after. Me, Lauren, Hannah, and Wesley… I might even let my brothers visit.
I stood by my window and looked out at the parking lot: it was full. I looked around my office, at the original artwork and couches…but the things I owned didn’t matter to me. The people I supported, however, meant everything.
I looked back at the parking lot. I could run and hide from the world, but this was my company, dammit, and Paragon was Lauren’s. And we’d worked for years to build everything we had. We had people depending on us, people with families and mortgages and car payments and dreams.
More important than all that—and all that was very important—this was bullshit. Li Na could bite me. She wasn’t going to take my family and everything that I’d worked for away from me.
I just had to figure out how to hold on.
And I had to figure out a way to keep Lauren away from Li Na. If the time came, she would sacrifice herself for Hannah. She wouldn’t even hesitate. That was part of the reason I loved her—she was fearless, more than she gave herself credit for. But I couldn’t let her surrender herself, even though I certainly understood. I would do the same thing, even though both Levi and Asher hadn’t brought Hannah home yet…
Ryan buzzed in. “What?” I snapped.
“Your brother Ash is on the phone.”
“Put him through.”
“We found the car,” he said without preamble.
“Where?”
“At the Eastridge Mall.”
The mall was a half hour from Lauren’s house. “Good work. What’s next?”
“This doesn’t mean they’re hiding nearby, but it’s at least a start. We’re going to start looking, start canvassing the area. And then we’re going to find Hannah, and then we’re going to get her out. How does that sound?”
I stared at the full parking lot, my hand gripping the phone. “It sounds like exactly what I needed to hear.”
Chapter 10
Lauren
My brothers want to have a meeting tonight, Gabe texted me.
I’m leaving soon, I texted back.
I took a final look at the patent agreement my team had drafted. “I think this looks good enough to send over,” I said to Bethany. “What do you think?”
“I agree.” Bethany started drafting an email to Petra. Her gaze flicked to me. “You ready to do this?”
I nodded. It wasn’t as though I had a choice.
“I’m going home to have a meeting with Gabe and his brothers—would you like to join us?”
Bethany hit Send and grabbed her bag. “Okay. I just hope they have some news. I’m sure you feel the same way.”
The men were waiting for us when we got home. Gabe jumped up when he saw me, taking me into his arms. “Did you hear anything today?”
“No, but we finished the documents and sent them over.” Which means we’re closer to a showdown. I looked away, not wanting to see his expression.
His grip around me tightened, which told me everything.
“Lauren, thanks for being here. I know you’re extremely busy,” Levi said. “I want to update you. You know we traced the plates to the vehicle that Li Na’s men stole. We found that car at the Eastridge Mall today—and Ash tracked down the owners.”
My pulse quickened. “Did you find anything that leads to Hannah?”
“Not yet, but this car was stolen from San Francisco, from a neighborhood that experiences a pretty high level of crime. I’m guessing they knew that—I think the people who did the job could be locals. Which is both good and bad. Good because they might be comfortable enough to stay in the area, and bad for the same reason. They could be very well hidden.”
“So what’s next?” I asked.
“I’ve been consulting with the FBI and the NSA, so I’ll follow up on this lead with them,” Levi said. “They might have something useful with the neighborhood—we can cross-reference their databases to try to find the men we’re looking for.”
Ash leaned forward. “And I’m taking the crew to go out and do a search. We’ll start at the mall, checking neighborhoods around the area. We’re also looking into every stolen vehicle that’s been taken from the area during this timeframe. It’s going to take a while, but at least we’ll be doing something while we wait for their next move.”
“That’s great—it’s progress. Thank you.”
Ash nodded. “Hopefully, we’ll turn up something.”
I swallowed hard, dreading what I needed to say next. It wasn’t going to go well, but we had to talk about it. “I think Li Na’s next move is to arrange the exchange—as soon as the paperwork’s approved. I got the sense from her that she wants me sooner than later.”
Gabe tensed next to me. “Babe—”
“Hey.” I put my hand on his thigh and squeezed. “We need to discuss this, okay?”
He opened his mouth to start arguing, so I turned back to Levi. “If she wants to set up an exchange, is there something we can do? To…disrupt it?”
I didn’t want to become Li Na’s prisoner, but I wasn’t sure what, if any, options I had.
“It depen
ds on the setup,” Levi explained. “But we’ll do everything we can to keep you away from her.”
“And get Hannah back,” I said. “Because that’s the important thing.”
I stared at Levi as Gabe stared at me.
“Doing ‘everything you can’ isn’t specific enough for me,” Bethany chimed in. “If my client’s life is going to be put in danger, I would like more assurance than what you’re offering, which sounds suspiciously like a campaign promise.”
“I second that.” Gabe sounded both miserable and pissed.
Levi rolled his eyes. “I can’t make promises without more information. Of course I’m going to keep Lauren safe and get Hannah back. That’s the whole point.”
There was an uneasy break in the conversation as we considered what lay ahead.
“What can we do tonight?” Gabe asked.
“I’m going to take the crew out to start surveillance on the area,” Ash said. “You’re welcome to come.”
Levi shot Ash a look, but Gabe ignored it, jumping up immediately. “Sounds great. I’ll be ready in ten minutes.” He hustled from the room, not giving any of us a backward glance, in case I complained or Levi rescinded Ash’s offer.
“What’re you doing?” Levi asked Ash warily.
Ash shrugged. “He wants to help. It’s not like we’re going to do anything exciting.” He got up and left before Levi could tear into him.
Levi turned back to me and Bethany. “Let me know when Zhao contacts you again.”
“Of course. Also, Agent Marks called me today looking for an update. I didn’t get into specifics.”
“That’s fine—he’s not much help these days. I’ll check in with him again tonight, but I have another buddy over there who’s much more useful.”
We sat in awkward silence for a moment. There was nothing left to do but wait for Li Na’s next move.
“Would you both like a drink?” Levi asked. “I’m pretty sure I’m overdue.”
I raised my hand. “I have to face Gabe—of course I’d like a drink. Bethany?”
“Sure?” She sounded skeptical.
Levi handed Bethany a glass of wine. “I can tell you more about what we’ve been doing and my background—you seem like you still need some convincing that my company’s legitimate.”
“All the convincing I need is for you to actually get something done on this case.”
“I appreciate you not mincing words.” He raised his glass. “Cheers.”
Bethany arched an eyebrow. “I’m not sure there’s much to be toasting, yet…”
I grabbed my own wine and snuck out, leaving them to their pissing contest.
Gabe was in the bedroom. He’d changed into a dark sweatshirt.
I sank down on the bed. “Is what you’re doing tonight going to be dangerous?”
“Are you seriously asking me that?”
“I haven’t done anything.” Yet. I jutted my chin out. “And I can’t fight with you about what I haven’t done. I can, however, worry that you’re about to get yourself shot.”
He sighed and cupped my chin. “We’re just doing preliminary legwork. I guarantee you we won’t find anything tonight—the only lead we have is where they dumped the car. Looking for Hannah from there is…”
“Is what?”
A glimmer of sympathy lit his eyes. “It’s like looking for a blonde needle in a haystack.”
I nodded. I either refused or was unable to cry at this point; I wasn’t sure which.
“I forgot to tell you something,” he said. “I had a call from my vendor in London—she heard about the sale.”
“What? Heard about it how?”
“She wouldn’t tell me that.”
I stood up and started pacing. “Who would’ve leaked that news, especially to one of your partners? Everyone who knows is aware it’s confidential!”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it.”
“Li Na won’t like it either—and I can’t let that be a problem. Did you tell your brothers?”
“I mentioned it. I didn’t want to tell you and make you upset, but I also didn’t want to hide it, because…you know. We aren’t doing that.” He stopped me from pacing and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “But I want you to know that I’m going to handle it. You have enough on your plate right now.”
“I appreciate that, but please keep me posted. And just so you know, when Li Na does get in touch about the trade, I promise to tell you everything.”
“Good—that’s reasonable.”
“In exchange, you have to be as reasonable about what she wants, given the circumstances.”
“I promise to be reasonable. As long as she doesn’t touch a hair on your precious blonde head.”
“Gabe!” Ash called from down the hall. “Let’s go!”
I pulled away from him reluctantly. “Why are you doing this tonight? Is it going to be dangerous at all?”
“It won’t be dangerous at all—only dangerously boring. But I can’t stand sitting around here, not doing anything. I talked with Leo and Dave today, and got them to look at the new Skype feed, but they can’t come up with anything. We’re at a dead-end. And then I get this call for my vendor… Going with Ash tonight will give me something to do besides just go crazy. Does that make sense?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“What will you do while I’m gone?”
I forced myself to smile. “Keep working. And worrying.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I love you, babe.”
“I love you too.”
I followed him to the door, wanting to beg him to stay. “I went to visit Wesley today. The nurse said his vitals look good, and that the doctors would be in this afternoon. I’m going to call the hospital to see if there’s any update.”
“He’s a fighter, like your sister. They really are perfect for each other.”
“I just hope they’re both going to be okay.”
Gabe came back and swept me into his arms. “They’re going to be okay. I promise.”
That wasn’t his promise to make, but I still clung to it—and him.
He kissed me one last time as he headed from the room. “I’ll call you later. Try to get some sleep.”
After he’d gone, my phone beeped with an email notification. It was from Petra, saying she’d received the documents and would be in touch shortly.
Good. Things were moving forward, for better or for worse.
I went back into the bedroom and closed the door. Then I did something that I’d never done before that night: I got on my knees and prayed. I prayed for everything to somehow fall into place. I prayed that I could find a way to get Hannah back.
And I prayed that somehow, I could manage to stay alive.
Chapter 11
Gabe
“Gabe, this is Philip, Ian, and Greg. Guys, you remember my brother. He’s coming with us tonight, riding with me. Don’t let him shoot you or bother you too much,” Ash joked.
“Ha-ha.” I looked at the men. “For the record, I’ve kicked Ash’s ass on a regular basis for his entire life.”
I gave Ash a nasty smile as we slid into his car. “And here I thought you were my favorite brother.”
“You know it’s not Levi,” he said under his breath.
We headed toward Eastridge Mall, where they’d found the stolen car. We’d reviewed the mall security videos, but had been unable to get a clear shot of whoever had left it there. The police were assembling a list of all vehicles stolen from the area in the last week, to try to narrow down a list of possible cars the assailants had taken after they dumped the first one. While we waited for that information, we planned to search the surrounding neighborhoods and office parks for signs of suspicious activities or anything else that caught our eye. We didn’t have much to go on, but at least it was something.
The neighborhoods surrounding the mall were largely commercial, with strip mall after strip mall filled with higher-end chain restaurants and stores. As
h diligently pulled into every parking lot, and although I wasn’t sure that we had a reasonable expectation of finding any clues of Hannah’s whereabouts, it made me feel better that we were looking.
After a couple of hours, we drove out farther, to the closest adjacent residential neighborhoods. Ash was thorough and slow, checking every car and every house. “You can’t drive through every neighborhood in Northern California. You know that, right?” His unscientific approach was starting to bother me as the hours ticked by.
“Listen, Mr. Algorithm, sometimes surveillance work has to start with a gut feeling.”
“Do you have a gut feeling about this neighborhood?”
Ash grimaced. “No. But it’s better than sitting around. Poor Lauren…”
“I know.” I hoped she was sleeping.
We spent the rest of the night driving through different neighborhoods. The sun was coming up as we headed back to the house. “Do you feel like that actually accomplished anything?” I’d seen nothing to give me hope.
“I didn’t see anything interesting—which tells me that where we searched is clear.”
“But you can’t be sure.”
“I can’t be sure, but I feel pretty certain that concentrating strictly on this area would be a waste of our time.”
“You just wasted our time.”
“It wasn’t a waste. We know more than we did last night.”
“What do we do now?”
Ash kept his eyes on the road. “We find Hannah.”
We stopped for breakfast. “So, what did you think? Security’s not as exciting as you’d hoped, right?”
“Of course it wasn’t exciting,” I said. “Most work isn’t exciting.”
Ash stabbed a forkful of pancake. “Do you still feel like you’re missing out on something?”
I stirred my coffee around for no reason—it was black, just like my mood. Did I feel like I was missing out on something by not being in the family business? In some ways, yes. But I would never leave my world behind. “It just makes me wonder what might’ve been. If Dad hadn’t forbidden me…” I let my voice trail off.
