“Um,” Jimmy hesitated. “That wasn’t you, Zane. That was your father.” Zane heard the implication loud and clear. Jimmy might—might—trust Lev Quintan to find them. But not Zane.
“It was my little sister, and I helped,” Zane replied heatedly. “My father’s resources are available to me.” He softened his voice. “I do know what you are going through, at least a little. Let me help.”
“What exactly do you plan to do?” Jimmy asked skeptically.
“We’ll start by offering a substantial reward for information about their whereabouts in the Red Zone,” Zane explained confidently. “Someone will come forward. Someone always does. We tracked down Quartos, you know.”
“In the Red Zone,” Jimmy repeated, his voice flat. “We have no proof at all that Jenna’s in the Red Zone, let alone the kids. And what are you planning to do while you wait for some crook to finally decide to sell out? We don’t have years to find them, Zane.”
“But it’s a start. Let’s get together and go over what you know. Tell me exactly what happened, and we’ll go over every detail of your trip. There may be some clue that you didn’t realize, something out of place that will help us narrow our search,” Zane suggested hopefully.
“No thanks. Look, you go ahead and put your ‘bribe the snitches’ plan into action. Maybe we’ll get lucky. If I remember anything, I’ll send you a comm,” Jimmy said, his tone decidedly negative now. Before Zane could protest, Jimmy had switched off the comm.
“Well, that went spectacularly well,” Zane muttered to himself, staring at the blank flipcom screen. He sighed and then commed the head investigator in the security department. The sooner they got the word out on the street, the better.
9. Grier
Oddly enough, it was the unwelcome comm from Zane that sparked Jimmy’s inspiration. There was someone else he could go to for help, someone with just as much experience in the underworld, someone he trusted a hell of a lot more than Zane. Honestly, Jimmy had thought he’d forgiven and let bygones be bygones with Zane. However, now that he was faced with a situation where Lev Quintan had assigned Zane to help him . . . no. Clearly he hadn’t. He’d sooner go street to street in the Red Zone himself than trust the man who had sold him out before. All that time that Zane had been addicted, Jimmy had never known. Who was to say he wasn’t in the same kind of mess? As for trusting Lev, well, that was kind of the same quandary. Lev had known about Zane’s plan to trade him and Jaxon to pay off his nanospeed debt and had let it happen in order to trap his enemies. It was hard to trust a man like that with the lives of his family.
No, not hard. Impossible.
Instead, he sent a comm to Lilah. He was pretty sure she would see things the same way he did, and she could probably get the info he needed. He’d always thought she was crazy for keeping her job at the Quintan Edge resort—after all, she’d fared as badly as Jimmy the night drug-addled Zane went on the rampage—but now, he was grateful for it. She’d have contacts inside the Quintan network without having to go through Zane.
In the end he had to wait nearly an hour for Lilah’s return comm, but it was worth it.
“I was beginning to wonder if something had come up,” he said after greeting her.
“I’m sorry. I got sidetracked with a minor work crisis right after I got your comm. Then it took me longer than I expected to track him down for you. Turns out he retired from the company about a year ago,” Lilah said, running a hand through her hair.
“He did?” Jimmy’s hopes sank.
“Yeah, but no worries, like I said, I tracked him down. Just took longer than planned.” Lilah rubbed at an eye. “He’s still in Omphalos.”
“You OK?” he asked.
“Sorry,” she yawned. “I haven’t been sleeping well.” She stared sternly at him. “You look like you haven’t been either. Heard anything new?”
“Not really. Marian made it to Tarentino and the kids and Mrs. Smitz definitely aren’t there, though there doesn’t seem to be any sign of a struggle. Jax is in his suite though,” he explained wearily. “Marian was going to contact the local police, but I haven’t heard back from her yet.”
Lilah frowned toward the floor, her shoulders sagging. Then she seemed to draw herself back together. “Well, hop to it, playboy. Show us what you’re really made of,” she ordered in a mock serious voice.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.
“And Jimmy?” Lilah added. “You need to shave. Jenna’s going to throw a fit when she sees you. You know how she hates the scruffy look.” Jimmy rubbed his hand over the stubble and smiled before ending the comm. Lilah’s promised address came through right after. He pulled it up on his flipcom and realized that it was at least twenty blocks away from where he was now. Time to order another taxi, he thought resignedly. He was going to bleed their bank account dry soon. The last thing he wanted to do was ask his father for a loan, but he might have to do just that.
Or maybe he would walk all around the city instead.
He looked at the distance again and sighed. He’d take a taxi today. But he was going to have to tighten his belt soon. Especially since Jenna’s projects would be sitting untouched until he found her.
When the taxi arrived at last, he climbed in and gave the location to the computer. The taxi moved into the street in its measured way, and Jimmy spent the time wracking his memory for something important he could have forgotten. Was there some kind of clue in his memory that would lead them to Jenna, as Zane had suggested? Had someone followed them to the restaurant? Who had they told they were going to be there in the first place? Just Lilah that he knew of. Had Lilah told anyone else? Her boyfriend, the spasmodic hair man? Could he have had anything to do with Jenna’s disappearance? Maybe he’d wanted Jenna so he could experiment on her hair. The thought made him smile, just for the briefest moment. Considering further, he decided it was possible Jenna had told Kinsey. He’d have to ask her.
At last the taxi slowed to a stop, and Jimmy looked out the window. He faced a multistory attached townhome with pink walls and white latticework. Not exactly what he’d pictured for the home of a retired security expert. He used his flipcom to pay for the taxi and climbed out. In the small front walk, there was a wooden sign staked into the ground. It was painted white with multicolored stenciled flowers and the name “Luci’s Golden Retreat.” What in the name of the stars was that? A massage parlor? A retirement home? A meditation stop? Jimmy double-checked his address. Well, assuming Lilah had gotten accurate information, he seemed to be at the right place. He shrugged and went to press the button. There was no answer for several minutes. Pressing the button again, Jimmy shoved his hands back in his pockets and waited. He could hear music playing inside, and he doubted that the place was deserted.
Finally, the door slid open. A tall man with a bald head, broad shoulders, and bulging arm muscles glared down at him.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded, his voice gruff.
“Hey, Grier!” Jimmy greeted amiably. “Long time, no see!”
For a long moment, Jimmy thought Grier was just going to shut the door in his face. But after glancing warily around the street, he stepped aside and waved Jimmy through.
“Griiier,” a feminine voice trilled from upstairs. “Who is it?”
“Just an old . . . friend, Luci,” Grier called back. “You don’t need to stop.”
“As you wish, my love,” she sang back. Jimmy looked at Grier with raised eyebrows. Grier studiously avoided his eyes. He’d never pictured Grier with a private life at all, but if he had, this was not exactly what he would have imagined.
“My wife is, uh, working,” Grier said, clearing his throat. “I’ll introduce you later.” Then he waved Jimmy through the entry and back into a small sitting room. Jimmy looked around. This room was the complete opposite of the flowery, pastel explosion of the front room. This seemed far more like Grier. There w
as little decoration at all, but there were a set of very comfortable chairs and a large terminal screen on the wall. Grier gestured at the chair, and Jimmy sank into it. For the first time in days, he felt like he could relax, which was odd in a way, since Grier was probably one of the most intimidating men Jimmy had ever known. Grier remained standing, probably so he could loom over Jimmy and glare at him more effectively.
“So, Mr. James,” Grier began, “what brings you to inflict me with your presence after the absence of so many years?”
“I’ve missed you too, you know,” Jimmy said pleasantly, grinning for the first time since Jenna had disappeared. “I’d forgotten what it was like to have someone shadowing my every move and constantly lecturing me.”
Grier growled. “You were the worst assignment I’ve ever had, even worse than Mr. Jaxon.”
Jimmy laughed. “Come on, I was even worse than Jax? At least I didn’t start banging my head on the wall every time you appeared.”
Grier shook his head sharply. “I’ve never known anyone with so little sense of self-preservation,” he said. “What mess have you gotten yourself into this time?”
“That obvious, huh?”
“Why else would you dig my private residence out of Mr. Quintan? I’m supposed to be retired.”
“I didn’t ask Quintan,” Jimmy said, some of the levity going out of his tone at the thought of personally asking Lev Quintan for anything. “I asked Lilah. I don’t think your secret hideout is nearly so private as you believe. Though the pink paint job is pretty good camouflage,” he added, his tone teasing again. Grier glowered at him.
“So? What happened?” he asked again.
Jimmy instantly sobered. “It’s Jenna, Mrs. Smitz, and the kids. They’re missing,” Jimmy explained. How many times had he said that in the last week? It seemed like a million times. It still hit him like a sucker punch to the gut every time. Someone had taken his wife and children and surrogate grandmother, and there was no guarantee he would get them back alive and unhurt.
Grier sucked in a breath and started to pace in the small room. “Tell me everything,” he ordered. Jimmy recounted everything he could remember, from Jenna’s mysterious disappearance at the restaurant all the way up until his comm from Marian that morning. Grier’s brow was furrowed.
“Didn’t you learn anything at all from the last time?” Grier sighed in exasperation. “Your brother is valuable. Your father is a rich and powerful man. Therefore, you and your family will always be targets. Why were you wandering around Omphalos like oblivious tourists?”
“They took the kids from our home in Tarentino Bay,” Jimmy pointed out. “We have a perimeter defense system that Jax designed.”
“They hacked a system that Mr. Jaxon designed?” Grier was incredulous.
“Well,” Jimmy hedged. “I don’t actually know how they got at the kids. There’s no sign of anything wrong at the house. They’re just gone. Jax is fine, though. Hiding away in his lab like normal.”
Grier groaned. “So they were probably out for a stroll or something through the rough part of town, if they’re anything like you.”
“Yeah, Mrs. Smitz probably took the kids for a visit in the logging camp after dark. Give her some credit, will you?”
Grier ignored him. “So what is Admiral Donnell doing about this? I assume you told him?” he asked.
“He’s still trying to use what contacts he can to find out where Jenna went. I don’t know if he’s doing anything in Tarentino.” Grier muttered something at this that Jimmy didn’t catch.
“You’re in over your head, Mr. James,” he said at last. “You need Mr. Quintan’s help,”
Jimmy sighed. “Yeah, of course, I already went to my father, who went to Lev Quintan.”
“If your father already asked Mr. Quintan for help, why are you here? He has many more resources, and I’m retired.” Grier emphasized the word, pointing at the floor.
“Because he turned it over to Zane!” Jimmy complained. “Zane is ‘coordinating’ the search for my family.”
Grier looked at Jimmy silently, his black eyes thoughtful. Jimmy knew that he of all people would understand Jimmy’s reluctance to trust Zane. Grier had been there that night. He had stood idly by while Zane nearly strangled Jenna, and then he had followed Zane’s orders to deliver Jimmy and Jax to Quartos. Grier had gotten them both out alive, but at the cost of the lives of two of his fellow bodyguards. He knew exactly what trusting Zane might mean.
“I need your help, Grier. I don’t know who else to turn to. Zane might succeed, and he might not. Maybe he truly has changed, and on top of that he doesn’t hold any kind of grudge against me or Jenna. But can I bet the life of my family on that? No.”
“All right,” Grier relented. “But you have to promise that you will do exactly as I say. No haring off madly on your own.”
“Agreed,” Jimmy promised easily. “Where do we start?”
“Where else? The Red Zone.”
10. First Lead
The last person Zane had ever expected to see at his office door glared at him, her hands on her hips and her expression fierce. This was bound to make things more complicated. However, he didn’t let any of his frustration show, and he politely invited her in. Then he waited for the storm.
“I can’t believe your father put you in charge of finding Jenna and her kids!” Lilah thundered at him. He smothered a sigh. Ever since he had returned from Kirtuth to find that Lilah had worked her way up to manager over the live entertainment division, he had avoided her as much as possible. The few times he had been forced to be in her presence, she had made her loathing particularly clear. Lilah had been shot trying to help Jenna when Zane hauled her off while under the influence of nanospeed, and she probably still blamed him for it. It usually hadn’t been a problem, since he was no longer the general manager, and she seemed to want to avoid him as much as he stayed away from her.
“You’re not supposed to know that,” he griped. “I take it Jimmy commed you.”
“Of course he did! I was there the night Jenna disappeared. I’ve been worried sick!” She stood with her hands gripping the back of a chair he kept for visitors. There probably wasn’t any point in offering her a seat. “Jimmy said you have some crazy-ringed plan to find them that makes no sense,” Lilah said. “Something like going door-to-door in the Red Zone and knocking heads together to get answers.”
“We’re not quite that stupid, Lilah. But yes, we do intend to spread the word that someone in the Red Zone is holding the Forrest family and that it is considered a personal attack on the Quintan-Forrest clan. Considering the fact that everyone knows of Quartos’s demise earlier this year, I expect leads to come in quite quickly.”
“How do you even know they are in the Red Zone?” Lilah challenged, her eyes flashing. “This won’t do a bit of good if they’re somewhere else. Clearly this group doesn’t operate like Quintan-Forrest, sticking to the Red Zone and worrying about legalities. They took Jenna’s kids from Tarentino Bay!”
Zane listened to her patiently and refrained from rolling his eyes. Though he mentally made a note that Jimmy lived in Tarentino Bay. (Nobody had felt the need to give him that little bit of information before.) He pursed his lips. That was a bit disturbing. Tarentino Bay was halfway around the world. That meant there was little chance this was an amateur kidnapping. There was always the chance that Jenna’s disappearance and the kids’ going missing weren’t related, but the chances of that happening were so slim he dismissed the idea at once. He leaned forward on his desk, still confident his hunch was correct. This was a kidnapping, and they were here in the Red Zone.
“Where else would they be, Lilah? Honestly, would you want to keep a kidnapped Armada admiral’s daughter somewhere the Armada can come knocking down your door at any time?”
Lilah finally relaxed her grip on the chair back and started to pace aroun
d the room. Zane watched her wearily, waiting for her to decide she’d ranted enough, and idly wondered what had possessed her to dye her hair in such a garish manner. He missed her braids. It was a much better look for her.
“Here’s the thing, Zane,” she said finally. “I’m finding it hard to believe that nobody bothers Jimmy and Jenna, nobody cares what hole Jaxon Forrest has crawled into for seven long years, even though the gate is getting plenty of publicity and there are companies out there dying to build their own. Nothing happens until you return from Kirtuth. The one person who sold out Jax before and tossed in Jimmy as a bonus. The person who tried to murder Jenna when he found out that she’d married someone else.” Her glare turned icy. “It would be a perfect form of revenge, wouldn’t it? Tip off the right people, tell them exactly what to do, and then have them ask for a demand that you know Jimmy can’t meet. Then you persuade your father that as some form of restitution or something for past mistakes, you want to be the one to head the search. That way you can make sure they aren’t found.”
Zane listened to this tirade implacably. He’d thought of this himself. That was probably why Jimmy had been so reluctant to trust him. It was a natural doubt. After all, he was jealous of Jimmy. His stomach still lurched when he thought of Jenna, even all these years later. He’d never wanted anyone like he’d wanted her. And after what he did the night of the attack on Quintan Tower, of course everyone wondered if he’d do something like it again. But he hated himself for what he had done when the nanospeed was in control. He had nearly strangled Jenna. He had sent her through the gate before it had ever been tested, and he had arranged to have Jimmy and Jaxon traded to a competitor to pay off his drug debt. Nothing could change that, and he would spend the rest of his life trying to make up for it. He would never in a million years set up Jimmy like this. He would never hurt Jenna or her children.
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