She moaned and rubbed her hands over his arms. “I like that you let me be affectionate in public.”
It was an odd thing to say, and he was about to mention it, but she kept talking.
“Never-mind. It’s nothing. So,” she stated brightly. “I will see you at lunch. Here at twelve? I made that zucchini slice, remember?”
“Sounds delicious.”
She preened from his approval with a slight blush. “Oh, and do you want donuts when I bring them around?”
“No, but—” he pulled a fifty out of his wallet. “You’re always paying. Let me.”
“I don’t mind.”
He arched a brow. “Let me pay.”
“Fine,” she conceded and took the money. “But I’ll bring some by.”
“I’ll keep you updated if I have to leave the office.”
She went to leave, but he’d almost forgotten.
“Wait,” he said, stopping her. “I’ll bring you coffee at morning break time. Same time?”
“Ten? If I can wait that long. No wait, nine-thirty. No. Ten. I need to cut down.”
He walked to his desk, lowered his heavy backpack, and then cut a look to her as he sat in his chair. “Ten it is.”
After she left, it took him a moment to acclimatize to being at work again. He regretted to admit he hadn’t spared a thought for the place the entire weekend, or for Doppenger, who was his primary target now. This was his last secret from Lilo, and he had no idea how to broach the subject. She had been intimately involved with this man, and with so much bad blood between her and her family already, he didn’t want to add more pain to her life.
After training on Sunday, Parker outlined the current situation with the imposter. Doppenger had stayed in his building for most of the weekend, most likely recovering from what Griffin had done to him in the warehouse, but they were all on standby, hence the backpack full of his combat uniform and battle gear Griffin had brought in.
It had been decided that all the seven would take their uniforms wherever they went. Crime happened during the day, as well as night, and with the Syndicate in town, they had to be vigilant.
Until then, he would assume his day-to-day duties at the Copy.
He spent the next few hours going over the data he’d gathered the previous week and working out which staff members he’d yet to assess before his nine-thirty with Fred the editor. Eager to have the meeting done with so he could get to Lilo, Griffin went to Fred’s office early with his notes.
Cresting the hallway corner, he sensed two greed signatures within Fred’s office and stopped just in time before walking in uninvited. The door was open. Inside there were two men having a discussion at Fred’s desk. One man was obviously Fred, but the other man… Griffin’s heart stopped at the sight of him. The immediate snapshot of this stranger had the blood roaring in Griffin’s ears. Maybe it was because of his idyllic weekend, or maybe it was his recent confession trudging up old memories, but the man looked exactly like his fallen comrade—the one he’d killed.
James.
Impossible.
The same red hair, the same square profile, and the same broad shoulders. Sensing his arrival, the stranger turned his head, and Griffin held his breath.
Not him.
He exhaled.
Of course it wasn’t him. James was dead.
“Griffin,” Fred said, surprised. He checked his watch. “You’re not due for another ten minutes.”
“My apologies,” Griffin replied, and glanced at the face of the stranger, one last time to be sure. “I’ll come back later.”
Heart pounding, he stepped back into the hall and out of view of the men in the office. He stood with his back to the wall and processed what happened.
He checked his wrist tattoo. Still balanced. So why was his internal chemistry going haywire? He closed his eyes and took deep, lungfuls of air, slowly blowing out through his teeth.
Why?
He kept repeating the question in his mind.
Why now?
James was dead. Griffin was paying his debt. He was in control.
But the panic was real.
No… he wasn’t alive. It wasn’t James.
His throat closed up as he realized how much of himself relied on Lilo now. Already he’d forgotten his balance protocol, leaving everything up to fate and the proximity to his soulmate. Forgetting his past could have devastating consequences. One snap from an ill timed comment could mean the difference between life and death for anyone around him.
A new level of anxiety seized him. Could this mean Lilo too? Could she be the one he irrationally lashed out on?
No. She wasn’t at risk. Her very nature prohibited him from reaching that level of insanity… he hoped.
He needed to see Lilo with an urgency that had his eyes watering, so he strode immediately to her desk. She wasn’t there.
It’s fine. She’s probably out at the bakery.
Forcing his insecurities away, he went to the break room and made their coffees, all the while counting in his head. When he’d sufficiently calmed his nerves, he returned to her desk station.
Still empty.
No.
A chill ran up his spine with the force of an avalanche. Why wouldn’t she be there? He put the steaming mugs on her desk and surveyed the room. Everyone else seemed to be at their desks. Her bag hung on the back of her chair. Not at the bakery then. She wouldn’t leave without her bag. Her computer was on the lock screen meaning she’d been gone long enough for her account to lapse.
Bev lifted her head to watched him curiously.
“Good morning, Bev,” he said. “Do you know where Lilo has gone?”
The woman glanced at the mugs and back up to him. “Well, aren’t you a darling.”
“Lilo?”
“She’s gone to meet Donnie. Shouldn’t be long.” She sat and returned to her screen as though her words hadn’t pierced a hole in Griffin’s heart.
Everything inside him roared.
His power magnified and surged, escalating and filling him to the brink until it he almost exploded. Metal in the room rattled, computer screens blanked. He looked around wildly, just in case Bev was wrong and Lilo was somewhere close, but the walls closed in. More computers blanked. The lights above their heads flickered.
Focus, Griffin. Don’t lose it. Not yet.
“How long ago did she leave?” he asked through a dry throat.
“About half an hour.” Bev turned back around. “Is everything okay?”
“Did she say where she was meeting him?”
“No. What’s happened?”
He didn’t respond. He was gone, back to his office where he scooped up his backpack and then jogged to Doppenger’s office for a glance inside. Empty.
Griffin went to the ground floor and stopped at the security room. Two white-uniformed men were sitting in chairs, lazily watching the wall of monitors in front of them. Littered on their desks were half empty packets of food and greasy fingerprint covered soda cans.
He banged on the doorframe. “I need you to look up some specific footage from the Cardinal Copy.”
The men turned his way, frowning. The younger one had a mustache. His name badge said P.Evernty. Evernty the Everlong Mustache. The second man was olive skinned, had a body mass index of about twenty-eight, and nibbled a donut. Griffin couldn’t read his name badge because a smear of chocolate icing covered it. This one lifted an eyebrow at Griffin’s interruption.
“Uh. Buddy,” the overweight man said. “I don’t know what workplace you’re used to, but we don’t just let any old Tom, Dick or Harry barge in here to—”
“We don’t have time,” Griffin cut him off. “A woman has gone missing.” And if they’d been doing their job, they might have seen something.
They stared back at him with vacant expressions.
Anger surged through his veins, and the monitors flickered in the room. The disruption was enough to snap the men out of their stupor. Evern
ty waved him over, but the closer Griffin got to the monitors, the more they flickered and blanked out. He had to step back.
“What floor?” Evernty asked, tapping his monitor until the flickering stopped.
“Fourth floor,” he answered. “Search the area of the office space for the journalists. Rewind to about half an hour ago. Her desk is the second on the right next to the break room. Lilo Likeke. Tall with brown hair.”
“Miss Likeke’s gone missing?” the overweight man said, looking devastated. “She was just in here an hour ago, giving us the donuts.”
“So, Doppenger got to her between then and half an hour ago.”
“You mean Donnie?” the overweight man asked, face going pale. “He wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”
“Are you quite certain of that? Do you know the man personally?”
“Well, no, but… it’s Donnie.”
“Got it,” Evernty said, pointing to footage of Lilo at her desk. “Here she is returning from the bakery.”
“Fast forward until she gets a phone call and leaves.”
The video footage was black and white and a little grainy, but with every minute, every second of watching, a sense of rising dread gripped his heart. And when she took a phone call and her lips pursed, Griffin knew that was the one. Within seconds she stood and said something to her office-neighbor, then left. He checked the time stamp and his watch. Thirty-nine minutes ago.
Tick-tock.
“She left her bag which meant she probably didn’t think she had to travel far to meet him. Do you have street front cameras?” Griffin added urgently.
The young man flicked to another monitor, typed in some directives on his keyboard, and brought up the front of the building. There was Lilo meeting Doppenger at the front, and there he was looking haggard and feral-eyed as he grabbed her arm and forced her down the road with something pressed into her back. Most likely a gun.
Tick-tock.
Griffin slammed his hand on the security desk, rattling the foundations. Damn him for keeping Doppenger’s real identity from her. If she knew the extent of his psychopathic tendencies, she would never have agreed to meet him.
His phone rang. Parker.
“You’re late,” Griffin growled down the handset.
A few seconds of silence and then Parker spoke. “Well, I’m calling you now.”
“Now is too late. He’s got Lilo. You promised me that wouldn’t happen.” Griffin stormed out of the security office, ignoring Evernty asking whether they should notify the police. “You said you were watching him.”
Griffin kept walking until he got to the elevator and stopped. Up to the roof, or down to the basement?
“Shit,” Parker said. “I was calling to tell you to suit up because we got him moving to a location on the south-end of the Quadrant.”
“The footage on the CCTV cameras had him going north. Are you sure you had him going south? Check again.”
The phone sputtered and crackled.
“Parker?” he called. No answer. He checked the handset, and it had blanked out. His damned power prevented him from using it. Dead. The phone was dead. He let an almighty growl of frustration out and then threw the phone against the metal elevator doors. How was he going to find her now?
Think, Griffin think.
Relax. Focus.
Remember your training.
Tick-tock.
Panic caught in his throat. He was running out of time. Statistically, the longer a kidnapping victim was taken, the harder it was to find them. Worse. Seventy-four percent of kidnapping victims were at risk of being murdered if not located within the first few hours. If something happened to her...
He forced the thoughts away and shut out all noise and sensation and focused on his breathing. In. Out. In. Out.
Roof. He was going to the roof.
Being masked would give him the freedom to fight unhindered, and with his industrial grappling hooks and bo-staff, traveling via rooftop could be more expedient than running through traffic. He punched the up button on the elevator and traveled to the highest level, then took the stairwell up to the roof, two steps at a time. When he breached the building, he discovered he was on a flat roof with air vents, large antennas and no one else but a flock of pigeons he disturbed. He was alone.
Quickly, he dressed into his combat gear and released his metal baton to extend to its full length. He stashed his backpack behind a vent, crouched low at the lip of the roof, and concentrated on the city. He would never feel Lilo, but Doppenger—he was another story. His greed was astronomical, and if Griffin focused enough, hard enough, he would find him.
And he would make him pay.
The city sounds blared in his ears.
Traffic. Car horns. Wind.
A man shouted angrily somewhere.
Pigeons gobbled.
All of it, he drove down and shut out until the only things he sensed were the cool breeze tickling his skin, the sun warming his face, and the eternal greed belonging to a city of millions.
Tick-tock.
Chapter Thirty-One
The hard butt of a metal gun dug into Lilo’s shivering back as she was herded along the busy street, away from the Cardinal Copy, and away from Griffin. She hadn’t brought her coat. Only thought she was popping out to the street for a minute. Never believed Donnie would do this.
It was fine. Whatever was happening, it would be over in a minute. She knew it. Still…
“Why are you doing this, Donnie?” Lilo hissed, almost tripping over a dislodged slab of pavement on the pathway.
“Shut up and keep moving, princess.” He put the heel of his palm into her back and pushed. “Unless you want to end everything right now.”
She bit her lip to stop herself saying something she’d regret. They continued along the street. She tried to come up with an escape plan, but her brain wasn’t working. It was locked on the hard object digging into her back, and the sad fear that of course this was happening—she’d only just found happiness with someone she could have a future with—of course it was being ripped away from her.
This is what happens when you want things for yourself.
She should never have agreed to meet Donnie outside the building. Damn her for being so trusting. He’d lured her out by saying he had something he needed to return, but hadn’t wanted to do it inside the office. It was such a Donnie thing to do that she never questioned it, and she was keen to put that part of her life behind her. The instant she got out of the building, he pulled a gun from his pocket—just long enough for her to see it was there—then took her arm and jammed the blunt edge into her spine.
Did she have a sign plastered to her forehead saying, Easy to kidnap? This was the third time this week! First was Griffin dressed as Greed, then the Irish gangsters, now Donnie. God, she felt foolish. All that training in Krav Maga and nothing could prepare her for having a gun shoved at her temple or back.
Hopelessness seeped in.
They’d been walking for at least twenty-five minutes, and she wasn’t wearing shoes for walking. Not since she’s been able to catch a ride with Griffin. Oh, God. What would be going through his mind by now? He’d have turned up with her coffee. He was so reliable like that. Tears burned her eyes and her throat closed up as she imagined him standing at her empty desk, wondering how long to wait before sounding the alarm.
“Where are you taking me,” she tried again.
He didn’t answer, leaving Lilo to stew a little longer. She hadn’t missed the bruises on his tired face. He hadn’t been to work for the latter part of the previous week. Something was going on with him. The arguments and the fight with Griffin weren’t the only sign. It was the desperation in his eyes every time he missed out on a news story.
“Dammit, Donnie. You’re scaring me. I don’t know what the hell you are hoping to achieve, but people will know I’m missing soon.”
She was jerked around to see his face twisted into something ugly.
“
Like who?” he asked, eyes blazing. “That uptight cock-sucker, Lazarus?”
“Hey! We’re no longer dating and haven’t been for months. You have no right to—”
Pain burst at her cheekbone from his backhand.
Her eyes watered, her ears rang, and for a breath she couldn’t see. When she gathered her senses, she registered not one passerby cared to intervene. She wasn’t sure if anyone had even taken the time to turn their head.
Right. If she wanted to get out of this, she’d have to help herself. Having a gun shoved at her temple was hard to weasel out of, but she’d been trained in other ways to relieve a gun. She just had to wait.
“You think he’s going to miss you?” Donald hissed. “He won’t care if you’re missing, Lilo.”
“Yes he will.” She knew he would.
“No, he won’t. Because you’re not worth it. You’re just the daughter of a failed criminal who can’t even hold on to her story without someone else writing it properly for her.”
His hurtful words crushed her.
“Keep going.” He jammed his gun into her and shoved.
She winced from the sting and stumbled forward.
Bide your time. Wait for an opportunity. Stall.
“What do you want, Donnie?” she asked. “Maybe I can help you get it.”
Donnie wasn’t taking the bait. With a one track mind, he pushed her onwards until they came to an intersection where a monorail passed overhead, and an exit to the subway beckoned. Maybe if she screamed, created a diversion, she could escape down there. Then again, maybe that bank on the corner would help. Surely there would be security guards inside.
Donnie halted her. “Stop here. Don’t do anything stupid.”
He was silent for a while as he gauged the street action. There were people rushing about, as you would expect for a Monday in the city. So many people, and he had a look on his face that she didn’t like. He scrutinized the walkers by and kept darting a glance to the monorail and then to the bank. He was up to something.
Greed: A Superhero Romance (The Deadly Seven Book 2) Page 25
