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A soft tap at the door stalled Jessica’s spiraling thoughts.
“Jess? You get any rest? Jess?”
She didn’t respond to Kelsey’s inquiry.
The shorter woman padded into the darkened bedroom and around to where Jessica sat with her back to the mattress.
Kelsey lowered to sit next to her. “Logan just called to say they landed.”
The hours of waiting were almost over, then.
Jessica refused to believe that they’d all been twiddling their thumbs this whole time. It was more likely Zora, and the others were concocting a plan behind the scenes while leaving her out of it. That was the smart thing to do given that Jessica was most certainly on the outside here.
“Have you eaten anything? Want a drink?” Kelsey asked.
Jessica continued to stare straight ahead.
When was the last time Samuel ate or was offered water? Was he even alive anymore?
“Jess?” Kelsey pressed her hand to Jessica’s shoulder. “We’re going to get him back. I promise.”
She couldn’t believe that, though she wanted to.
Maxwell Edward was a dangerous person. Everything she’d learned had told her that much was true. There was evidence he’d trafficked people and drugs. It wasn’t hard to find stories that tied him to threatening or intimidating members of parliament. The Edward family was old with powerful ties that made it far more difficult to pin a wrongdoing on them.
Jessica needed to understand the UK law system better. Maybe if she did she’d better understand where some of her intel could be used to prosecute Edward?
Eventually, Kelsey got up and left Jessica to her mental marathon.
The sun rose, bathing the city in a dull, gray light.
She knew the moment the Aegis Group team arrived. The front door banged open hard enough she jerked around and stared at her room door. They were loud after so much silence.
Jessica settled back on the carpet. She had a vague idea about what she could do, but very little faith in herself. Wouldn’t her actions merely make the situation worse? What should she do?
She felt more than heard the bedroom door open. The footsteps were heavy thumps, unlike Kelsey’s barely audible ones.
Harper stepped into view, though he was more of a dark shadow than a person without the lights on. He lowered to the floor next to her then reached over and pulled her into a side-hug. She drew in a shaky breath.
“Talked to Robin?” she whispered.
“Yeah. We talked. Is it okay if I’m her stand-in right now?”
Jessica nodded.
She’d spent enough time with Harper included in her conversations with Robin to have developed a friendship with him. Hell, he’d joked a few times about having two wives between Robin and her.
He gave her a little squeeze. “We need to pool our knowledge and go over the plan. Are you up for that? I’d like you to be in on it.”
“Is me knowing going to hurt things?”
“Would you knowingly sabotage our efforts to save Samuel?”
“No.”
“Then you should be fine. Come on.” He pushed to his feet then offered her a hand. “Let’s bring our boy home.”
Harper led her into the main room where the others had shuffled around the furniture and dining table to make one meeting space with food and tablets spread out.