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I dialed Bo’s burner phone again. “Game time. He just pulled in.”

“Roger that,” he replied and clicked off.

Sampson got out of his car, stretched, and reached into the back, pulling out a black gym bag. He slammed the door, then, to my great disappointment, stuck the key in the door and locked it.

“Told you.” Jax gave me a grin. “I wouldn’t leave her unlocked, either.”

“It’s not a she. It’s a car. And, yes, you told me. But for once, couldn’t something be easy?”

He snorted. “Not in a spy’s world.” He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out the listening device and tracker Wally had purchased and Mike had tailored to our needs. It’d been amazing watching Mike work. He could look at a circuit board and intuitively figure out what the board did and how to modify it. No wonder he’d made it into UTOP.

“Now we wait for those keys,” Jax said, cradling the devices in his hand.

“Now we wait,” I agreed. “It’s showtime for Bo and Kira.” I looked out the window at the entrance to the gym. “Come on, guys, get me those keys.”

“They will,” Jax said with confidence. “Then it’ll be our turn.”

ISAAC REMINGTON

Who knew sixteen-year-old girls could be so frustrating?

His plan wasn’t proceeding at all like he’d expected. What good was it to kidnap someone if no one noticed she was missing?

Of all the ways he had played out the kidnapping scenario in his head, this was not one of them. Instead of being the brilliant and capable daughter everyone—including the higher-ups at UTOP—had believed her to be, Angel Sinclair was nothing more than a vapid little girl who loved to roller-skate and giggle with her friends. How she’d ever been allowed to participate in UTOP was a mystery. That she’d supposedly passed the trials was a joke. His first act as director would be to wipe clean all UTOP’s newest recruits, starting with her. He was appalled at the falling standards of the agency.

Not on my watch.

It was clear to him now that the daughter was never going to be the link to Sinclair. He would have to try and reach Sinclair directly. Unfortunately, that meant going through Candace Kim, since she controlled access to him. Along with Sinclair’s useless daughter, Candace would soon find herself out on the streets, not trying to protect national security, a role she was clearly not suited to perform.

He considered the arguments he could use to send a message to Sinclair. Unfortunately, none of them sounded believable. Of course, Candace would likely insist on reading his message before it was sent, and he wanted to be bluntly clear with Sinclair about what would happen if he didn’t come in to them. So that wouldn’t work, either.

What other alternatives did he have? He could make an anonymous call to the police about a suspected kidnapping. But they would check the apartment and, if there was no sign of foul play and they couldn’t reach either daughter, they’d conclude nothing was wrong. He could leave a ransom note, but that would bring the FBI into things and might spook the muscle holding the wife.

He could post an anonymous message on the dark web, but he didn’t know how to do that. And in his blundering to figure it out, he might reveal himself to the NSA monitors who wandered those corners, looking for criminals and spies. Not a good plan, either.

That brought him back to the girl. She was the key whether he liked it or not. The best solution was to get her a message directly, so blunt she couldn’t misconstrue it. He’d press Sampson on it right away. No delays.

Because they needed to find her, and soon.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

ANGEL SINCLAIR

Exactly seventeen minutes later, my burner phone rang. Not that I was counting. Okay, I totally was.

I swiped it on. “Yes?”

“On my way out to you with the package,” Kira said.

Jax and I got out of the car. He headed toward Sampson’s Mustang, while I strolled to the front of the gym. Kira walked out, pretended to be surprised to see me, and gave me a hug, slipping the keys into my jacket pocket.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you,” she said. “You’re going to love this gym. Come on in, and I’ll show you around.”

“Sure,” I said. “Oh, wait, I forgot my stuff in the car. I’ll meet you inside.”

“Okay,” she said cheerfully. “See you in a few.”

I put my hand in my pocket and strolled past the Mustang, handing off the keys to Jax, who intersected with me near the car. I stopped one car over and kept a lookout. There was no one walking around, and no new cars heading into the parking lot at the moment.