Page 98 of Break Me

“I’m going after her.” As usual, her voice was filled with angry defiance.

“Listen to me. You’re going to stay right where you are.”

“Over my dead body.”

“Halle!” Her determination was admirable, but the feisty woman was going to get herself killed. There was no chance of arguing. She’d dropped the call.

It took her seconds to forward me the pictures. In one was a clear view of the woman who’d approached Emily. While trying to control my anger, I stormed toward Kirk, holding out my phone. “Is this the woman you were forced to hire?”

He was shaking violently, still rubbing his hand, darting his gaze three times before nodding like some damn bobble-head doll.

A woman was much more likely to make Emily feel safe. I could only imagine what the sweet little girl had been told. Thankfully, in the same photographs were a vehicle and a partial license plate. The idiots didn’t realize what level of mistake they’d made.

They would soon learn.

And they would pay with their lives.

CHAPTER 22

Alexsey

“I need a sweeper and follow me!” I instructed Mario who was driving. “And find Thomas and tell him he’s fucking fired.”

“What? What happened?”

“He was assigned to protect Ms. O’Leary. He failed. Her child was taken.”

“Ah, shit.”

Time was of the essence, a child’s life was at stake.

“A sweeper,” he repeated, trying to keep up with me as I stormed toward the car.

“Yeah. And call Mikhail. Tell him to have the resorts swept as well. I have no doubt we have people listening in on our conversations.” Several years before, we’d stopped bothering to use a method of detecting listening devices once so prevalent in our worlds. They were heavily used by law enforcement whenmy father and uncle had moved their families to the United States.

Through the years, we’d become smarter than law enforcement, carrying on our less legitimate operations far removed from anywhere they had access to. Over time, we’d realized the practice was cumbersome and not needed. And not only because we owned half the police force, but also because the practice of doing business was often handled through emails and offshore banking handled on secure servers.

What we’d learned only a few years before was that basic old-fashioned surveillance tactics were back in fashion. But this time used by syndicates spying on the opposition. Along with most syndicates employing at least one hacker, bugs were often planted in hopes of learning future plans.

It would seem we’d gotten careless, far too complacent in how we handled business. I could just imagine our father’s reaction.

Bottom line. I’d been stupid enough not to sweep the car, thinking that since it had been in the shop, there was no need.

“Mario. Follow Ms. O’Leary. Don’t allow her to follow me.”

“I’ll do my best,” Mario said.

He barely acknowledged before I jumped into the car, revving the engine, and jerking out of the parking space.

At times, it was damn good to have the police in my family’s deep pockets. Today was one of them. With one phone call, they’d coordinated blocking off certain areas surrounding Emily’s school, forcing traffic to two different routes. Not only did that create a massive traffic jam, it also allowed me a choice of which roads to use.

In addition, the police had called out one of the helicopters, which was in the air by the time I made it close to the school.

In speeds in excess of ninety miles per hour. I’d been forced to make the damn call standing outside the office building, fearful I was right that there was a tracker located somewhere. That had cost me precious time. But I made that up quickly, driving recklessly in trying to get there.

There was no time to find out if Halle was okay. I had a short window to try to get Emily back. This would take a precision effort and given the number of places to hide, I didn’t have confidence I’d find the black sedan. If needed I would burn the city to the ground to find the precious girl.

I made a sharp turn, my phone ringing. “Yes?”