Page 57 of Roxanne

“Move!”

Smith forcefully plucks one of the techies from his chair so he can take over the controls. He taps on a gel keyboard like a madman, bringing up one camera at a time. He’s working as fast as he can, but to me, it isn’t fast enough. My worst nightmare is coming true for the second time, except this time, I’m knee-deep in the controversy.

I agreed to Roxanne’s suggestion.

I put her in danger.

Once again, nothing happening is her fault.

“Where is she?” I ask fearfully when the return of the live feed to Dr. Bates’s office comes up empty. As my eyes dart from screen to screen to screen seeking the feeblest snippet of red, my blood boils. She has to be there. The cameras were down for barely twenty seconds. No one can move that fast—not even me.

“There!” shouts a blond-haired techy who’s pointing to a screen on my left.

Relief engulfs me when my eyes drink in Roxanne’s svelte frame and beautiful face. It doesn’t linger for long. She’s no longer on her feet. She’s been carried down an isolated corridor in the arms of a man wearing all black, their brisk walk shadowed by Dr. Bates. She is also without clothing.

“Their taking her out the hidden entrance,” I advise Rocco via the comms server I’m praying is still in function.

When my demand is followed by a painful stretch of silence, I shout, “Get him on his cell.”

Smith’s voice makes it seem as if his throat is being shredded with the same razor blades cutting up mine. “On it.”

I rip my fingers through my hair when the buzz of Rocco’s cell phone rings out of the speakers of Smith’s computer over and over again. He isn’t in any of the frames, he’s nowhere to be found, and Roxanne’s unconscious body is being thrown into the back of an unmarked van.

“Prepare to commence trace.” I watch in feared awe as Smith takes hold of the reins like he was born to do it. He activates the chip in Roxanne’s arm and advises Clover coordinates are on their way before he raises his eyes to mine. “Are you sure you want Clover to move in now? This was the plan, Dimi. Roxie could lead us straight to Fien.”

I’m so fucking torn. It truly feels like this decision will tear me in two. If I don’t move now, I could lose Roxanne. If I hold off, I could bring both her and my daughter home—but what happens if that occursafterRoxanne has already been hurt. What if I’m too late for the second time?

I’m convinced my enemies are wired-tapped into my inner-workings when the decision is taken out of my hands. Just as quickly as the surveillance devices shutdown in Dr. Bates’s office, we lose our connection with Roxanne’s tracker.

Fury boils beneath my skin as I stare at an unmoving blue dot on a map of the town I should have owned years ago. “What happened?”

Smith shrugs. Anger is written all over his face. As he strives to find answers, he punishes his keyboard. I struggle not to do the same to his face when he sinks into his chair with a groan a few seconds later. “They removed her fucking tracker.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, my voice unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. “No one knows she was wearing a tracker, so how do you know they’ve removed it.”

My confusion is alleviated in the worst way possible when Smith hooks his thumb to the screen of his laptop. Rocco is in the middle of the monitor. He’s bleeding, red-faced, and holding up the tiniest little microchip to a security camera in the back alleyway of a Publix Supermarket chain.

I played with more than I could afford to lose, and I fucking lost—again.

The end…