Page 3 of The Sirin Sisterhood (The Sons of Echidna #2)

Xim

Xim looked up at the screen on her right. The prompt displayed a map location and current known biometrics.

Lucy.

Heart racing, she swung her chair around, her fingers dancing over the keyboard, summoning the available information. Lucy’s phone was still off, and Xim resisted the urge to access it remotely, force it on, call her, and hear her voice.

Lucy was alive and back in the city. Nothing else mattered right now.

Xim had spent the last few weeks in a state of numb disbelief. Lucy disappeared without a word, and Xim had lost her.

Lucy’s disappearance wasn’t the worrying part.

It was Xim’s inability to find her. She had the world’s best technology at her fingertips, the most skilled personnel, and P.I.

’s with bloodhound noses scouring the countryside, yet she’d vanished into thin air.

The testing of Xim’s resources was what had made her lose sleep.

She loved Lucy, but Lucy was more than just a friend.

She was her life’s work.

She was her salvation.

And she couldn’t lose her again.

“I assume you’ll need an escort.” Grace’s voice came from behind her. The head of security, a formidable woman in her fifties, towered above the chair. “I’ll have a helicopter on standby.”

Xim wanted to protest.Shewantedto grab her motorcycle helmet and sprint outofthe door, but she knew Grace would have the garageonlock-down before she could reach her bike.

“You knew she was back?”

Grace tilted her head, a knowing smile on her lips.

Of course, she knew. “We received facial identification data from the highway.She entered the city half an hour ago,andshewasn’t alone.

Appeared in a deregistered car linked to a few crime scenes.

Mostly hit-and-runs, but also a homicide.

I’llbe notifyingyour fathers that their investment is no longer MIA. ”

“No.” Xim got up sharply. “You will not. I will deal with this. Lucy is my friend, and the others she’s with are not of any concern.”

Grace’s lips tightened slightly, showing displeasure. Xim knew that Grace reported to her fathers, and Xim was already asking too much of her.

“My fathers have other, more important concerns. I am capable of handling it.” Xim took off her lab coat and changed it for a leather jacket. “Grace. Please.” She couldn’t believe she had to beg the staff to cooperate, but Grace was closer to familyat this point.

A heavy sigh and a disapproving head shake told her all she needed to know. Grace tapped on her ear-piece and put a private escort on standby. “Fine. I am, however, following the protocol, and you are not landing until the security sweep is complete.”

Landing?

“Grace, I’m not taking a helicopter. Lucy is going to freak out.”

One look from the head of security and Xim knew she was pushing it. “Fine. Only ONE helicopter, then.”