Judith shook her head. “Sabby? No way. Let me make a call, okay? Five minutes, eat your breakfast.”
She levered herself up from her chair with the aid of her cane, and I resisted every urge to demand she make her call right here in front of me. For whatever reason, she didn’t want me to listen in. That made me want to listen even more… but I wasn’t wasting time with petty power plays when every minute counted toward getting Danny back alive.
So I sat uncomfortably and inhaled my breakfast omelet while Judith stood just outside the cafe, speaking to someone on her phone. I watched through the window, hoping to lipread, but she kept her back turned the whole damn time. Sly bitch. She might only be a librarian now , but that wasn’t always the case.
Finally she returned to our table, and I noted that her tears were all gone. That had to be a good thing, right?
“I was right,” she announced, sitting back down heavily. “She has a… friend. Someone not connected to the Guild but with the resources to help her in a worst case scenario. She had him install a sort of GPS panic button in the watch I gave her when she graduated training.”
The delicate silver watch she wore all the time. I knew it had some sort of sentimental attachment for her, but now I knew it was also practical.
“So, he can track her?” My pulse raced with excitement. Smart girl.
Judith grimaced, though. “No. It’s an emergency button and set up to be undetectable for scanners and crap. Otherwise, it’d just be instantly confiscated the second they scanned her for bugs, right?”
It made sense, but why the fuck wouldn’t she have used it the second she woke up? The camera footage showed her still wearing the Catwoman costume, and the watch had been on her wrist.
“Carlos said he would call the moment he got the alert,” Judith assured me, “but so far it hasn’t been activated.”
I scowled into my coffee, my emotions a mess of hope and disappointment, with despair and panic clawing at the edges of my mind. “She hasn’t used it,” I muttered, thinking it over. “She still thinks she can complete her contract… it’s the only reason. She’s still determined to see the job through.”
Judith’s face crumpled with grief once more. “Or she’s dead. She can’t activate the tracker if she’s dead .”
I shook my head firmly. “She’s not dead. As much as I hate to admit it, Ares won’t want to kill her so quickly. He was…” Smitten. I’d recognized the possessive, unhinged, obsessed look in his eyes while he’d watched her dance with his friend back at the party. I’d seen it on my own fucking face. “He’d taken a liking to her. If nothing else, he’ll keep her alive to torture.”
Especially now that I’d killed one of his inner circle. Shit. He might want to take payment from Danny in blood. I needed to get her back, soon . Preferably before she realized how badly I’d jeopardized her cover already.
Judith didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway. “If you say so.”
I’d had enough of her negativity. She looked like she was already mentally planning for Danny’s funeral and sinking into mourning mode. Disgusted, I tossed some money onto the table to cover both our meals and pushed to my feet.
“Where are you going?” she demanded, looking up at me with a scowl.
“I can’t just sit around and cross my fingers that she’ll activate that tracker. She might not even have the fucking watch anymore.” I grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair and pulled it on. “I’m going to do my own research to track their plane. I got part of the tail number… eventually I’ll find where they landed.”
She blinked at me in confusion, like that hadn’t occurred to her. “Okay, well… call me if you find anything?”
I grunted a noncommittal response. “I expect you’ll tell me if this Carlos hears from her?”
Judith nodded her agreement, fresh tears already swimming in her eyes. If she was looking for a hug and comfort, she would need to find it elsewhere. I had work to do and a white-haired Valkyrie to save.
21
A fter eating the food that Mo had left for me, and drinking almost all of the water, the inevitable happened.
“Hello?” I called out in an uncertain sort of voice. A normal innocent version of Danny would be scared and confused, but also starting to get pretty angry. “Hello! Is anyone there? I need to pee!”
Knowing full well that they were watching me on camera, I made a show of hopping around with my thighs clenched, and a minute later the door at the top of the stairs opened and footsteps came closer. Who had drawn the short straw this time? Would it be Jae, seeing as he had been the one kind enough to let me shower? Or maybe Moana with her hurt accusations. Part of me felt bad for deceiving her, she clearly wanted a friend so badly. But that was what had made her an easy target.
She might thank me, one day, for exposing that weakness. Or she would if I didn’t kill her when I escaped.
The door opened and I was somewhat surprised to see Eli there with an Uzi in his hands and a perfectly neutral expression on his face.
He didn’t say a thing, just jerked his head for me to exit the cell while he waited in the corridor, blocking the access to the stairs.
I gave a small sigh, because during my assessment of the entire crew while we’d been hanging out together at the party, I’d picked Eli as the hardest nut to crack. He was the most professional, the one who carefully guarded his expressions and reactions to everything and kept his gaze sharp and alert. I’d be wasting my breath begging him to release me, even if that was in character for this version of Danny.
So I kept my head low and my shoulders slumped with defeat as he let me into the tiny bathroom and stood in the doorway while I peed.
“I suppose I’d be wasting my time to ask you to let me go,” I commented in a weak, self-pitying voice as he escorted me back to my cell.
He said nothing, just slammed my door shut and locked it once more.
It was new information to add to my mental dossier on this team, though. So far I had a solid reading on how each of them would handle an interrogation. All except Kai himself.
Where was the god of war, anyway? His black-market code name was Ares, which I found amusing, given the host of other criminals around the world using Greek and Roman deity names. Like Hades, the female gang boss in Shadow Grove, her little sister Persephone—who wasn’t anywhere near as innocent as she acted—or Hermes, who was fast on track to become history’s most notorious thief.
Those were just the few I’d had personal run-ins with, too. I’d heard rumors of various others floating around the globe, doing bad things and hiding behind their godly code names, but until someone hired me to kill them—or they hired me themselves—their business was none of mine.
Ares. He suited his real name better, in my opinion. Malachi Arden. His absence went against my assumptions of his personality. I’d have thought he would have been the first one down here, getting up in my face and demanding answers for my lies. But so far… nothing.
Maybe he wasn’t even here? No, that seemed too far out of character, especially when his whole team seemed to be present. Except Mauricio, of course. I was curious about how he’d been killed, but couldn’t exactly ask. Maybe I could goad one of them into talking next time they paid me a visit. Jae was a safe bet, but Sam was the one who couldn’t control his temper. It might hurt, but I’d put my money on Sam for spilling the most useful intel.