“Fuck rude. Call him. Maybe he has more information to give us. Maybe Ilya’s changed his mind and we can all gohome.”
“Yeah, right.” Anyone who’d seen the man’s eyes earlier today knewthatwasn’t going to happen, but Drew called Gary backanyway.
“Hey. We’re at the auction,” he whispered the second the call was engaged, not waiting for Gary to sayhello.
Which was fine, because Gary seemed to have no time for politeness. “Have you seenIlya?”
“Seen him?” Drew glanced around the room involuntarily. “Of course not. Why wouldI?”
“Because he’s missing,” Gary said frantically. “He was supposed to call me this evening when Alexei left. He’d been working on his lieutenants all day, making sure that none of the guys who were loyal to him accompanied Alexei tonight. Now he’s not answering hisphone.”
“Don’t panic. That could mean a lot of things,” Drew said in his most soothing voice, but inside his mind alarm bells wereringing.
“Find someone,” he mouthed to Cort. “GetSean.”
Cort blinked, then looked around the room for one of the FBI agents. Spying someone he recognized, he stood up and hurriedoff.
“I should go with him,” Cam said, but Damon held him down with a hand on his forearm. “Not a chance,Cam.”
“That’s not the worst part, Drew,” Gary said in his ear. “Ilya’s nephew Dima — I mean, Dmitri — the one he mentionedtoday?”
“Yeah?”
“He just called me from the fuckinghospital. Alexei beat the shit out of him, broke his arm in three places, dislocated his shoulder and his jaw. He can barelytalk, but he called me,” Gary repeated, his voice shaking. “Because he wanted me to find his uncle. And because… because he’s pretty sure Alexei has abomb.”
Drew’s entire body flushed cold in the space of an instant. He looked up and saw the room, the loud and claustrophobic buzz of conversation and pressed bodies, in a whole different light. They wereallsitting ducks here. They always had been. If Alexei had a bomb, it could be anywhere in thisroom.
Anywhere.
How long would it take to evacuate the guests? Lydia Tyndall, with her brash humor and kind eyes, all the other men and women picking at their salads and talking about their New Year’s resolutions, neverdreaming—.
“Drew? McMann, are you there?” Garydemanded.
Drew didn’t answer. Couldn’t. The buzzing in his ears was growing louder, the amorphous anxiety that had been weighing on him all night had just been given a very real and credible focus, and panic threatened to swamp him. Controlled, rational Drew wasgone.
The men around the table - his friends, hisfamily- stared at him. Concern was etched on their faces, but he had no idea what to tell them. He’d agreed to this plan tonight. Hell, he’dencouragedit - disregarding Damon and Cort’s objections, talking Sebastianoutof his objections. Andnow…
Now…
He’d pay the price for always thinking he knewbest.
He looked at Bas and swallowed, his eyes filling with tears he couldn’thide.
“Whatisit?” Bas demanded. He wrapped one large palm around the back of Drew’s neck. “Tell me.” But Drew could only shake hishead.
Cort returned to the table with Sean Cook in tow, and Drew passed over the phone without aword.
Sean took one look at Drew’s face and grabbed the device from his nerveless fingers. “Sean Cook.” He listened for a moment, his face an impassive mask. “How sure are you?” Whatever Gary said made Sean’s jaw clench. “Do you have anyspecifics?”
Cort watched his former boss with a growing sense of horror. Though Sean’s reaction was outwardly calm, apparently Cort could read his tells the way Drew could read Sebastian’s. He wrapped an arm around Cam’s shoulders and pulled him closer, practically yanking him out of his chair, though Cam didn’tprotest.
“Drew, what’s going on?” Cort asked, his voice a rumble of sound barely audible across thetable.
Drew inhaled a breath and mouthed a single word. “Bomb.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Damon said, his eyes wheeling around the room. Like Drew, he seemed torn between getting to his feet and causing a panic, and sitting down to wait for Sean’s command, which felt infinitelyriskier.
Sebastian gripped Drew’s hand so tightly Drew thought he might lose circulation, but he didn’t protest, he just tightened his owngrip.
