I wasn’t leaving until I confronted the hairnet dude I’d talked to before the explosion. I was certain he was the eyewitness. Maybe he’d gotten a license plate number or something that would give us a clue or a place to start.
My phone buzzed, and air rushed out of my lungs when I saw the name on the screen. “Hey, baby doll,” I answered. “Where are you?”My soul started to mend as I waited to hear her sultry voice.
A deep laugh resonated through the line. “Baby doll, huh?” Roman’s voice scraped along my skin. “Kind of fits, since she’s pregnant.”
Several swear words shouted in my head as the blood drained from me.
“Now, why would you want to kidnap her?” I asked in the calmest voice I could muster. “She has nothing you want.”
“That’s not exactly true,” Roman returned. “I could use her as a toy to fuck with you. But… her grandmother has a hard-on for Layla and, I might add, Abbey. Harriet is dying to meet the little magical goddess. As am I.”
Keep your shit together, man. He’s only firing you up.
“So how did you know we would be here?” I had ideas. I mean, he more than likely had his goons watching the naval base—similar to Viking II, our sister SEAL team—surveilling him and his men at the chip manufacturing plant, although Roman hadn’t been spotted in Cleveland. Or we had a mole in our ranks. Junior Aberdeen came to mind—not that he was part of my team.
“We aren’t doing anything different here in Massachusetts than your men are in Cleveland. I know you’ve been watching us. The question for you is did you and the SEALs know I was in town?”
Fucker.I’d been in a damn coma for weeks, so I couldn’t answer that. But if Roman was hiding in the shadows around base, I was sure we would know. We had guards on rooftops and patrols around the perimeter. Unless Roman had been holed up in one of the homes one block from the base. We didn’t search homes or bother the locals.
“So, what’s with the bomb? You could’ve killed Layla.”
“I didn’t know she would be anywhere near the electrical room. Come on, Mason. You know the drill. Take out the power, distract, empty the hospital, grab the victim.”
“Are you saying you have a heart?” I highly doubted that. “And what the fuck are you doing, Roman? What is in this for you besides money? Or being Harriet Aberdeen’s bitch.”
A crazed laugh came through the line. “Sam Mason, you know what I want.”
I gritted my teeth, grabbed a pipe above my head, and yanked it out. I knewwhohe wanted, and it would be a cold day in hell before he got his grubby hands on Abbey. “I love to disappoint you. You will never get near my niece.”
“Oh, but I will,” he said with surety. “When I do, she’ll be all mine.”
I tore out another pipe, and that time, water sprayed out. But I had to kick my emotions to the curb. The immediate issue wasn’t Abbey since she was behind an impenetrable fortress not far from the naval base. Victor Costner, Alia’s dad, had his estate fortified tighter than a maximum-security prison. Abbey was staying with Alia. For one, Alia was her tutor. Two, since Roman’s escape from our prison at the vampire administration building in Boston, Webb and Jo had taken precautions.
“Where are you taking Layla?” I knew he wouldn’t tell me, but fuck if I wasn’t going to ask.
“Mason, you’ll never see her again,” Roman said in an even tone. “And when her grandmother learns she’s pregnant—” He whistled. “I can see the money pouring down from the sky. Your little one has got to be worth millions. More than the price on your head, or maybe even Abbey’s.”
“Let me guess. You want a piece of that pie?”
He guffawed. “I’m not one to turn down cold hard cash or the chance to meet Abbey. Hence the reason I’d taken the job when Harriet needed someone to fetch Layla and her sister. I’m sad I didn’t snag Jordyn. The payout was big if I kidnapped both, but Layla’s pregnancy should make up for the money I lost and support the plan I have brewing.”
I shoved a hand through my hair. “What? To build your own vampire army? Take over the world? You want power?” Men like him lived for power, money, and control. He ran a thriving blood-smuggling business that we had yet to take down. But we would. Of that much, I was certain. “Let me guess,” I snarled. “You’re one of the investors in Adam Emery’s fucked-up scheme to create super soldiers.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.
“You didn’t answer the question,” I bit out, though I knew he wouldn’t tell me shit.
“You’ll find out everything soon enough. But I will throw you a bone. We’ve cleared out the chip manufacturing plant.”
That wasn’t a bone. “Let me talk to Layla.” I sensed he was about to hang up on me.
“Sorry, dude. She’s not with me anymore.”
I clutched another pipe, ready to crush it. Tripp had said there were two vehicles. “Why do you have her phone?”
“Partly to fuck with you.”
I clenched my fists. “There’s a reason you called me, so get to the fucking point.”
