“My guess is The Lucaya Group.”
Cole repeated the same keycard process, and a panel opened, allowing him to enter his passcode. The doors closed, and the car shot upward toward the fifty-first floor.
“Before Drake left for New Mexico,” Cole said as we made our ascent. “He said he had a bad feeling. I don’t know if he saw something on the dark web… or if he was just being paranoid.”
The elevator doors opened on the fifty-first floor. A smoky scent mixed with something burning clung to the air. However, the ventilation system sucked up most of the smoke.
“Let’s go.”
Cole darted down the corridor and pushed his hand out to stop me as he poked his head inside Drake’s lab. The supercomputer remained untouched, enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass with an independent power source and cooling system.
Cole let out a relieved breath. “Lovelace is safe.”
He took off in the opposite direction, forcing me to follow at a rapid pace to Drake’s office. Everything looked in order.
“Only two people know all of Lovelace’s storage locations,” Cole muttered, mostly to himself. “Lovelace isn’t the target. It’s Drake and Tate.”
My stomach twisted into knots, producing a deep ache in my gut. Terrorists held the men I loved most captive.
“Oh God,” I whispered. “They’re never coming back, are they?”
“Hey, hey,” Cole said, patting my back. “Don’t think like that, Liv. Your brother is a Marine. Drake is a member of The Devil’s Knights. They’re trained to handle anything. Trust me. They can do this. And if they have each other, they have a much better shot of survival.”
Cole ushered me out of Drake’s office and went back to the lab. At the back of the room, there was a glass-paneled room. He placed his palm on a digital scanner and leaned forward to let the machine read his retinas. Once inside the room, he typed the passcodes into the computer. He was then prompted for his handprint again.
A pop-up on the screen prompted Cole to stare directly at a red dot. He did as instructed, and then Lovelace said, “Cole Marshall accepted. Initiating deactivation sequence in five, four, three, two, one.”
I stood beside his chair, hands on my waist. “What now?”
Cole swiveled in the chair, his blue eyes ringed with dark circles as if he hadn’t slept. “My wife is in labor with our first child. I need to be there for her.”
“Oh, wow. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” He rose from the chair. “I’ll give you a ride home. Then, I’ll gather The Devil’s Knights to help find Drake and Tate.”
Hours after Coledropped me off at the Battle Fortress, my cell phone rang.
“It’s Marcello Salvatore,” a deep voice said when I answered on the first ring. “I’m on my way to your house.”
Marcello was one of Drake’s oldest friends and knew a lot about his business. He had experience working in espionage and security. Tate sometimes called him for guidance.
Then, another voice came through the speaker. “Liv, it’s Cole. We need to come inside.”
“Oh, hey. I’ll meet you out front.”
“No, stay inside until we get there,” Cole instructed. “It might not be safe for you.”
I paced back and forth in the foyer as the tall glass doors opened for Marcello and Cole to enter.
Cole swept me into his arms. “Are you okay?”
“No.” I dabbed at the tears sliding down my cheeks. “I’m not. I can’t lose them. Cole, you have to find them.”
“We will,” he said, and sounded confident in his response. “That’s why we’re here.”
“Do you know where to find Drake and my brother?”
“We have a few leads.” Cole held out his palm. “But I need to see your work phone. It might help us narrow down their location.”
