“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” says Levi. “It could have been a signal for Ilya’s men. They would have been watching.”
I put the sequence of events together, but it doesn’t add up. “There are more discreet signals she could have used, but even so, why signal before Maddie and Lily had finished their drinks?”
Simon’s watch beeps and he squints at the two testing strips, holding them up to the light. “They’re both clear.” He shrugs. “It must be a drug the test strips can’t detect. God knows what the Russians have access to.”
There’s another possibility. “What if Quinn didn’t spike their drinks?” I ask.
I might have to accept that it was a planned move to isolate Maddie and Lily, but I’d like to believe Quinn would go against Ilya’s orders to drug them.
Simon doesn’t look convinced. “We’ll send everything to the labs, but it could be a while before we know anything for sure.”
I can’t wait that long. I need answers now. I need to know how worried I should be about Quinn because if she has disobeyed Ilya, if she’s the reason the girls got away, he’s going to make her pay. I don’t dare imagine what’s happening to her right now.
I wipe a clammy palm on my thigh and pick up one ofQuinn’s extra phones. With a snap of the hair tie, I unroll the notepaper covering it. I’ve never seen Quinn’s handwriting before, but I know it’s hers.
This is the burner phone Ilya slipped into my shopping bag yesterday. The phone number he used no longer works but Mace might get something from it.
My fingers tremble as I unwrap the second phone and read the note.
This is my new burner phone. Strider’s number is stored in it. Call him.
She knew she’d be taken. Damn it, Quinn. Whatever plan she’s put into action isn’t Ilya’s. Our conversation from last night comes back to haunt me.
“What if I get lost?” she’d asked.
“I’ll find you, Quinn. No matter how far you stray.”
“Then I promise to leave breadcrumbs for you to follow.”
I snatch up the trail of clues she’s left, and storm towards the sound of raised voices coming from the study.
Although our offices are all designed to be shared spaces where no brother dominates, this is the one room that reflects the true hierarchy. The oak panels and chesterfield armchairs are a stark contrast to the sleek modernity of the rest of the house. There’s a large meeting table where we often gather, but there’s just one desk, and Ashsits behind it.
He’s the only one who notices my arrival. He doesn’t react. He watches silently as I turn my attention to the others. Hunter, Mace and their wives are standing around the oak table, chairs askew where they’d been seated at some point.
“You don’t need to check the CCTV!” Lily is telling Mace. “You could just take my word for it, asshole!”
“You’re right, I don’t need to check,” Mace says, lifting his arm over his head so Lily can’t snatch his phone. “There’s not a damn thing it could show to justify why that bitch drugged you! Do you have any idea what those fucking monsters would have done to you if her plan had worked? Or what I’d be doing right now?” His voice cracks. “I’d be burning half of Chicago to the ground if they’d taken you.”
“Then you know how I feel.”
As all eyes swivel towards me, I take a deep breath. It catches at the back of my throat. There’s a storm raging in my head and the roar of pain I’m holding back has me in a chokehold. But my anguish is secondary. I need to be rational, not emotional if I’m going to win this argument. I turn to the one brother who made stoicism his trademark.
I dump the phones and notes on the desk in front of Ash. “Quinn left her purse in the car on purpose.”
“Why?” Hunter asks, the first to join me. I know he’s as angry as Mace, but unlike Mace, he can keep his emotions in check.
“She had two burner phones she wanted us to find. The one we know about, and another that Ilya contacted her on. She didn’t have it when we left the cabins, so he must have slipped it to her yesterday.”
“There you go then. Theywereworking together,”Mace says with a note of exasperation. From the direction of his voice, he’s the only one who’s stayed where he is.
Maddie takes up a position next to Hunter, and Lily appears on my other side.
Ash picks up each note in turn, but he doesn’t speak. I know I’m supposed to stay calm, but with each passing second, Quinn is slipping further from my reach.
“You can choose to help me or not, Ash, but I’m going to hunt Ilya down. And when I kill the bastard, I’m bringing Quinn home.”
“Not to this house!” Mace roars, his anger rising to unrestrained fury. “How you can still care about her is beyond belief! Christ Reid, it would have been nice if you’d asked Lily and Maddie how they were doing after your girlfriend damn well, fucking poisoned them!”
