“Here,” I said, giving it to Christian. “Don’t lose it. I need to put it back when we’re done.”
He twirled the knife and grinned. “I’ll just be a moment.”
Christian shut the door behind him and marched down the steps. My nerves were still shot after the helicopter ride, and I didn’t want to deal with Fletcher tonight, regardless of how eager Christian was to dismember him.
When his phone vibrated across the table, I saw Wyatt’s name and answered. “Hello?”
“Who’s this?”
“Raven.”
“Oh. I thought Christian was with someone.”
“He’s with me. Stop trying to be funny. What do you want?”
“Niko and Shepherd drove out to the site. It turns out the freight elevator’s broken. Something went down, but we don’t know what. They said it smelled like something or someone caught fire. And the lights aren’t working. We can’t exactly call someone to fix it because of what’s down there. He thought maybe Christian could pound his way through the floor or something.”
I snorted at the idea. “I don’t think he can Shawshank anyone out of there. You didn’t find another entrance?”
“Nope. We think it was booby-trapped.”
I sat down in the chair, the light in the trailer growing dim from the setting sun. I hated to even throw this suggestion out there, but it was the only solution I could come up with. “Have Viktor talk to my dad. He fixes things.”
“Yeah, cars.”
“He’s a mechanic. He used to repair all kinds of things in his early life—anything mechanical he understands. Ren used to work as an electrician in the military. He doesn’t do that anymore, obviously, but he knows all about electrical systems. Maybe he can help out with that part of it. Viktor doesn’t have to tell them what’s going on. They just need to see what’s broken.”
I listened while Wyatt relayed the message to Viktor, who must have been in the room with him.
“He likes that idea,” Wyatt finally said. “Just left to go talk to your dad. He might have Christian scrub their memory if they happen to see anything they’re not supposed to. Are you okay with that?”
“Ask my dad. It’s up to him. And make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid while he’s there. He’s still recovering, and I don’t want him back at the hospital. In fact, have Viktor talk to Ren about it. I need someone looking after him so he doesn’t go crawling down a shaft if someone else can do the work.”
Wyatt made a raspberry sound. “Boy, all kinds of excitement around here. Ambush attack in the kitchen, hostage situation, secret treasures, allocating money, helicopters, disappearing phones, your dad in charge of something…”
“Wait, helicopters?”
Crunching sounded on the other end. “Yup. We don’t have a flight path out here, but a helicopter flew really close. It headed in the direction of the vacant property next door. Maybe someone’s moving in.”
“Keep the house locked up. Lenore’s out there, and I can’t guarantee she isn’t coming for us. Call Christian’s phone if you have any problems with my dad.”
“Where’s your phone?”
“I’m going to need a replacement.”
“Again?”
I ended the call as Christian walked in. “We need to leave right now.”
* * *
I drovemy truck like a bat out of hell to get to Keystone as fast as I could.
“Lenore wouldn’t have the balls to sneak in, would she?” I asked, turning onto our private road.
“That wouldn’t be her style, but best we check it out.”
During the car ride, we had gone over a number of scenarios. Lenore wasn’t the mercenary type, so her trying to ambush our team was absurd. If shewasthe one who landed nearby, I considered that she might have thought the safest place to hide would be right under our noses. I wanted to get there before dark—before she would have the advantage of nightfall. Unfortunately, I couldn’t drive fast enough on these roads.
