“No, not that long,” Talia said gently. “But like I said, I’ve got some friends helping me, and they’re good at what they do.”
“It’s her boyfriend, Lennox,” Maria supplied. “They’re going to get married soon and take me to Legoland for their honeymoon.”
Anna’s gaze bounced back and forth between Talia and Maria then back to her. “Lennox?”
Talia nodded. “You remember the Navy SEAL I mentioned? Well, when I didn’t know who else to turn to for help, he was there. It turns out he excels at this kind of thing. And yeah, we’ve started getting closer. Not we’re-going-to-get-married-close but there are times when I think he’s someone I’d like to spend my life with.”
Maria looked aghast at that. Like Talia had said that Santa Claus was nothing more than a fabrication of the worldwide toy manufacturing industry. Anna, on the other hand, looked intrigued.
“You and Lennox,” her friend said quietly. “It’s serious?”
Talia gave her a small smile. “It could have been if I hadn’t messed it up.”
“So there’s no chance he’ll be coming to help us?” Anna asked, looking crestfallen at that realization.
“Lennox will definitely come looking for us!” Maria said forcefully. “He loves Talia and me! He won’t let anything stop him from getting us back. And when he gets here, he’s going to kick that big jerk’s butt!”
Anna was dumbfounded all over again, so Talia explained about Keller showing up at the Rybak’s and Lennox saving her and Katrina’s lives. Before she knew it, she was telling Anna everything else Lennox and the other SEALs had done for them, including what they’d learned about Sentinel and Keller being an international terrorist.
“Wow,” Anna breathed. “I thought I was bold sneaking into Mr. Fredrickson’s office but what you’ve done is amazing.”
Talia couldn’t help but glow a little at the praise, even as she realized that she had very little to do with most of the important parts of the story. But instead of getting into that, she focused her energy on explaining everything they suspected Keller and Sentinel were up to. Admittedly, they didn’t know much, but Talia revealed everything they did know, or even guessed at. After what Anna had gone through, she deserved the truth.
When they ran out of conspiracy theories and intrigue, they talked about other things—like Talia’s relationship with Lennox. Maria wholeheartedly approved of that new topic of conversation, talking excitedly about how she was going to be the flower girl at Talia and Lennox’s wedding.
Maria was in the middle of describing what kind of dress she’d wear when the door opened, and the same two men strode in. Talia instinctively moved closer to Maria, putting her arm around her and holding on tight.
One of the men grabbed Anna’s arm and hauled her to her feet. “Time to go.”
Anna screamed and struggled but it did no good. The man holding her was stronger than she was and moments later, the door slammed shut and Talia and Maria were alone. Whereas a few minutes ago, Maria was happy about a wedding she was convinced was happening, now tears were streaming down her face. Talia rocked her back and forth, promising that it was going to be okay, that they were going to get away.
Somehow.
It couldn’t have been more than thirty minutes before the door opened again. The same two men from before walked in, followed by Keller.
Talia tensed, ready to protect Maria at all costs, but the two men with Keller easily separated them, dragging both of them to their feet.
“What do you want from us?” Talia demanded.
Keller regarded them with a smirk. “I don’t want anything from you. But I do want something from Bogdan Rybak and I’m holding onto you as insurance to make sure he does exactly what I tell him. It’ll also be nice to have you and the kid with me in the event that a particular Navy SEAL shows up and decides to stick his nose into my business.” He glanced at the two men. “Bring them.”
With that, Keller walked out of the room, leading the way through what she realized was a warehouse. She barely noted the stacks of boxes and forklifts around them, too focused on the fact that Keller knew about her relationship with Lennox. He must have been listening at the door when she and Maria were talkingto Anna. Now, he was prepared to use that information against her if Lennox and the other SEALs showed up.
Talia opened her mouth to tell Keller he had the wrong idea about her and Lennox, but the words failed to come when they pushed through a set of double doors and out into the cool night air.
She smelled the seawater even before she heard the lapping of the waves against stone. They were at the docks and Keller was leading them onto a large cargo ship.
Lennox was walking into a trap.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“I have a visual on Talia and Maria,” Colt said over the radio. “They just came out of the warehouse with Keller and two other men. They’re heading straight for the gangway of the ship.”
“Do you have a clear shot line on Keller and the other men?” Lennox asked, looking around the corner of the same dockside warehouse that Colt was positioned atop of, wishing like hell he was the one up on the roof instead of standing down here. “You have to stop them from getting on Fredrickson’s ship.”
The silence on the radio stretched out for so long that he started thinking there was something wrong with his earbud but then he heard a long sigh and realized his gear was working just fine. It was his head that was offline.
“Negative,” Colt said. “Besides the fact that I’m carrying a compact submachine gun with a max range of two hundred meters, there are also dozens of civilians within sight of the gangway. I can’t start shooting in a crowd like that.”
