“Yeah, it is,” Soren says, and to my surprise, he gives me a soft smile and a quick kiss that makes my heart flutter.
He gets it. He gets what I’m trying to do, and heappreciatesit.
And when he rests his forehead against mine, like he’s drawing strength from me, it fills me with a warm glow.
He pulls back, nodding to himself and, before my eyes, transforms from despairing to commanding as he turns to Leif. “You’ve been watching them for days, learning their routines. What have you found out that will help us get them out of there?”
Leif seems to draw his own strength from Soren, and the misery on his face is replaced with a determined gleam. “The fiancée goes out every day around half an hour from now. And maybe twenty minutes after that, the guy goes out. Guess they’re confident enough that no one can make it in there that they don’t think it’s a risk to leave them alone.”
“How long do they leave them for?”
“Not long. The woman comes back after about an hour.”
“So we’d have maybe forty minutes to get in there, grab Wren and Cam and get out of there.”
“I can get us in, no problem. But we need a few of us to stay out here in case they come back here early, and we need a distraction,” I say, looking at Brogan as I speak.
“No way, baby. I’m not staying out here for you to walk straight into danger. We do not know what’s inside there.” I grab his hand and squeeze.
“How else are we getting in there? I’m the only one that can do it, plus, I won’t be alone. Soren will come with me.”
He shoots me a half-smile. “I will, will I? I thought I was meant to be leading this rescue mission.”
I shrug at him and grin. “I figured your calming ju-ju might come in handy since we don’t know what state they’ll be in.”
He eyes me speculatively and then turns his focus to Brogan and Leif, finally nodding his assent and stepping forward like he’s about to charge into the building. “Okay, that’s what we’ll do.”
I hold my hand up for him to hold his horses. “We’ve still got a little while before we need to move, right? Because I have an idea.”
Leif checks his watch, then immediately returns his attention back to watching the apartment like he thinks if he tears his eyes away, he might miss something major.
“We have maybe half an hour.”
“Okay then, I’ll be right back.”
???
Twenty minutes later, I’m back with a less-than-enthusiastic Jet at my side.
“Guys, you remember my sister, Jet? Jet’s going to help you with a distraction if we need it. I figured who better to know how to mess shit up than a karma weaver.”
“Lapsed weaver,” Jet says. It took me the full twenty minutes to persuade her to come with me and that she would want help if she was trapped in some weirdo’s basement.
“So, you know what to do, right? If they turn up while we’re still in there, you throw whatever you can at them.”
“You say this guy is her bitter ex?” Jet asks.
Leif spares her a momentary glance as he replies, “It sounds like he found her online first, dated her, dumped her, and then kidnapped her.”
“So he was using her the whole time?”
“Looks like it.”
“Well then—” Jet bares her teeth in a feral grin. “—I might have to hang around, even if you don’t need me on distraction duty. Seems this guy deserves a good dose of karma heading his way.”
We watch and wait from behind a nearby wall as, like clockwork, a woman leaves the apartment building with a yoga mat in hand. I vaguely recognize her from the last time we were here, even though we only caught a glimpse back then.
My stomach clenches and I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans, taking a steadying breath.
