“Fuck,” I roar, slamming my fist into the wall. At least, I try, but it collides with Samson’s shoulder at the last second. I glare at my brother mutinously. “Why the fuck did you get in my way?”
“Because we need you without a broken hand.” Samson winces, rolling his shoulder. “Jesus, you can pack a punch.”
“Neo is out there,” I hiss. I want to scream the words, but I can’t have us getting caught before I’ve saved him. “He’s out there, and he’s indanger.”
Matthias’s hands grab my cheeks, his dark eyes steady. “Wylder, you’ve got to hang on, man.”
“Like fuck I do.” I shove his hands away, glaring at him. “If Wyatt were the one taken, you wouldn’t be fuckinghanging on.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” he agrees grimly. “But you’d be forcing me to, because you know better than all of us that we need to keep our wits about us if we’re to save him.”
A muscle jumps in my jaw, and I exhale shakily. “You’re right. Fuck.”
“If you’re done, Ansel has more for us,” Samson says from next to the computer. “He’s hacked the national planning server and downloaded the designs for the building.”
“He’s far too clever for Cade,” I mutter, leaning over his shoulder to study the images flicking up one by one.
“There,” I say suddenly, waving at the camera and pointing behind me. Ansel must understand me, because the previous floor plan flashes up, and I point to part of it. “Look. This room here.”
The whole building is a square with a courtyard in the middle. Every floor is full of smaller rooms like the one we’re in.
All except the sixth, directly above us.
One entire side of that floor is a single room. On either end, there’s a kitchen and bathroom.
“That’s where we’ll find Gordon,” I say.
“Are you sure?” Samson asks dubiously. “There are hundreds of rooms here, Wylder. He could be in any of them.”
“He could,” I say grimly, “but he’s not. He’ll be in the biggest, grandest room of all. Think of the yacht. The guy likes flashy, showy things. Whatever he’s got planned, it’s not going to go down in a poky space like this one.”
The map is replaced by a line of text from Ansel.
Cade and Dalton agree you should look there first. I’ve been digging into this guy some more, and it tracks with his personality to want the biggest and the best. Gordon was born poor and has worked himself up to being a millionaire through grift and corruption.
I wonder why Harley doesn’t agree, but Ansel’s next message answers that.
Jules is too busy fussing over Harley for him to have much of a say.
“Okay, so that’s where we’ll find Marino.” Matthias taps his finger against the desk. “How do we know Neo is with him?”
“One of those fuckers said he wasn’t bothering with us because he’s focused on Neo,” I say, jerking my head at the prone bodies on the floor. I’m surprised they haven’t stirred yet. I must’ve hit them both harder than I thought.
Good.
“Why, though?” Samson says, his brow furrowed. “Why Neo?”
“Because he’s mine,” I say heavily, rubbing my forehead. “They’re hitting us where it hurts the most.”
“He must have another reason though,” Matthias says. “Why didn’t they just kill us?”
Why indeed?
I run through all the possibilities. Why has Neo been specifically targeted? Why have they been gathering evidence on The Firm? On us?
I’m left with one answer.
And one way of dealing with it.
