“And Ben?”
“I didn’t see him. I’m sorry.” Kala’s jaw was tight, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “I’m sure they have him, too, but he wanted me to see Lou. Kenz…”
“It’s the girls.” Her stomach was in knots, but she couldn’t fall apart now. “At least one of them, probably all three of them. I checked our inner CCTVs and saw Gabby walking in and out of the dungeon at all the right times. I’ve put us in lockdown in case they decide to try to slip away. The question now is does she know we know.”
Kenzie had quietly put the whole place in lockdown. The Garden’s security was excellent. Only a few people in the world knew how to get around it. She’d watched Gabby and Claire on the CCTVs. They’dbeen in the hallway, and now they were in their room. Sosa hadn’t been seen this morning.
Naturally, they’d pulled it all on a day when there was no one in The Garden. They’d planned it carefully and taken extreme advantage of her mom. This had been a calculated plan to use Charlotte Taggart’s past against them all. Even though they’d been on guard, Huisman had proven he was a serious game player.
“One of them will know what’s happening.” Kala sniffed, banishing her tears. She would be terrified for Lou, but she knew it wasn’t the time to panic either. “I’ve put in a call to Mom. They’re on their way. Do we think Tim is in on this?”
She didn’t think so, but she couldn’t discount it. “As far as I can tell, he’s still downstairs, but I haven’t studied the security cams. I checked to make sure the girls were in their room, but I can’t do the same with Tim. Are we the last ones left in the building?”
“Tash and Dare went to breakfast. Vivi and Sophy are out for the morning on a restock run for the breakroom. Ariel and Robert are at a school thing. I texted Tash to stay away for a few hours while we deal with them,” Kala said with quiet determination.
“He needs her.” She had to give her sister all the hope she could. She had no idea what Kala would do if Lou was killed. The guilt would eat her alive. She had convinced Lou to leave her cushy university job to come with them.
Kala nodded tightly. “She can’t help recreate the bombs if he hurts her too badly.” Her hand went to her chest as though she could feel the damage that fucker had done to her. “Although he can cause pain that doesn’t kill.”
She stood up and wrapped her arms around her twin. “We’ll get her back. I promise.”
Kenzie meant it. Fully and wholeheartedly. She would get Lou back. And she would leave her sister out of it. It was Ben who got Lou caught. He hadn’t listened to reason or logic. He’d done what he always did. When Huisman called, he’d answered.
“We will,” Kala said with a sniffle and steadying breath. “All right, Mom and Dad and the Knights are on their way back. They’ve already informed MI6 what happened. I take it her tracker is off-line? Did he figure it out?”
Lou’s big brain had invented a new system for tracking, but they’dalways known Huisman would find a way around it.
She’d already tried pulling Lou’s tracker. She didn’t have access to Ben’s, but his organization used older ones. She knew she would find nothing when it came to him. “Her signal dropped off at the café sixteen minutes ago. I’m sure Huisman knew Lou had outsmarted him after Virginia. We knew he would counter it before too long.” The man had half the tech world in his pocket through the Disrupt organization. “From what I can tell the signal dropped off when he put her in the car.”
“So he’s using the car as a fucking Faraday cage?” Kala asked.
It was a scenario they’d discussed. If Huisman couldn’t figure out how to find and disrupt the trackers Lou had invented, he could go old school, though it would be difficult. A Faraday cage was a structure—large or small—that stopped electromagnetic radiation, including light waves, microwaves, ultraviolet rays, certain sound waves including AM/FM radio, and blocked all Internet. It would be hard, but if the vehicle was large enough, they could have one to transport Lou in. Maybe even the trunk. She was sure if he’d planned it this carefully, he would have a way to get her into another cage without the signal going out.
Lucky for her, she knew where to start looking. And if she was right, she would get further instructions in the next hour or so. Well, “Kala” would.
Which was why she’d stolen her sister’s phone, replacing it with her own.
It hadn’t been long, but she already knew what she had to do, already had plans in motion because this would be quick. Huisman wouldn’t want to wait.
She just had to figure out how to let her team know where she was.
“I think I’m never eating again.” Tim walked in looking way worse for the wear.
Kala had a gun trained on him in no time.
“Whoa.” Tim’s hands came up. “Hey, I’m sorry. I know the bathroom is haunted now, but I’ll clean it up as soon as I have some strength back. Where’s Ben? He said he had something he wanted me to look at.”
“Ben is with your friend Huisman and they have Lou,” Kala said, her arm not moving at all. “And I suspect you had something to do with it.”
If possible, Tim paled further. “What? What happened? I told him I would look at it. Or that he could ask Lou. I think it was a photograph. He was upset.”
“Yes. You told him to take Lou along. I find it interesting that you’ve rallied all of the sudden,” Kala said in a deeply predatory way.
Tim seemed to understand he was in danger. “Kala, I didn’t know he was going anywhere. He came down and I… Damn it.” He looked panicked for a moment and then ran to the nearest trash can and dropped to his knees, throwing up.
“We need to interrogate Gabby.” Kenzie checked her SIG. “We always knew they could be a Trojan horse.”
“It’s a poison,” a low voice said. Sosa stood in the doorway. “Not food poisoning. Real poison. It’s tasteless, odorless. I’ve got some immunity to it since we were trained in this fashion. He needs doctor. Gabby and Claire are trapped in the room, but it won’t take them long to get out. I destroy the secret phone they have, but they’ll find a way. When they try to get out, they’ll know their game is up.”
