Page 129 of The Billionaire Who Saved My Cat From The Mafia

“And we’re dicking around wasting time,” I complain.“I need to find her.I’ll worry about the Russian mob after I locate her.First things first.”

“Find her?”Declan pushes a button.

On the monitor appears a GPS map of the Lake Tahoe region, with a pulsating red dot in the middle of the screen.

“What am I looking at?”I ask Declan.

“Oh.Did I forget to mention that I put a dermatracker on Frankie?”

I stare at him.“Awhat?”

“Dermatracker.One hundred percent transparent.One hundred times thinner than a Band-Aid.Stays on the skin for up to five days and, in ideal conditions, it can provide real-time biometric readouts for respiration, body temperature, heartbeat, and blood-oxygen levels.It’s the new geosynchronous advanced target tracking system Finn and I have been Beta testing.Don’t tell Summer I did that—she’ll kick my ass.”

“You put atrackeron Frankie’s body?”My question comes out an octave higher than I’ve ever heard my own voice.I’m horrified that my fucking idiot brother would invade her privacy to such an extent.

And I love him for it.

Declan nods.“Pressed it into her upper arm before we parted ways.We know exactly where she is, K.But we have to find her before the signal degrades.”

“What would cause that?”I ask.

Declan shrugs.“No idea, really.We’ve only tested it out in the open, in clear weather conditions, where there’s an unobstructed line of sight to the satellite.”

I watch the pulsing red light, comforted that at the moment, Frankie’s still alive, somewhere in the Glenbrook neighborhood on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe.But I swear the light is getting fainter and the pulse is slowing.

Am I imagining it?

I point to the screen, my heart now lodged in my throat.“What’s going on with Frankie’s tracker?It’s fading.”

“Huh.Weird,” Declan says.“Finn?Any thoughts?”

“Sorry, I got no idea.But you’re right, Special K.Something’sdefinitelyhappening.”

And it can’t be good.

“It’s time,” I say.

“Nuthin’ like a little direct action to get the blood going,” Finn says.

“This here situation calls for some unconventional warfare,” Declan says.

“I think we’re looking at some special reconnaissance with a side of hostage extraction,” Evander says.

“Sea, land, or air?”I ask.

Cal smiles before he says, “Don’t mind if I do.”

CHAPTER 63

Frankie

“Niko, please.I promise that whatever I did to anger you, it wasn’t intentional.It won’t happen again.Please believe me.”

“Shut the fuck up, slut.Bliad´!”

His fingers dig into the flesh of my upper arm, sending pain slicing through me.It’s all I can do not to black out.But that would surely cause me to fall down the stone steps that lead to his wine cellar, which would be a sure way to die.

And I’m not ready to die.Nowhere near ready.