I glared at him. “Show me!”
Nodding, he opened the envelope and pulled out the note within.
SHE’S GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO HIM. YOU WANT HER? FIND HER BEFORE I KILL HER.
With gloved hands, Zombie took out the picture from the envelope. I felt my face blanch and my stomach twist at the sight. The picture showed Lily gagged and tied up. This time, half of her face was swollen, black and purple.
I covered my mouth. Zombie put the photo back in the evidence bag before squeezing my shoulder.
“We’ll get her, B. I’ll know more in a couple days.”
I nodded before watching him walk to his car, get in and drive off.
The next forty-eight hours were going to be agony.
I was in the Hive talking to Lennie when the call from Zombie came through. He and the team had been trying to find computer traces of Sarah’s movements, with no luck. She was our only connection to Ricci besides whomever Kade did dealings with.
“Hello?”
“I got a partial print!” yelled Zombie through the phone, happiness evident in his voice.
I almost dropped the phone.
“Wh-who?” I stammered.
“Sarah Myers.”
Chief called an emergency meeting for all of the Elite Squad, the Hive, and Matt, Phantom’s brother. As we all sat in the room, Chief began his briefing on the mission.
“As most of you are aware, Badger’s sister was taken by Ricci. Now that he is dead, Sarah, Phantom and Matt’s sister, is running Ricci’s trafficking ring. As of eight thirty this morning, Zombie found a partial print belonging to Sarah on this letter.”
He clicked a button, and the screen displayed the letter along with Lily's picture. Gasps filled the room at the sight of my sister.
“As you can see, Lily is not well. We need to figure out a game plan to rescue her. The Hive will narrow its searches on Sarah. Matt, you will work with them to see if you can give any insight into her whereabouts.” Chief continued and then looked to the Elite Squad. “Elite Squad, we will be planning a rescue mission with the help of Kade and his men once Sarah is located. Once we find her, the Hive will make contact as if they are a buyer, and we will rescue her that way. Is everyone on the same page?”
“Yes, sir,” we responded in unison.
I looked over at Phantom, who was holding baby Emery in her arms. She was as white as a ghost and looked as if she were about to vomit. Matt had the same expression on his face. I couldn’t imagine knowing my sibling was in charge of something so horrible.
We were one step closer to finding my sister. But why did I feel like things were only going to get worse?
FORTY-THREE
BADGER
“I got it!” Lennie cried out, her voice startling me out of my reading.
“What did you find, Len?” Jax asked, twirling in his chair to face her.
Lennie jumped up and did a happy dance. “I found Sarah!”
Everyone, including myself, rushed over to Lennie, who showed on a map where Sarah was. It had been a long month of looking at dead ends and missed opportunities.
My heart began to pound at the realization that we may actually be able to save my sister. On the screen, the red flashing dot taunted me. She was at a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, a building that was formerly owned by Ricci Enterprises.
“How did you find her?” I asked Lennie.
“I analyzed the soil particles on the envelope to get a general idea of potential locations. From there, I used the messages I sent to Sarah and found territory that would match a location based on her location settings on her phone. It took some digging, but I found that this building was owned by a subsidiary of Ricci Enterprises. Andvoila, I found her!”
