23
FIONA
I could have kissed Kade,I was so grateful to see him.
“I’m fine,” I said. “But they have Zeke.”
“Shit.” He drew back and tapped his earpiece. “The suspects have Zeke. Approach with caution.” He was quiet for a moment as someone replied to him, then said, “Follow them. The tracker will lead us straight to them. Don’t shoot again unless there’s no other option. We don’t want Zeke caught in the crossfire. Understood?” Another silence, and then he turned to me. “They’ve escaped in a vehicle. The driver may have been shot, and one of our men was injured by the car. We’re on their tail. We’ll get Zeke back.”
I clutched my chest. “They got away?”
Why had I let Zeke go with them? I should have fought. I’d failed him.
“Not for long,” he assured me. “Can you let me into the building?”
“It locks from the outside.”
“Right.” He nodded. “We’ll try to pick the lock, and if that fails, we’ll come in by force. We’ll get you out of there, Fi.”
“Don’t worry about me.” My throat was thick with emotion. “Just save Zeke.”
His mouth formed a line. “Zeke’s top priority is making sure you’re safe. He made me promise that I’d stay with you personally if anything were to go wrong.”
A sob escaped me, and I clapped my hand to my mouth. That damn fool had put me before himself once again. Didn’t he realize that he was important too?
“Wait there and don’t move,” Kade said, vanishing from view.
My stomach churned as I stared into the dark. My eyes adjusted, and I could see figures moving, some coming closer and others leaving—hopefully to go after Zeke. I couldn’t believe this had gone so wrong. It was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission. But because I’d wanted to take the pressure off Patience and let her know we were on our way to a breakthrough, everything had gone pear-shaped.
This was all my fault.
There was an almighty crash and the sound of splintering wood. I rushed out of the bathroom and gaped at the ragged hole where the door used to be. Somehow, it had been torn off its hinges, and it had taken a chunk of the doorframe with it. The whole thing lay at my feet. Kade dropped something that looked like a battering ram, stepped through the doorway, and scanned me from head to toe, perhaps confirming that I was unharmed. He removed the night vision visor and squinted past me into the shop area.
“Is that the painting?” he asked.
“No, it’s a copy. They took the real thing with them.”
He rubbed his jaw. “We’ll leave it. Let’s get out of here.”
He offered me his hand, and I reached toward him, but we both froze when a siren wailed in the night. Blue and red lights filled the alley behind us, and the King’s Security team hurried to holster their weapons.
I closed my eyes and groaned. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the cops were here.
“Come on.” Kade put an arm around my shoulders and guided me out. “We’ll sort this out.”
I wasn’t so certain.
“Fiona Ryan.” I winced at the familiar sound of Detective Harrison’s voice. “What the hell is going on?”
“We confronted the thieves who stole the Monet from the Windy City Gallery,” Kade said as the pair of detectives approached. “They escaped in a dark sedan with a hostage.”
Goodwin arched his eyebrow. “You expect us to believe that when it looks like you’re up to no good and just trying to cover your tracks?” He glanced past us and stilled. His eyes widened. “That’s it.” A grin spread over his face. “That’s the Monet. Halle-fucking-lujah.”
Harrison brushed past us and went to the painting. She scanned it and pulled a phone from her pocket, possibly checking it against a photo of the original.
“It looks like it,” she agreed, and unhooked a pair of handcuffs from her belt. “Hands out, Ryan.”
My jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
