“Get up and get dressed,” he ordered. “It’s time to talk to your sister.”
32
SHAWN
We satin Jason’s hotel room, going over satellite images into the dead of night, L asleep on top of the covers of the nearby bed. We’d seen a figure leave the house and return a few hours later, nothing more than a grainy dot on the images, but another good sign. Even if Kara wasn’t in the house, someone was. Someone we could question when we stormed the place tomorrow.
Jason and Ethan refused to move until the video call was over. Ethan was convinced this was a trap. “More information,” he said, “equals better operation.”
Like his trite saying was supposed to comfort me.
“We need to get some sleep,” Jason said, looking as exhausted as I felt. “If you’re coming with us tomorrow, you need to do this. You can barely stand.”
I didn’t take orders, but I’d let my brother believe I would tonight. I nodded and shuffled to my hotel room across the hall, shutting the door behind me.
The cold water I splashed on my face helped a little with my exhaustion. I’d give it ten minutes before I went downstairs, slipped behind the wheel of my Audi, and drove to the house myself.
No, ten minutes was too long. Who knew what could happen to her in those ten minutes? Five minutes. Five minutes was better.
I paced a circle in the tiny room. If I sat, I’d feel the urge to lie down, and if I did that, I’d be done for. I hadn’t really slept since the bombs went off, so only my worry and anger were keeping me going.
I checked the peephole on my hotel door and saw the hallway was clear, but when I opened the door, a huge rock of a man fell into the room. My brother had been sitting on the floor with his back against the door, guarding it.
He hauled himself up and glared at me. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
“Get out of my way.” He knew exactly where I was going. “I can’t wait here.”
“You can, and you will.”
My brother’s broad shoulders were square to me, his stance wide and ready for a fight, a scowl on his face. He’d perfected the dark, authoritative look our mother gave, even when he’d been living in America for most of his life. I was taller, but it was the only advantage I held over my younger brother.
He was bigger, faster, and better at physical confrontation.
But I was coming apart; couldn’t he see that? He reached out, latching a hand on the back of my neck so he could pull his face close.
“Because of him, I almost lost the woman I love. I amnotgoing to lose my brother to him. Get the fuck back in your room, or I’ll put you there.”
The intense look in the dark brown eyes said he would do it. This was the logical, smart thing to do, but that part of me died when the first picture of Kara had appeared on my phone.Mine,Juric had said.
No, Kara wasn’t his. No one owned her.
I blinked my bleary eyes at Jason.
“I’d like to stay with my wife tonight.” He released his hold and stepped back. “Can I trust you to stay put?”
“Yes,” I lied.
His eyes narrowed. “Okay. I’ll sleep in the hall.”
Two of Ethan’s men arrived in the morning with black duffel bags of supplies. Guns, tear gas, bulletproof vests. My last stop before leaving Munich had been to the bank. Jason had told me to get all the cash I could get my hands on without raising suspicion.
I couldn’t tell who these men worked for. Fletcher wasn’t CIA because he was British. Tony sounded American, but he operated differently than Ethan. He wasn’t into the details and seemed excited about the raid, like maybe he was an adrenaline junkie. Was he a mercenary?
Both men took my money without hesitation.
The wait took forever and the clock was a fucking liar. Twenty minutes took an hour and a half. At five minutes to nine, L went into the hotel room Jason and I had stripped to look as generic as possible. We didn’t want Juric to have the slightest idea we were in Trier and potentially close.
Her kiss to Jason had been ferocious, her hands clasped on top of his that rested on her belly.
