Page 34 of Pieces of You

He inclined his head. “He doesn’t know.”

“Whoa—why not?” I blurted out. For some reason, this put me on edge and made me nervous. Shouldn’t Greer be fully aware of what was going on with his own equipment? “He deserves to know.”

He shrugged a little at that. “It’s safer this way. Less to confess to if he were, God forbid, taken hostage. But Ty and I would know if somethin’ went wrong—and where to find him.” He cleared his throat and took a step back, then retrieved something from his back pocket. “The screen I’m monitorin’ shows no signs of civilization. It’s in the middle of the jungle in the Colombian interior. But here—Ty called in a few favors and got us a satellite image of the same area where Greer is right now.”

I swallowed against the unease and looked at the printout he unfolded.

There were structures, all right. Several of them. Surrounded by forest. Too small to be a town, even a tiny one, but it was certainly a community. The image was so clear that I could see little paths going between the buildings.

“Greer is there right now?” I asked to double-check.

Colt nodded. “They approached real slow, so I’m assumin’ security’s tight as fuck. But yeah, they’re on the inside as we speak.”

“Jesus Christ.” I covered my mouth with my hand, unable to process. This was wild. “If all this is secret—this community or whatever it is…”

“We think it’s the kingpins of the cartel,” he confirmed. “Screw the amount of money it would take to build, but to keep it under the radar of law enforcement and local military? Not to mention how to maintain infrastructure and support however many who live on the grounds.”

I shook my head. Still no words. I was in shock.

That was where Shay was being held captive. That was where River, Reese, and Greer were trying to win a battle?

Colt leaned in and kissed my temple. “I have to get back to my screen, baby.”

I nodded dumbly.

I let Colt do his thing after that. I returned outside eventually, and I could hardly take my eyes off him, but I didn’t disturb him.

I drank my coffee.

Ate my Twix.

I helped Kit get ready for bed.

We said goodnight to the Leroux-Hayles family.

Ash fell asleep with his head in Nathan’s lap on one of the sofas.

I drank more coffee.

Lane fell asleep snuggled up against Ty.

Tate and Kingsley actually returned downstairs, with blankets and pillows. Apparently, Tate had slept too restlessly, and he wanted to be close by if Colt heard anything.

Oh, I went for a second and a third chocolate bar…

I almost choked on a Snickers when Colt asked Ty to come over to him.

The two stared at the screen and spoke too quietly for me to hear. I noticed Kingsley and Nathan were observing them too.

Ty nodded thoughtfully, then pointed to the screen, his finger tracing something, following something that was moving.

For the love of God, put me out of my misery!

“Fast-forward again,” I heard Ty say.

Fast-forward? Had something been rewound? Was it a feed they recorded?

I took another bite of the chocolate and officially had my mouth full. I had hamster cheeks.