Page 51 of Sawyer’s Mistake

“Saoirse’s gone.”

“What do you mean gone?” Storme asked.

“I mean she’s left us.”

“Left us?” Eva whispered, her face pale.

He clenched his hands into fists. His nails dug into the flesh. This wasn’t Eva’s fault or Prado’s fault. This was his fault. He’d known something was worrying her. If he hadn’t been thinking with his cock last night, he would have found out what it was.

He waved the note at them.

“She claims there was a message from the Remur yesterday. That they’re looking for her.”

It was Prado’s turn to pale.

“She said … she said she didn’t understand the message.”

“She understood enough.” Sawyer closed his eyes for a moment. “She thinks she’s protecting us.”

Eva touched her ponytail in an uncharacteristically nervous way. “This is our fault.”

“It’s nobody’s fault.” Sawyer shook his head. He knew exactly what he needed to do. “You guys head on to Brussels. I’m going on a little detour.”

He’d never owned a lot of things, but in the last year and a half as things had stopped mattering, he’d simplified his life to the maximum. The few clothes he owned were already in his backpack. In the front pocket he placed his toothbrush and his copy of The Road. He was back downstairs in less than five minutes.

Prado met him at the door, a small tablet in his hand.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize yesterday.”

“You don’t have to apologize, J,” Sawyer replied. “She should have talked to us.”

“The solar cycle we found, it’s working okay. I checked it through at night, after the women had gone to sleep.”

Sawyer nodded, wondering where Prado was going with this.

“I also put a tracker on it.” He pointed to the tablet. “It should make it easy to follow her, for at least the next three days.”

It took Sawyer a moment to understand what Prado was saying. His face broke out in an enormous smile. He put his arms around the smaller man, enveloping him in a bear hug. “Three days? That’s a lot longer than I need. You’re a genius, J!” He shrugged into his leather jacket. “I’ll see you in a few days, I hope.”

“I don’t think so, Jake,” Storme said, behind him.

Sawyer turned around. His eyes narrowed when he saw Storme and Kopf standing between him and the door.

“Don’t try to stop me. I’ll go through you both if I have to.” His hands clenched into fists.

“He would too!” Kopf boomed, laughing.

“Relax, Jake,” Storme said, his gray eyes twinkling. “We’re all coming with you.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Sawyer argued. “I’ll find Saoirse and bring her back. Or meet you in Brussels.” This was his problem, and he would be the one to sort it out.

“It’s not negotiable,” Prado said, waving the small tablet in his face. “If you want access to this, we’re coming with you.”

#

“We’re close,” Prado said, holding on to the tablet with one hand. His free hand gripped the side handle. “Step off of it a bit, Jake. We don’t want to fly off the road.”

Although his instincts screamed at him to accelerate further, Sawyer took his foot off the pedal. It wouldn’t do to crash the vehicle before finding her.