Controlled Burn (Blackbridge Security 8)

I keep my eyes locked on him, trailing him from one end of the office to the other and back again. I realize the true danger I’m in when he starts to scratch at his arms, and I recognize the movements. Ty got that way when he was trying to stop using drugs. What started out as having a good time—social use if you will—turned into a full-fledged habit by the time the twins were born.

Like Ty, this man is turning into someone that would do anything for a fix, even steal the money I offered meant for Keres, to stop the bugs from crawling under his skin.

“We’ll wait for the streets to clear,” he says. “Later we’ll head to the ATM.”

I want to sob even harder with his plan. With the way he’s acting, there’s a good chance he’ll get that cash and kill me just so he can find his dealer.

He spins to glare at me, and I try my best to quiet my cries, but it’s nearly impossible. Instead of hurting me, however, he makes a few more threats before walking out of the office.

Chapter 32

Finnegan

“I’m not saying there isn’t anything to find,” Wren says, his voice low with his eyes locked on his computer screen. “I’m saying I haven’t found anything.”

I rub my hands over my face. I’ve done this so many times since I got back to the office, the skin on my cheeks hurts.

Wren’s confession hits me hard. He isn’t the type to keep from interjecting humor into the most serious of situations, and yet he hasn’t muttered a single joke since I arrived. Even the birds, Puff Daddy and Evie, are huddled together as if they too can sense the seriousness of the situation.

“Keep looking,” I tell him, even though I know he hasn’t stopped in the hours since I called him from the school.

An Amber Alert has been sent statewide with the description of the realtor’s car, but that was found abandoned an hour ago in the parking lot of a grocery store a few blocks from the school. I thought Wren was going to lose his shit when he got excited to track the abductor from there only to discover no camera in the area.

My initial thoughts were that this had to do with Ty’s bullshit and the Keres MC, but the more brick walls we hit, the more I begin to think that it may have something to do with Blackbridge because these guys are sure going through a lot of trouble to avoid digital detection.

Wren couldn’t find the car pulling into the parking lot, and although he’s watched videos of every car leaving the parking lot, he didn’t find a vehicle with three kids inside.

With each tick of the clock, I feel like I’m closer to losing my damn mind. I don’t even know if the kids and Kendall are together or if they’ve been separated. The latter makes more sense because I know the abductors would get a hundred percent compliance out of almost any mother with the threat of harm to her children. Hell, I’d do whatever they asked if they had me in that very same position.

“Hello,” Wren snaps after hitting a button on his phone.

“Wren?” an unfamiliar male voice asks.

“Speaking,” my friend says, his hands still flying over his keyboard.

“This is Officer Ray Olsen with the St. Louis police department.”

“I’m in the middle of some—”

“Looking for the Stewart kids?”

I spin around to face the phone, and Wren’s fingers freeze on the keys.

“That’s right,” my friend says.

“We have them here at the station,” the man says.

“And their mother?” I ask.

“I only have the children. I have very little information about what’s going on, but I also have a procedure to follow. With their mother unavailable, I’m going to need to contact social services.”

“No,” I snap. “I’ll come get them.”

“And you are?” the officer asks, not very quick to release kids that were abducted right back to an unidentified person.

“Finnegan Jenkins. I’m their… I’m their mother’s boyfriend.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but—”

“We live together,” I interrupt. “After what those kids have been through, they need familiarity. I can assure you that they’ll be safe with me.”

Wren nods as if he agrees, and I turn to him.

“Do what you have to do so I don’t have any issues when I get there,” I tell my friend before hauling ass out of the office.

A dozen or so worried faces look up at me when I leave the office.

Deacon pushes off from the counter, striding toward me.

“They found the kids,” I say, and several of the women begin to cry with joy. “I’m going to go get them from the station. Wren may need some help to persuade the cop on the phone that I’m not going to hurt them.”

Deacon stalks toward Wren’s office, and I know if he’s involved, it’ll get handled.