She glanced toward the burglar bars. “Did he know we were in the hotel?” Was that why they’d rushed out so desperately?
“He had my phone number. Devast called me and deliberately kept me on the line long enough for a trace.” Drew shrugged. “It was a safe bet. Only a fool would have stayed put then. I wasn’t just going to wait for the hotel to explode beneath my feet.”
She swallowed. No, Drew wasn’t a fool. And she wasn’t exactly game for anything exploding beneath her feet.
Make this personal. “What are Devast’s weaknesses?” Tina asked as she tried to figure out a plan. “He has to have them, right? Everyone has a weakness.”
“If he has one,” Rachel sighed, “then we haven’t found it.”
Drew’s phone rang.
Tina glanced down at it. He’d placed it on the table when they’d entered the safe house.
“Sydney’s monitoring his calls. If that’s Devast, she’ll get a lock on him,” Rachel said, eagerness pushing in her voice.
Drew picked up the phone. His face didn’t so much as change expressions.
“Syd will get her trace,” Tina said, “but Devast will get one on us, too.” That was how it worked. But...was that what the agents wanted? “Is this some game of see who hits the fastest?”
“I told you, I have to make this more personal for him.” Drew pushed the button to activate the speaker on his phone. “Calling me again already?” She was surprised by the mocking tone of his voice.
Laughter filled the room. Chill bumps rose on Tina’s arms.
“You left the hotel so fast, Agent Lancaster. Did you truly think that you could run from me?”
Drew’s gaze focused on Tina.
“I’m a step ahead of you,” that hard voice said. “Your bars won’t keep her safe. And if you won’t give her to me, then I’ll just take her.”
Your bars.
He knew where they were.
Rachel had leaped to her feet. Her gun was out and she was at the window on the right, carefully searching the area outside.
“Doctors, police officers, even agents...they can all be bought.”
Drew hadn’t taken his eyes off Tina. “You haven’t named the right price for me,” Drew said. “You haven’t bought me.”
Silence.
“Why pay, when I can get her for free now? Thank you for showing me exactly where she was.”
“Come on and try to take her.” There was no fear in Drew’s voice at all. Just a dark challenge. “Let’s see how fast your men die. I took ’em out before, and I’ll do it again.”
“We’ll see...”
“Yeah, we will. You want her—then you’re going to have to track me yourself.” A deliberate taunt.
Then the call was over, just like that. Dylan had gone to the back of the house, and Drew closed in on Tina.
“Does he know? He said ‘bars’ as if he could see where we were.” She fisted her shaking fingers. “And when am I going to get a weapon? When?” If Devast was about to come storming into their not-so-safe house, she needed a weapon.
His hand closed around her shoulders. “You stay by my side, okay? No one is taking you. I’ve got this worked out.”
Oh, great, wonderful to know but before he’d even finished speaking, she heard the eruption of gunfire. The fast blasts came from the back of the house.
Tina flinched.