“Keep her here . She’s been through enough. She shouldn’t have to watch Jean-Pierre die.” Close. We were so fucking close. I had eyes on his limo. Jean-Pierre couldn’t disappear from me anymore.
Blue stumbled along to the jeep, holding onto her laptop.
David called out to us, “Our men are close. They just broke through one barrier.”
“Not good enough. Have people get in the helicopter and rush that way. We can’t lose them.”
But in the end, we did.
We rushed that way for nothing.
My men lost them.
Misha too.
Jean-Pierre knew Paris, and surely, this had not been his first time running from someone. My men had been close to getting them, but then the limo entered a tunnel and had never left.
They switched cars in the fucking tunnel. He knew I had him.
Fifthteen minutes, we made to the damn tunnel.
Far off in the middle of the long path, an empty limo sat on the side with its hazardous lights on. There was no indication that anyone sat inside.
“Now what?” Maxwell looked at me.
“We do the exchange.” My heart broke, but I wouldn’t let that get me down. Emily was alive and kicking their asses. Jean-Pierre wasn’t the Devil. He kept her reasonably together, although she wore no pants.
And whose shirt was that?
“We need a drop off place.” I rubbed my face with both hands. “If you were going to do an exchange, where would it be?”
Maxwell leaned against Jean-Pierre’s empty limo. “He’s a sneaky basterd. The airport is a no-go. Like you said, he has too many guys there, and he’s already prepared.”
“Out in the open allows for snipers.”
“So public parks are out.”
I nodded. “We’re back to some sort of shopping center. Busy. Packed.”
“David talked about an underground one. If Em could escape from a limo with three men, then she could—
“No. She doesn’t need to go anywhere. They could’ve killed her.”
“Em does what she wants.”
“That’s the fucking problem.” I hit the limo. A dent appeared on the polished surface. “Let’s go back to David’s grandmother’s. We’ll get this shopping center’s address from him. Put our people there, and then give Jean-Pierre a location.”
“We’ll have to do it fast.”
“Everything comes down to this moment.”
Maxwell quirked his brows. “And can I kill this Butcher?”
“No. He’s mine.” I punched another dent into the surface. “But you can skin the funny one. Put a couple of your signature smiley faces on his face.”
“I’ve got you.” Maxwell winked.
We headed back to the jeep.
Where did he take her?
Emily’s men stood outside of all the French locations. Each cousin’s condo had several of her, and my few men waiting for their arrival.
Where did you go?
David’s men had put the lions in the warehouse. Soon Jean-Pierre would hear the news. It was hard to shoot a lion, especially several of them in an enclosed location. Each warehouse had a lion and several of his lionesses. Those huge creatures would do everything to keep anyone from coming inside.
And none of them would shoot the gun inside the warehouse anyway. Not with all the weapons around, ready to blow them all up.
Still, I was in a tough place.
You avoided the satellites. What car did you drive out of the tunnel with?
Misha would have to playback the satellite’s feed, and track every damn vehicle that left the tunnel. Just when I thought I was several moves ahead of Jean-Pierre, he proved me wrong.
That’s fine. You’ll die soon, and my mouse will be back with me.
Chapter 6
Emily
Kaz.
Hearing his voice sent me on edge. It was the worst thing that could’ve happened to me. During the whole kidnapping, I’d been calm enough. I’d come close to coping with my situation. Anytime there was an opportunity to get free, I took it. My mind had been clear.
And then I heard Kaz’s voice and desperation spilled in. Hunger too. My body trembled with a need to escape into his arms.
Kaz.
I couldn’t catch my breath although, I hadn’t been running for several minutes. Earlier, it had been the race of my life. I thought I would die in those streets. In some unknown neighborhood in Paris.
Thank God the men knew not to hurt me. They could’ve shot me with no problem. They could’ve knocked me out. When they caught up with me, I thought I would die. But they calmly picked me up and carried me back to my captor, unharmed.
I sank in embarrassment.
Jean-Pierre dragged me back to that limo and gave me the phone.
“Mouse, stop running away.” Kazimir’s voice sounded stressed. “That was dangerous.”
“Yes. I know, but…”
“They could’ve killed you. What would I do without you? You’re my—”
“No. I’m fine. No one—”
My fingers shook at the memory.
Nothing else came to my mind, once Jean-Pierre took the phone away. All I could do was swim in Kaz’s words.
“They could’ve killed you. What would I do without you?”
I hugged myself as we rode in the limo.