Bane

Maren’s hand absentmindedly drifted to my hand on her hip as she rubbed soothing circles. Hell I wanted inside her, but I needed to get a handle on things first. Then, we’d fuck. “What was in the backpack you came back out with from Security Branch?”

“A laptop, a gun, some ammo, money, and a few other devices. If we weren’t able to get away, I needed some essentials.” Maren slightly stiffened at the word gun.

I wasn’t sure what Maren’s limit was at this point, so I would let her keep prompting the conversation. “What happened at the hotel? Why’d we go back?”

Gathering my thoughts, I responded, “I needed to make sure I was right before I disappeared with you. I hoped to draw them out to see who we were dealing with. I knew they wouldn’t make a scene in the hotel lobby. Too many cameras, too many witnesses, too many variables. As long as you and I appeared normal, they would have no reason to take us ahead of time until we were somewhere less open.”

Maren flexed her feet as she thought for a second and introspectively said, “My shoe coming untied wasn’t an accident.”

“No, I did that. While you were tying your shoe, I caught a man in the reflection of the sign ducking behind it. I gave them no reason to think I was on to them as I asked to get my cell phone from my car.”

Maren grew quiet as she watched the screens. I needed to be researching, but having her collected and not panicked would help me keep her safe. A slight hum filled the silence from the computers. Any moment now, I expected whoever was after me would be going back to my place to do a more thorough search.

“How long before we leave here?”

“We’ll leave tomorrow after we get some sleep. In the next garage over, I have another car we’ll use. Before we make our next move, I want to see if we can get any leads.” The fact was, people got themselves killed by reacting and not assessing. If we instantly went somewhere else without any intel, we could be going straight into the lion’s den. I avoided rash decisions whenever possible.

“What about my brother?” That was one of the many questions going through my mind as well.

I scooted us closer to the console and laid my cell on the desk. “I’m not sure. Let’s see what happened when he left the hotel.”

Maren leaned back against my chest. “How?”

Turning my head, her neck was opened to me and I needed to taste her. I gave it a kiss and watched her reaction. A shy smile came over her face as she turned to me. We were but a breath apart as I answered her question and gave her a quick kiss. “By hacking into their system.”

“Oh.”

I wasn’t sure what she thought as we stared into each other’s eyes, the gold flecks in the irises sparkling under the light.

She broke the connection, which I needed. When around Maren, I seemed to get lost. Cuing up the mainframe for the hotel, I typed several commands and finally was rewarded with access. If the person after us watched the hotel security, they’d figure out I was in the system. I had less than five minutes to find the file and get out before they tried to trace me.

Maren watched the screens intently. Bringing up the front door hotel footage I found, the time Frank would have been potentially leaving the hotel. Maren’s and my departure flitted across the screen as I fast forwarded the feed. Ten minutes later, Frank strolled through the lobby, head down. He had to be sporting one hell of a bruise with how I clocked him. At the thought of him holding Maren roughly, my teeth mashed together. Fucker. She rubbed my leg as she felt me tense.

I slowed the feed, watching all the surrounding feeds. The same black unmarked truck pulled up to the front lobby. Maren gasped. I saw red. The asshole sold out his sister. Frank’s visit had been planned all along. But, why?

Maren sat forward within inches of the screen. “Bane, why is Frankie getting into that vehicle?”

“I don’t know, angel.”

Someone popped out of the backseat. I froze the screen and downloaded the image to my computer. Pressing play, the man was pissed. He wrenched the door open and then slammed it after Frank was shoved into the front seat. The truck took off.

Looking at the time, I had approximately two minutes before I needed to logoff.

I put the feed on high speed again to see what happened after. Two men walked in five minutes later. They had earpieces in as they headed to the elevator. I froze and saved their faces as well. They exited on our floor and went to our hotel room. Changing screens, I kept monitoring the front camera. The truck pulled back in not twenty minutes later and parked off to the side. No doubt waiting for my return. They planned to take us up in the room.

Time was running out as the timer showed les

s than ten seconds left. I closed the connection.

Maren remained quiet on my lap as I mentally sorted through everything. Grabbing a secure line from the desk, I dialed the hotel I knew Frank Kincaid resided in from my research. He deserved worse after I’d seen the conditions his sister lived in.

After two rings, the hotel picked up. “Hotel Dumont. This is Claire.”

“Frank Kincaid, please.” Maren quirked a brow at my request. I nodded and mouthed, I’ll tell you in a minute. My phone vibrated letting me know someone entered the house. I brought the house feed up on the monitors while I was on hold. It was hard not to go and face those fuckers head on, but I had Maren to think about.

Three masked men entered and went straight for the different cameras in my house, disconnecting them with efficiency. Somehow they’d gotten a plan of my security system. Maren pushed further into me. I held on to her tightly. This was fucked up ten ways to Sunday.

Clicking sounded from the other end before Claire came back on the line. “I’m sorry, sir. Mr. Kincaid checked out this afternoon.”