With Ties That Bind: Book 3 (The Broken Bonds 6)

?s reaction to the drug all too well. I nudge Carson away as he fondles his dick. Hell, at least he’s alive. “Now would be the perfect time to make good on that threat,” I say to him. “Too bad you’re not lucid enough to remember if I did.”

Sadie returns, a serious expression tugging her mouth down. “Paulson said if the dose was high enough, it could be lethal. He’s on his way.”

I claw a hand through my hair. Turn and stare at the wall of body lockers. “I can’t divide my focus—”

“I know,” she says. “Go. Avery’s message said the meet would be at the old warehouse. Do what you have to. I’ll help Carson.”

I face her. “You know that’s too convenient. Meeting at the bust location?” And if Sadie knows the location, then it’s already changed.

I see it in Sadie’s eyes; she’s thinking the exact same. “Quinn…I don’t have anything else.”

“Fuck—” My fist connects with a locker. I don’t stop. I pound the metal until it’s dented and branded with my blood.

Heavy breaths falling free, I brace my hands against the lockers. “Was Carson able to say who?” If I know who drugged him, I might be able to get inside their head—trace their movement. I need something.

“He’s too out of it,” she says, and I turn to look at her. The stone-cold clarity in her eyes says what we’re both unwilling to voice. That Carson might not pull through.

“And I checked. There was no response to Avery’s message,” Sadie continues. “But she could’ve erased it. The Alpha could’ve set his own time, his own meeting place—”

“Her. Lena,” I correct.

She squares her shoulders. “You’re sure about this.”

Ignoring the throb, I brace locked hands on the back of my neck. Stare at the rafters. Am I sure? I just gambled not only my career but Avery’s life on a recording—I better be damn sure. “I heard her voice.”

Sadie only nods.

After a few strained seconds, she says, “Avery didn’t do this.”

I stare at her. She has that fucking uncanny ability to tap into your worst thoughts. “I know.” We both have to believe this, because the alternative isn’t acceptable. That Avery dosed Carson herself to get away from her detail and meet the Alpha on her own terms. I hate myself for even considering it.

“I called in a bomb threat,” I blurt. At Sadie’s disbelieving expression, I add, “Wexler refused to put out an APB on a Federal Agent. I don’t have enough evidence. I had to do something to lock down airports and highways.”

It might already be too late. Avery could be halfway to Mexico by now.

“I’m impressed,” she says. “I have the techs going through surveillance. It’s probably wasted effort, but I tried to follow protocol.”

This actually gets a smirk from me. Amid the bleakness, Sadie and I swapping methods is dark irony at its finest.

She pulls off her jean jacket and drapes it over Carson. He’s stopped groping his junk and is shivering. “Someone made a mistake,” she assures. “We’ll find it.”

Her tone doesn’t sound confident, though. Bell has access to the ME lab and security. Getting someone in and out of the building unnoticed for a Fed with inside knowledge would be damn easy. Especially if Avery went voluntarily.

Still reading into my thoughts, Sadie says, “She’s still the same person. But she’s distinctive in her strength now, Quinn. Avery’s a fighter.”

I nod and glance at her office door. Avery shouldn’t have to be—she should be inside her lab, changing the world. Not battling against the murky tide full of this world’s filth.

We’ve both been swallowed by the undertow.

Doing the only thing I can, I make a call. I send out two unis to the warehouse and two more to Avery’s house. I make sure they’re aware of the danger, but my gut knows both will be vacant. As I put in a call to the techs for an update, Paulson pushes through the swing doors.

He’s breathing hard, getting here in record time. “We need access to Avery’s office. She was working on an antidrug for the Trifecta.”

A sucker punch to my gut. Avery never told me. “What?” I hold up a finger when Kyle picks up my call. I hear his words whether I want to or not. “Try to find out who tapped into the system,” I tell him. “Focus on inside sources. Let me know as soon as you have something.”

I meet Sadie’s solemn gaze. “A fifteen-minute loop.” Where one moment Avery is inside the lab, the next she blinks out.

Paulson glances between us. “What is going on?”