Retribution (Secrets & Lies #3)(54)
She's been typing on her computer the whole time I've been explaining, already working when we came back, her eyes intense, only taking a moment to hug Andrea and Carson before getting back to work. She spins the laptop around and shows me. “The clinic, it's pretty high-tech looking, right? No paper, lots of computers and stuff like that?”
“Yeah,” Carson says, then his eyes go wide. “The alias.”
“Yep. Dr. Jackson's health records are all electronic. Right here, ten thirty a.m., Andrea Sands.”
Carson sighs and looks over at me. “I'm sorry, Nathan. I've been sitting here blaming you the whole time when it looks like it was my fault. I was the one who made that appointment under that alias.”
I shake my head, still pacing. “It doesn't matter, we all f*cked up somehow. There had to be something else. The rock, something that I left behind when I went after Margaret, something. We thought we had tight security, but either Isis is even better than I thought, or Peter's got resources I didn't know about.”
“How is that?” Andrea asks, and I shake my head, turning my attention to Katrina.
“Get on the net, Katrina. Use every resource you've got, from Darcy to every hacker friend or ally you've made. We have to find her, we have to get her back. There's one thing I can think of that's an advantage to us.”
“What's that?” Jackson asks, and I clench my fist, hoping I'm not just feeding everyone a line of bullshit just to help them feel better. I hope I'm not lying to them or to myself.
“Isis caught up to us at the doctor's. That is about the worst place she could have tried to attack us,” I say, letting the cold analyst take over for at least a little bit. “If she had known about the compound, she would have hit us here.”
“So she doesn't know about us here,” Katrina says, catching my point. “She's trying to lure us all out.”
“Exactly. She wants us all at a place where she can collect all our heads at one time.”
“Why?” Jackson asks. “Why not be patient and whittle us down?”
I shake my head again. “Isis knows our capabilities. She knows if she tries that approach, there's a good chance we would all disappear. She thinks that I would tell you all to use Katrina's skills and disappear. Raise BA and Andrea's baby, and ride out the pain.”
“She doesn't know us that well then,” Carson says, and I fix him with a glare. “What?”
“If you risk BA or Andrea's baby in some stupid attempt at revenge for me or for Melissa, I swear that Isis will be the least of your problems,” I growl. “You protect your children, that's a f*cking order, Carson.”
I've never given them an order before, and I can see Carson stiffen, staring at me with fire in his eyes before he nods, not happy, but understanding. “If we don't get her back, may you burn in hell, Nathan.”
“Already planning on it,” I reply. “If there is a moment in heaven for me, it's with Melissa.”
“What are the other reasons you think Melissa is safe?” Andrea asks, trying to deflect the argument before it escalates.
“Isis is greedy, and while patient, she knows as soon as Peter goes on trial or to jail, her contract is going to be pulled. She wants a score, and that means us. Melissa, ironically, was the lowest price out there. Jackson and Katrina are the biggest. She wants a shot at you guys. So she is going to try and draw us out, to get that shot.”
“Live bait,” Jackson sighs. “So what do we do? Because if she sets up something, we know she'll have the advantage.”
“Damn right she will,” I reply, picking up my phone. “So we need to intercept her before she can force us to that play. Katrina, use your online resources. I will call the Major, see what I can work on my end.”
“And us?” Andrea asks, and I give her a sympathetic look. I can do something, which is better than sitting around on your ass feeling like you can't do anything.
“Andrea, get tactical bags together for everyone but you. We can’t endanger your baby. I need to know if we try something stupidly heroic, that at least someone makes it to raise BA and your child. After that, I want you sitting with Katrina and learning how to work her systems, you’re going to be our support base. We’ve got a lot of work to do. I want us to be able to get on the road as soon as we figure out where Isis is taking Melissa. Jackson, you and I are going to work with Andrea, get the stuff ready here. As soon as Carson gets back, we load up the truck, ready to go. We just need to figure out where.”
The three of them nod, getting up and going to work without a word while I look at my phone, cursing when I see I have no battery left. Fucking smartphones. “Katrina, you have the charging cord?”
“Plug's in the kitchen,” Katrina says, pointing. “The quiet'll help you, too.”
I head into the kitchen and plug in, turning on my phone and dialing the Major. He picks up on the third ring, his voice tired. “What can I do for you, Sergeant?”
“Isis hit my family, Major. Melissa was just kidnapped, she had an accomplice. Change of mission.”
The Major immediately becomes all business, the exhaustion dropping from his voice. “Talk to me, Nathan. First, who is Melissa?”
“Melissa Sands, I'll have Katrina e-mail you a photo. She is Peter's daughter, and... she's my fiancée,” I tell him, emotion threatening to break through but I clamp it down. Do your f*cking duty, soldier. Do your duty, and you might hold her again. “Thirty years old, five foot ten, strawberry blonde hair, gray eyes. Weighs about a hundred and twenty pounds.”