DONOVAN (Gray Wolf Security, #1)(164)

“I wouldn’t…I couldn’t do something like that! I can’t even smash a fly!”

“But you kidnapped me.”

“I had help.”

“From who?”

She shook her head, turning away again. She picked up the bowl and wiped at the spilled oatmeal with a piece of her shirt. She gave up after a second and walked toward the door, her head down, as though she were a prisoner walking to the death chamber, not the prison warden.

“We never wanted to hurt anyone. We just wanted to help.”

“Did it ever occur to you to go to him and simply ask?”

She made a sound that was something like a snort. “We did ask. Over and over again. But he wouldn’t even consider it.”

“All of this just for a drug you don’t even know will work.”

She looked at me again, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied me. “Drug? What are you talking about?”

“That’s what this is about, right? The Alzheimer’s drug?”

She stared at me for a long second. And then she began to laugh.





Chapter 31


Lucien

“What does it say?” Ruben demanded, moving around my desk as quickly as he could.

Jacob held up Adrienne’s phone, revealing the lit screen. I hadn’t even realized I’d left the phone with him. But there it was, more words scribbled across it. Words that would tell us what we had to do to get Adrienne back.

Ruben snatched the phone away before I could even get close to Jacob.

“Roses are red, violets are blue. You know where. Be there at ten.”

Ruben frowned as he stared at the words. But Jacob knew what it meant. I could see it written on his face. And so did I.

If I hadn’t seen the footage from Adrienne’s camera, I would know now who was behind all this.

“What does it mean?” Ruben asked.

“I don’t know,” I lied.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “It must mean something to you. Or the kidnapper wouldn’t have sent it.”

“Maybe it’s just meant to confuse us,” Robert suggested. “Maybe they know we’re here.”

Ruben stared at me, his eyes narrowing so much that I could barely see his pupils.

“No. This one knows what this means.” He gestured to me with the phone. “And I’m guessing you know who’s behind all of this, too.”

I had a choice in that moment. I could lie to him and make a permanent enemy out of him. Or I could tell him the truth—or at least part of it—and hope that he’d trust me enough to allow me to do what I had to do to get Adrienne out of this mess.

I looked at Jacob. He was watching me, waiting for me to make a decision. I could see it in his eyes. I wondered what he would do if this was Lynn we were trying to save.

But, then again, if this was Lynn, it would be a whole different story.

“The poem refers to something my wife and I used to say to each other,” Jacob said, his eyes on me as he spoke. “The message wants us to meet at a bed and breakfast in Katy where Lynn and I used to spend long weekends.”

Ruben glanced from him to me. And then he focused on Jacob.

“We need the address. I’ll send a couple of guys to check it out ahead of time. And then the two of you,” he said, gesturing to me as well as Jacob, “will go at ten, and we’ll watch.”

“Okay,” I said almost eagerly.

“Don’t try anything,” Ruben said, pushing my shoulder as I started to turn. And then he was in my face. “If anything happens to Adrienne because you weren’t completely honest with me, you will suffer.”

His voice sort of squeaked on the last syllable. There was so much emotion in his voice. It was more than clear how deeply he felt about his daughter. But, the thing was, I felt the same way. If anything happened to Adrienne, I would never forgive myself.

I followed Jacob out of the office. The moment we were clear of prying eyes, Jacob grabbed my arm and dragged me into his office.

“There’s something wrong with all this.”

“I know.”

“Why would something between Lynn and I—”

“Because Lynn’s involved.”

Jacob’s face became a thundercloud. “What do you mean?”

“It was Lynn on the camera.”

“What camera?”

“Adrienne put a camera in my office to see if she could prove that someone’s been messing around with my computer. And she caught Lynn in there just after midnight.”

“Lynn was in your office? How the hell did she get into the building?”

“She’s your wife, Jacob,” I said, stepping back slightly and glancing over my shoulder, hoping Ruben was standing just outside the door. “The guards all know her; they all know her relationship to you. They would let her in.”

“What did she do in your office?”

I shrugged. “She left something on the desk.”

“What?”

I shook my head. “A note, I think. But it was gone.”

“Gone?”

“Jaime took it.” I straightened up even as I said it. “It was on the video. Jaime came into my office before dawn this morning, did something on the computer, and then took the note.”