The Dangerous Thief (Stolen Hearts #3)(46)

He ran to the entrance of the building. A few police stood out front, but not a lot. He could still get in if he needed. Before he could start, he saw the familiar outlines of Hart and Toni. Toni was leaning against Hart as he led her out of the building.

As soon as they were out, James went to the other side of Toni. “How did it look in there?” he asked.

Hart shook his head. “Not good. The place we were staying was destroyed. Equipment is ruined. It’s all fucked.”

“I’m going to find them and I’m going to kill them.” The anger vibrated off Toni’s voice. “I’m going to shoot them in the head, execution style. No. that’s too nice. Something slower. I’m going medieval on their ass. Drawn and quartered. Wheel of pain. Blood eagle.”

“Toni, it’s computers,” said Hart.

“Shut your face.” She started to walk on her own, limping on her right side. “This wasn’t just computers. This was us. What if you were still upstairs? What if I wasn’t checking on the bugs in Willa’s place? The stupid expensive elevator doors are the only thing that saved me and I’m lucky the damn thing didn’t fall.” She turned to look at the wreckage above them. “I don’t feel very lucky right now!”

“We have another problem right now.”

Hart, for his part, seemed to keep his cool. “Great. What now?”

Before James could say anything, the cops approached. “You all need to move.”

Hart nodded. “We’re getting out of your way.”

They all started to move but then the cops looked at each other and back at them. “Hart? Scott Hart?”

The joy of working with a former cop. “Hart,” said James under his breath.

“I got this.” Hart waved his hand, signaling Toni and James to keep moving.

James put a hand around Toni’s back and led her away, but he kept an ear out for what was happening behind him.

“I’m Scott Hart. You guys heard of me?”

“Yeah,” said one of the cops. “Scott Hart, you’re under arrest.”

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Willa paced back and forth in her father’s spare bedroom. The news was still showing footage of the wreckage of her apartment building. It was being considered a terrorist attack and the talking heads had been going nonstop about which race, religion, or terrorist cell was behind it. She wanted to turn it off because it made her more and more nauseous by the second, but she couldn’t stop listening to it.

There had been two deaths and ten other people hospitalized. Two people who had nothing to do with this were dead. Two innocent people. And to make it worse, Willa had no idea who they were. Their names and pictures had been flashed on the screen, but there wasn’t even a hint of recognition. These were her neighbors. These were people she must’ve passed by or said hello to or something. And now they were dead because of her.

She held a hand over her mouth as the nausea bubbled up. This wasn’t going to happen to anyone else. She was going to make sure of it.

There was a knock on her door and she jumped in surprise as she turned to stare at the wood. “I’m not feeling good,” she called. And she wouldn’t feel good until Jadon left the damn apartment so she could do her search. He hadn’t left her alone since he brought her here. The only way she could act like a normal person was if she sequestered herself away in the room. Thanks to the trauma of the day, normal wasn’t really in play today.

“Did you order food? We just got some Chinese delivered.”

She opened her mouth to say no, but then thought better of it. Even though the thought of eating was almost enough to make her hurl, she said, “Yes.” She pulled the door open and took the brown paper bag from her father’s hand. “I meant to tell you but my brain just isn’t working right.”

Her father looked at her with a mix of concern and curiosity.

She didn’t know what he was looking for, but she couldn’t muster up any fake emotions. “Thanks, Jadon.” She shut her door. She sat the brown bag of food on the vanity and opened it up. It looked like... Chinese food. She half expected a note or something to be hidden inside, but it was just the white pints and two fortune cookies.

She couldn’t call anyone because she didn’t know whether anyone was listening, so she’d been on her own this entire time. She was about to write off the Chinese food as a mistake when she noticed the receipt. It said delivery for Willa Belli. So this wasn’t the wrong apartment. It was someone who knew she was at her father’s. She opened the fortune cookies first, but they were just the basic meaningless sayings. Next, she tried the quart container of some kind of fried rice. She pulled out the chopsticks and started to poke around. After a few seconds, she felt it. She carefully extracted the small package wrapped in plastic wrap. Keeping it close to her stomach, she opened it. It took her a second to figure out what the little skin-colored ball was, but the only saving grace was that there was a note that said simply “ear.” Well, that was easy enough to understand. She moved the thing around until the contours went in the right way. It fit great, but this thing had better not have been used before.

She had it in and was rolling her head around to get a better feel for it when she heard it. “Willa?” The low, growly voice was unmistakable. Before she could say anything, James said, “We can hear you but you’re probably being watched, so keep quiet.”