Dead Drop (The Guild #2)(106)

“Siren…” Kai reached out to touch my arm, and I jerked away. I didn’t want or need comforting because Leon’s intel was faulty.

“Danny, my love,” Leon said softly, “I’m not wrong. I trained Boris, he’s good. He wouldn’t report termination unless he was sure. It was arson. Sounds like her whole building went up, and there were no survivors. All exits blocked off.”

I shook my head, refusing to accept that answer. “Bullshit, no one is infallible, Marx. Show me proof. Bring up satellite imagery.”

Kai gave a soft sound, reaching for me again. This time, I let him take my hand, but I still didn’t need comfort. Because Jude wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be.

“Siren, you can’t just bring up satellite images without—” His sensible protest cut short as Leon’s fingers flew across his laptop keyboard, hacking into the UK government satellites to provide the evidence I wanted to see. Needed to see.

I tugged my hand free of Kai’s grip and sank onto the couch beside Leon, taking the laptop from him with shaking hands. The aerial image showed a massive plume of smoke engulfing the area where Jude’s flat was located, but it obscured any details.

“CCTV,” I demanded, handing it back to him. “There’s a camera on the storefront opposite. Um, a handbag store, I can’t remember the name.”

Leon obviously could, though. He typed at lightning speed, hacking into the store’s security and bringing up their real time footage on the screen for me.

Fire engines, ambulances and cop cars crowded the view, but Jude lived in a five-story building. Even though we couldn’t see the main entryway, we could see the upper floors. They were all burnt out, blackened, smoke still billowing from the freshly extinguished fire.

I stared at it for a long time. A really long time, and felt… empty. I was totally devoid of emotion when I finally glanced back up at Leon and Kai. They watched me carefully, like they thought I might break down, but I just wet my lips and tried to think logically.

“She probably wasn’t home. It’s…” I checked the time, then quickly converted time zones. “It’s only five in the afternoon for her. She will still be at work.”

Relief washed over me, because Franklin rarely let Jude off work before six. She couldn’t be dead, because she wasn’t home.

Leon silently took the laptop back and started cycling back through the camera footage, clicking through the frames faster than my eyes could follow.

Kai came closer, sitting on the edge of the coffee table and reaching out to touch me again. He clearly thought I was in denial, but I knew Jude, and I knew her schedule that rarely differed.

“Danny,” he said gently, reaching out to brush my hair behind my ear. “Beautiful, is it possible—”

“No!” I snapped, reeling back in outrage. “No, it’s fucking not possible, Kai. God, why are you two so quick to write Jude off? She’s not some weak damsel. Just because she’s not a mercenary doesn’t mean she’s not a fighter. She would not die like this. This is… bullshit. Total bullshit.”

Leon gave a small grunt, pausing on a frame and returning it to normal speed. He angled it toward me, and my eyes locked on the screen… watching as my best friend in the whole fucking world limped along the pavement and entered the building. The time stamp on the frame was from forty-five minutes earlier.

“Sh-she could have left again,” I said, sounding weak even to my own ears. “She might have gone home to get… something. But gone back to work again?” I shifted my eyes to Leon, silently pleading with him to give me good news. He did love dramatic pauses and suspenseful moments; maybe this was one of those?

His answering gaze was full of sympathy, though, and it made me want to vomit.

“If she did, it wasn’t out this door,” he told me quietly. “But I know you need proof, so just… gimme a sec.” He turned back to his computer and searched through some nearby security cameras until he found someone’s doorbell camera that faced the emergency exit of Jude’s building. The only other way out.

He clicked through the frames until the time lined up with Jude entering from the front door, then cycled back through them slower. No one exited. Not even when smoke started wafting out of the windows and around the door… it never opened.

Static was rushing in my ears again, and I swallowed hard. Both Leon and Kai were watching me with expressions of pity, and it turned my stomach. I needed space. I needed to be alone and get back in control of myself. I needed… to call Sabby.

Drawing a gasping breath, I stood up on shaking knees. Where was my phone? Still in my pocket? Yes, there it was.

“DeLuna—” Leon started to say.

“Siren—” Kai said at the same time.

I didn’t want their platitudes, though. I just wanted to call Sabby and tell her… shit. What if Sab was next?

“I’m fine,” I snapped, my voice like breaking ice. “I just need a minute.”

With my spine locked up like steel, I walked away from both of them, exiting the living room and heading toward my bedroom. Everything was fuzzy, my feet just moving on autopilot while my whole world started crashing down inside my head. I didn’t even remember getting up the stairs, but a minute later I was closing my bedroom door.

My knees buckled and I crashed to the carpet, pain ricocheting through my chest with a silent sob. I couldn’t afford to break down, though. I needed to call Sabine and tell her…