Half Empty (First Wives, #2)(87)

“Trina is more than a friend. That drama—”

“Wade? We have to go!” Jeb pulled on his arm and didn’t let him finish his sentence.

“We’re over,” he called behind his back. He forced his feet in the direction Jeb was pulling. “Make sure she gets home.”

“I already have that handled.”

In less than two minutes, Wade was tucked into the back of an SUV and driving away from the venue.

“I need to be back there, looking for her.”

Jeb had his phone in his hand, the receiver to his ear. “How far could you look? The front row?”

The driver took the corner too fast while Wade’s phone buzzed.

He pulled it from his pocket, saw his mother’s number pop up on the screen with a photo text.

He clicked on the image and froze. “Good God.”

“Wade?”

“Sweet Jesus, Jeb, look at this.”

His mother was tied to a chair, her lips swollen.

“You can’t have my son. Kill me. I don’t care.” The image switched to what looked like a live feed outside of a ranch house that looked familiar. The scene flashed to Trina helping Avery inside the doors of her house. His heart plunged. The next video image was of Trina’s father, and a woman who Wade had to assume was Trina’s mother, as they sat half-asleep on a sofa, watching a television. The image then switched to a high-rise building he’d never seen before, then to Aunt Mavis’s living room. “My bombs will kill everyone you love.” Someone offscreen lifted a gun and placed it on his mother’s temple.

“No. No. No!” Wade screamed into the phone.

Vicki closed her eyes, pulling away from the barrel of the gun as far as she could.

The screen went dark.

“What the hell?”

Jeb’s face was just as horrified as Wade’s.

Wade’s phone buzzed.

Turn the car around.

Wade pushed on the front seat. “Turn the car around.”

“Hold up, Wade. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”

“Yes we do, we’re dealing with a sociopath. Call Reed, turn the car around, show them we’re following instructions.”

“The phone isn’t secure. If I call Reed, Ruslan will know.”

Wade looked at the driver. “Is his phone secure?”

Considering Wade had never seen the driver before in his life, he assumed the man wasn’t connected to any of them outside of a car service.

“Give me your phone. Turn the car around, find traffic.” Which, on the Vegas Strip on a Friday night, wasn’t a problem.

The driver handed Wade his phone.

“Reed and Trina have the only secure lines.”

Since Wade had memorized Trina’s new number instead of putting it in his directory, he dialed it first.

“Hello?” She sounded distraught.

“Oh, baby, are you okay?”

“Wade?” She started to cry.

“Shh, I’m okay. Listen carefully. Get out of the house, but don’t leave through the front gate. Call your parents, my aunt. There was a condo . . . high-rise, I don’t know who that is.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He has bombs. Get everyone out quietly. There are cameras everywhere.”

Wade’s personal cell phone buzzed.

Fremont Street

Wade showed the text to Jeb, who told the driver where to go.

“What does he want?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll find out. He has my mother, Trina. At gunpoint.”

“No.”

“I’m headed toward Fremont Street.”

“He’s desperate.”

“I know.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Stop it. Get out of the house and tell Reed where we are.”

“Please be careful.”

Wade hung up. “Now what?” he asked.

“Even if Trina manages to get everyone else out, he still has Vicki,” Jeb said. “He needs her for leverage.”

“Which means he won’t kill her.”

“I hope you’re right.”



Trina used a conference call function and dialed Reed’s and Sasha’s numbers.

Sasha answered first. “This had better be important.”

“Talk to me” was Reed’s answer.

Trina ran through everything Wade had told her while Cooper maneuvered Avery through the house and out the back door. Cooper had spoken directly to the cameras Trina knew were being monitored by Reed’s team, and with any luck, they were evacuating the locations as rapidly as Trina was preparing to leave her Texas home.

“Fremont Street?” Sasha clarified.

“That’s what he said.”

“How far are you out, Reed?”

“Getting off the plane now.”

“I have my eye on Ruslan. You find Wade and he’ll lead you to the girl.”

“You know where Ruslan is?” Reed asked.

“He’s sitting in a hotel room, far away from anyone with a hostage. He’s a murderer, but he isn’t stupid. I have him, you take care of Mr. Country and his mother.”

“I’ve got to go. Wade said he had a bomb here, and I can’t have one more death on my conscience,” Trina said.