The Immortal Hunter(88)

"Decker?"

"Yeah?" he asked grimly.

"The Four Seasons Hotel, room 1413," Nicholas said. "I'll give you five minutes to get on the road and then I'll call back." The phone clicked as he hung up.

Dani was moving before the sound died, hurrying down the hall toward the kitchen and the garage beyond. She was aware that Decker was on her heels and that Mortimer was following him, but her mind was on getting to the garage and a vehicle.

"We can take one of the SUVs," Mortimer suggested.

"A van would be better," Decker said quietly, and then added, "We don't know what shape Stephanie is in."

"He said she was alive," Dani announced, almost smiling with relief.

Her desire to smile died, however, when he pointed out gently, "Alive covers a whole lot of ground, Dani."

The image of the women in the ravine immediately rose up in her mind, and Dani bit her lip, her worry pouring back through her. Stephanie's mind could be healed or her memories erased, but she might still bear scars from this experience.

"We don't have a van," Mortimer pointed out, tugging them back to the matter at hand.

"I do."

They all paused and swung back at that announcement as Lucian stepped off the stairs and turned into the hall.

"What's happening?" he asked, moving toward them.

Dani continued on into the kitchen as the men paused to answer. She didn't really care if they took a van or a go-cart as long as they got to her sister. Her gaze landed on Justin as she entered the kitchen. The man was just closing the refrigerator door, a disgusted expression on his face. Turning to see her, he said, "We don't have a single thing to eat in this house. I should-"

He paused abruptly as he noticed her expression and then glanced to the men when they entered behind her. "What's up?"

"Nicholas called. We have to move," Decker announced, catching up to Dani and taking her arm to usher her to the door to the garage.

Justin nodded, all thoughts of food apparently driven from his mind as he fell into step behind them.

Dani thought Lucian would drive since it was his van, but he tossed the keys to Decker and then paused to open the passenger side door, gesturing for her to get in. "You can ride up front with Decker."

She didn't hesitate. By the time she'd fastened her seat belt, Decker and the others had climbed in. She watched Decker push the button on the remote to open the garage door and start the engine, and then turned in her seat to glance curiously into the back of the van. Her eyes moved over several custom-built cupboards and chests lining the side walls in the back. The men had no seats, but it didn't seem to bother them; they were busily flipping up chest lids and pulling open cupboard doors. At least Lucian and Justin were; Mortimer had stopped to pull out his cell phone and was making a phone call. Probably sending the other enforcers and volunteers to the hotel, Dani thought, her eyes sliding to the other two men as they began retrieving weapons. Lucian's van was a rolling arsenal, she saw with amazement... and wardrobe, she added as Lucian drew a long leather coat out of a cupboard and began to shrug it on.

"Isn't it kind of hot for that?" Justin asked, loading bullets into a gun. Dani had no idea what the gun was, but it certainly looked impressive.

"Yes," Lucian acknowledged. "But it will be less conspicuous. This coat hides a lot of sins."

Dani understood what he meant when she saw him shift to a chest to pull out a small one-handed crossbow that he then tucked into the inner left side of his coat. A quiver of arrows followed and was installed in the inner right-hand side. While Justin was going for guns, it seemed Lucian, like Nicholas, preferred the old-fashioned weapons.

Her gaze slid to the guns the other two men were tucking into their jeans out of sight. The crossbow wasn't really necessary this time. While Leonius had been resistant to the tranquilizer on the bullets, his sons hadn't been. The guns would do.

"What do you want in the way of weapons, Decker?" Mortimer asked, putting his phone away and glancing in their direction.

"My usual," he growled.

"Use silencers," Lucian ordered, and then the phone rang and an expectant silence filled the van.

Dani glanced down, automatically answering her phone and switching to speakerphone before saying, "Hello? Nicholas?"

"Yes." There was a pause, and then he apologized. "I'm sorry he got away with your sister at the airport, Dani. It's my fault. An enforcer SUV was one car behind me when we got off the ramp. Unfortunately, I thought they could handle it. I parked to watch what unfolded to be sure." His voice was angry as he added, "It was stupid of them to leave the girl behind. As enforcers they should have known better."

"The men who reached the airport first were volunteers, not enforcers," Lucian said, and then asked, "Did you take her?"

"Well, hello to you too, Uncle," he said dryly. "No I didn't take her. What were you thinking, Lucian? That I killed the security guard?"

"Did you?" Decker asked grimly.

"No." The word was short, and then he continued on topic, "Apparently the sixth rogue didn't go into the airport."

Dani immediately said, "Stephanie told the men that he jumped out as she turned into the parking garage."