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Unlike the living room, the bedroom was a fucking wreck. The mattress was askew, the sheets half-ripped off. The bedside lamp was broken, dried blood smeared across the wooden floorboards.
“Do you know if he has cameras?” I asked.
Olivia shrugged. “Probably. After what happened to you, we were all a little paranoid. If he does, they’d be hooked up to his laptop.”
I slipped past her and headed back to the living room in search of it. It wasn’t anywhere that I could find. Not on the couch, under the couch, or near the TV.
I finally found it in the kitchen, underneath a stack of mail and a bunch of blackened bananas.
Flipping it open, I grumbled when I saw it was password protected. No matter. I had my own personal geek at the ready. Pulling out my cell phone, I dialed Kai.
“Can you hack a laptop remotely?” I asked without introduction.
“Oh my God. Did you really just ask me that? What do you take me for?” he sputtered.
“Not in the mood, Kai.”
“Ooo, meow.” He actually hissed at me, accompanying the sound of speed-typing in the background. “I’m assuming you’re right in front of it?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t move. I’m using your cell location to hop on the network.”
After another minute of clicking and typing, the laptop came alive and the lock screen faded.
“Don’t let it time out, or I’ll have to do the whole thing again.”
“Thank you.”
“Always happy to help.”
I carried the laptop to the kitchen table and sifted through the collection of icons until I found one for Cole’s security system. Clicking it, I went through the recording history, starting a week ago, on the day Cole was supposed to leave for Mississippi.
He did leave, as we’d said. And he returned in a matter of days, as we predicted. However, Day Four is when it went to shit.
There were three of them; dark, male figures I couldn’t really make out no matter how big I blew up the screen or tried to zoom in. In a matter of moments, they picked the lock on the front door and let themselves in after midnight when Cole and his ferocious guard dog were probably sound asleep.
With no interior cameras, I could only imagine the struggle that took place. Based on the wreckage in the bedroom, it wasn’t an easy snatch-and-grab. It required all three of them to carry out Cole’s unconscious body. They disappeared from view around the corner of the house. A minute later, a dark SUV rolled down the street.
An SUV with damage to the front passenger side and a very familiar streak of white paint transfer.
It was the same people who shot me when I escaped my dopey kidnappers. Exceptthesewere professionals and they had a significant head start.
I exited the security system and scrolled over to Cole’s cell phone app. Clicking on the very convenient “Find my phone” feature, I drummed out a nocturne on the table while the circle spun.
The map popped up on the screen and a blue pin dropped south of Chicago.
“Fuck me,” I exhaled.
“Where is that?” Leander asked, leaning over my shoulder.
Jumping, I shot him a glare. I hadn’t even heard him walk up behind me. Jesus. Either I was slipping or his ninja skills were improving.
He braced one hand on the back of my chair and the other on the table, fixing me with a concerned look. “Where is that, Bennett?”
“Nowhere Cole should ever be.”
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