Page 88 of His Forbidden Alliance

“I know that now.”

“Good. What shoes was he wearing when he left you?”

Had I heard that right? “What the fuck difference does that make?”

“He met me a few days ago. I put a tracker on his shoe. I don’t think he realized it, so it might still be there.”

I thought back to the moment I’d stepped into the kitchen. “He was wearing black oxfords?”

“Perfect.”

Holy fuck. “Send me the link to track him?”

“Xavier has it.”

Again, I thought I was hearing things. “Xavier?”

“Yeah, the same one you’re working with.”

I didn’t have the capacity to put all these connections together right then. “What the fuck? Are you like a…?”

“I’m someone who wants to see evil people put away, and so is he. He’s also an excellent go-between when we work with criminal informants.”

What was she trying to tell me? “Informants like who?”

“That’s all I’m going to say.”

“Does Zach know⁠—?”

“Not yet. Talk to Xavier. Find Zach, and bring him back safely.”

That was easy to promise. “I will. If I die doing it, I will.”

“Maybe try not to do that. He wouldn’t like it.”

Did she know about us? “You… fuck, this is insane.”

“Yes, probably.”

At least she didn’t tell me to back off. “I’ll text you when we find him.”

“Thanks.”

My head was swimming as I ended the call. Could she be implying that Remington passed information to the feds? What the fuck was that about? Did Xavier’s reach extend into every government agency, every branch of the military, every vigilante he could find in the country? I was beginning to believe he was running everything.

When I arrived at Remington’s house, I expected a lecture on how I’d fucked up handling my assignment. Instead, Remington simply glanced up from his computer and said, “We’ve located Zach. He’s at the address Richard gave you that we suspect is Ivanov’s residence.”

Fuck. I’d known that was who had him, but hearing that made my stomach knot. “We’ve got to go now. We don’t even know if he’s still alive.”

“They’re probably not keeping his shoes sitting around there if he’s dead,” Lorenzo said.

“Not helpful,” Dante muttered.

“I mean he’s alive. That’s what I’m saying,” Lorenzo added.

Remington turned to his brother Lancelot, who was also there to help. “Do you want to explain the plan? Lorenzo doesn’t seem to be able to form good sentences right now.”

Lancelot and I worked out a plan to get in and find Zach while Dante and Remington worked on tracking him and figuring out how many people we could expect at the Ivanov house. A schematic of Ivanov’s house appeared on the screen. How had they gotten that so fast? Xavier, probably, but it didn’t fucking matter. I studied it, wondering where Zach was being held.