Page 34 of Run

Tommy considered him. A predator sizing up his prey only to find it might be something worse waiting for him in the shadows. His smile was razor-sharp. “You’d do it, wouldn’t you?”

“In a heartbeat.” And enjoy every second of the experience.

“See? That’s why you’re my choice to replace me, not Cutter. He wouldn’t have the balls to say that to my face. He might think it, but he wouldn’t say it. Only family would have enough guts to be honest with me.” Tommy perched against the edge of the desk behind him, brimming with parental pride. “You think we should set up this meeting?”

“I think we go cautious.” Marcus returned the gun to the back of his jeans and folded his arms again, but he didn’t take his eyes off his father. “Direct retribution would attract too much attention right now, and we can’t risk that, not when we’re this close to getting Elle back. Let me call the Albanians to set up a meet for the morning.”

“Why the hell would I want to talk to the Albanians?” Tommy exploded.

Marcus was beginning to wonder whether his father was still fit to lead the business. “Because they hit three of our prime dealers tonight.”

“The Albanians? It was that TV gangster mob, MC20, that hit the clubs.”

Marcus shook his head as he tugged his phone out of his pocket. “Abasi said they were overheard talking Albanian, or at least that’s what our guy thought it was. It sure as hell wasn’t English. They were older too, dressed all in black with none of that crappy jewelry MC20 wears.”

Tommy was shaking his head. “No. Terry’s crew found a phone that one of them dropped, and it belonged to someone from MC20.”

“That makes no sense,” Marcus said.

“Get everybody in here.” Tommy adjusted his tie. “I want to know what’s going on and who attacked us. Then I’m taking them apart.”

With a nod, Marcus sent a message to their captains, telling them there was an urgent meeting. He didn’t bother informing his father’s advisor. Cutter was never far from Tommy’s side. Something Marcus would very much like to change, but he’d never found the opportunity. But, as Elle used to say, even Peter Pan managed to lose his shadow. It was only a matter of time.

Once back in his bedroom, which was scanned three times a day for listening devices, he called Abasi. “Any news?” he asked as he walked over to his desk to open his laptop.

“Nothing yet.” His best friend knew he wasn’t talking about the hits on the business. “Her whole team has disappeared off the grid. My guess? They’re holed up in a safe house somewhere. Either that or they’re on their way to Scotland.”

“Have we sent a man to the Scottish office, see if they’ve turned up there?”

“Are you kidding?” Abasi barked out a laugh. “Benson Security’s got that town locked up tight. Remember years ago, that Russian Mob nut who tried to kidnap some woman in Scotland?”

“The fight in the castle? That was Benson Security?”

“Hell no, that was the town’s women! Benson’s boys came in and cleaned up after them. I’m telling you, man, they’re nuts up there. If Elle’s gone to Scotland, we don’t have a hope in hell of cracking that town to find her.”

“If Tommy thinks she’s in Scotland, he’ll send everything we have after her.”

“Suicide,” Abasi muttered. “We need to play this smart.”

“Then we’d better hope she’s still in London. What do our contacts in the force say?”

“Nothing. They’re scrambling to find her, same as us.”

Marcus opened a folder on his laptop and clicked on a photo. It showed Elle, blue-haired and shouting at him from the London office. She barely resembled the sister he’d known. In fact, he would have walked straight past her if he’d seen her on the street; she’d changed that much…

Or had she?

She’d stood in that doorway and ordered him not to shoot because she was protecting her friends. The Elle he knew would never let someone or something she cared about get hurt when she could stop it. “We need to draw her out, bring her to us. The people she cares about? Who’s the most vulnerable?”

Abasi sighed. “Dunno. They locked down pretty tight once word went out she was made.”

“There has to be someone. Find that person and use them to bring Elle to me.”

“On it.” Abasi hung up, leaving Marcus to change into a suit for the meeting.

Somebody had to be there to stop Tommy from losing his temper and killing their crew.

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