Page 42 of Raze
“Well, maybe Evie went with them to help unload, too?”
“For three weeks?”
Their conversation fades as I walk down a corridor that leads to the back offices. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of disappearances. I’d ignored it at first. There’s likely a simple explanation for it, especially as some jobs can take time to complete, considering the variableness of requests.
But instinct warns me not to ignore it this time.
I skip the door that leads to my office, which remains perpetually empty, and reach for the one next to it instead.
“—where is she now? No, let them do what they want with her. Just make sure she doesn’t come near this city.” My hand freezes on the knobat Thorne’s words on the other side. “And tell me if she goes anywhere else. I need to know where she is at all times, so he doesn’t accidentally find her.”
He’d better not be referring to my little one. If she’s been found…
I wait for his call to end before opening the door and letting myself in. Thorne jerks his head up when he sees me, but there’s nothing in my expression to indicate I’d heard him. He smiles at me as I take my seat on his desk and my eyes land on Thorne’s current victim, bound and gagged in the middle of the room.
“Jack! Good timing. I’ve been having difficulty getting this one to talk. Do you mind working your magic?” He grins widely, no doubt laughing to himself at the play on words he made.
I shrug one shoulder with a look of indifference. “Sure.”
He taught me the basics of torture, or “in-depth questioning” as he liked to sugarcoat it, but he was too impatient. Too easily swayed by emotion that he was prone to lashing out and killing his captives before getting the answers he needed.
That’s where I come in now.
“What information do you think he has?” I ask in an almost bored tone, resting my face against my fist as I look the man over. He’s in a suit, so some sort of businessman I’d guess, but nothing else sticks out to me to show his ties to GE. “Does he know where Raegan is?” I add in, setting the bait.
“He’s an attorney that works for the board, so I doubt he’ll know where one gifted person is.” Thorne wipes more blood from his hands with a rag, then leers at me. “Though it never hurts to ask.”
Damn.
Heknows my loyalty to him only extends as far as our goals align. He wants to blackmail and use GE to make himself the most powerful man in the world. I want to find Raegan, who I thought had escaped the island from GE until my year-long search for her turned up nothing.
Thorne found me after his people reported someone with a similar gift to his being around. He offered to help find her and train me more on my gift, so I’d be able to protect her better…if I’d help him with GE. If she did get recaptured by them, I’d have a higher chance of finding her with Thorne’s resources.
Or so I thought.
“Right,” I agree simply. “Any updates since I left?”
He unties his plastic apron and tucks all his torture gear into his office closet. “Nothing new, I’m afraid. Unless this guy gives us something of use. A board member’s name would be nice.”
“I overheard someone mention another missing Guild member.”
Thorne scoffs. “Do you think I keep tabs on everyone in the Guild? I’m sure they’re fine and that person’s being dramatic. Since when do you care about it anyway?”
“I don’t.”
“Hmph. Well, don’t waste your time on it. See what you can get out of him and make sure you keep any noise contained. No one else should be back here, but you never know.”
I give him the nod he’s waiting for, so he’ll leave the room. I wait until his footsteps are gone before hopping off the desk to approach the attorney. Tugging the gag free, I tilt my head to the side and give him the full weight of my gaze. “Are you an attorney for GE?”
“Please! Let me go. That man kidnapped me out of nowhere. I have no idea what this GE is” – he blinks repeatedly before he looks away – “but I will pay you to release me. I have money. I can help you find whoever you’re looking for.”
Lies. “I’ll let you go if you tell me everything that happened on the phone call before I came in.”
The man’s face brightens with hope. “Yes! He was talking to someone about a shipment. Said something about having another batch ready at the drop-off location tonight. He was listing off a bunch of things that didn’t make sense…what was it? Plants was one of them, mass something or other, invisibility…”
Gifts.
The missing Guild members.
