Page 45 of Resolve
His dark, blood-soaked promise has me clenching my thighs.
Dane continues typing on his laptop on the other side of me in the backseat of the car. We’re in a five-seater this time with Kell and Aiden up front. It was a two-hour drive to get here from the Tower. Others rode with Portia’s group on Elias’s private jet to their destinations, while Reid’s team has the board member on the opposite coast.
Squeezing Jack’s hand, I shake my head. As tempting as his offer is, we have a board member whose gift is unknown. I’m not risking him going alone as much as he believes he can handle it. If killing the man is going to be so simple, then there’s no reason why the rest of us can’t be there as well to watch his back.
“I’m in,” Dane remarks quietly. His fingers fly over the keyboard as he disables the security systems. He never found Charles, but he came up with the idea of using our target’s phone to find him. All it will take is a call to Charles for Dane to find out exactly where he is.
“Are there cameras inside?” Aiden questions from the passenger seat.
“Just outside.”
Which means we don’t know where he is or if anyone else is there. From Dane’s research, he lives alone with no family. And considering it’s two in the morning, he should be asleep in bed.
Jack draws a throwing knife free, spinning the loop around his finger before catching the handle. He kisses the back of my hand in his. “See you inside.” He slips out of the car, disappearing like a shadow in the night. He’ll come in from the back while we enter through the front.
“Let’s go,” Aiden directs.
The rest of us exit the vehicle. The ocean breeze sweeps over us, inciting a cool chill and another wave of unease. Something moves out of the corner of my eye, but when I turn to look at the car, there’s nothing there. Dane reaches for my hand with a look of concern. “You okay?”
Damn. I need to get my shit together if everyone’s noticing.
“Yeah,” I lie, more to myself than him. If I say it aloud, maybe it’ll become true. “Let’s just get this over with.” We run down the street from where we parked to the house and Aiden works his magic to unlock the front door. Once we’re inside, I activate my gift. The reddish glow gives us away, but it should be okay now that we’re not on the street. I’d rather have it ready to use than not, so it’s worth the risk even if he is awake to see it.
Kellan takes point through the first floor. When there are no bedrooms to be found, he leads us up the creaking stairs. I mentally curse them for always being noisy.
Jackson crouches behind the wall next to an open doorway on the second floor. His fingers undulate a few inches off the ground. He must’ve sent his origami creatures into the room to check forHarvey’s sibling. Alice said she would sleep in the member’s room on the floor so she would wake up when they did. We expect the same thing from her siblings. That also means that while they’ve been told not to interfere with anything—including a threat to the board member’s life—they are required to report any updates to Charles. We need to restrain or incapacitate them before that happens.
Jack motions to Kellan, pointing in the room. I peek with him. A single white crane sits in the air a foot off the ground at the end of the bed. Dane and Kell go in first. While Dane uses his gift to make them visible, Kellan covers their mouth and restrains them. Aiden fashions a set of cuffs and retrieves a small roll of duct tape from his jacket.
The boy panics when he wakes up enough to realize what’s happening, thrashing in Kellan’s hold yet barely moving at all.
I step in front of him to try calming him down with a finger to my lips, a prayer position, and then pointing at the board member.
His eyes widen when he sees me, and I realize then that the reddish glow likely makes me look terrifying in the dead of night.
Fuck.
I turn it off to see if that helps, but now that he’s seen it, he stares at me like I’m a nightmare. At least I'm able to distract him so that Aiden can get everything on him. Jackson hops onto the bed, landing soft as a feather as he squats over the sleeping board member. Once he’s in position, he grips the guy’s hair and shoves his head to the side into the pillow. Jack swipes his blade across his carotid artery as soon as it’s exposed, before the board member even opens his eyes. Blood spurts from the wound, spraying Jack in the chest and face as he holds him there.
The boy screams into the gag, terror reflecting in his wide eyes ashe watches on in horror.
Probably not a good first impression on our part.
I would try to soothe him, but I’d only make things worse at this point.
At least this part is done. Now we need to find his phone and Charles.
Jackson whips around to the door, his arm flying out and the bloody blade sailing through the air. He blinks in surprise just as something stings my neck.
“Ow! What the fuck?!” Dane cries out, echoing my thoughts aloud.
I reach for my neck and find a dart stuck there.
Fuck.
It pulls free without a problem, but that only means whatever was in it is already entering my bloodstream.
A thud sounds in the doorway. A stranger lies there, a knife in his heart and a gun in his hand. The one who darted us, then.
