Free Chills & Thrills: Three Novel Box Set by A. K. Alexander Page A

way. I knew the minute I let any of my guards down that I would be vulnerable. My heart had been shredded the day that I lost my dad, and I didn’t think I could ever go back there. “Anyone get anything on who may have tried to wipe us out on our way to...” I shrugged, “...to God knows where?”
    “Without having time to tune in at all, I’m guessing that either Orlenda has received intel that we are looking for her and the kid, or, Simms,” Ayden said.
    “You think Simms might actually be in on that?” Noah asked.
    “I think he knows that we are figuring out his little project, and there is a chance that he doesn’t want us to know. The more who know, the more opportunity for exposure, and that kind of exposure is dangerous on so many fronts,” Ayden replied.
    I didn’t like considering the possibility that the man who I had thought of in many ways as a father could have turned against the team. I didn’t even want to think about it. But I also knew that humans were capable of almost anything—even turning their back on their own, if it meant to serve themselves. It was a horrid but truthful fact. I just shook my head and sighed, not wanting to think the worst, but accepting it may be the truth. “I say we try to figure that out after we get the kid back. One thing at a time. We don’t need to be clouding up anything by attempting two things at once.”
    “You’re right. You said that you thought you might know why Orlenda wants the kid?” Ayden directed the question at Noah, who nodded.
    “Right. I got a hit about a virus, but it doesn’t ring completely true. My site tells me that is what Orlenda has been looking now for a few months. She has a buyer that I could see is Middle Eastern, but what country I don’t know. The buyer wears a turban, looks to be in his forties. I don’t recognize him at all. He is offering a lot of money—a lot. I can’t get the details, but I’m working on it. I think maybe Hope knows about that, but I am not sure.”
    Ayden nodded. “This kid knows something else. I agree with you, but I don’t think it’s about a virus. That might have been planted to throw us off the trail. No, whatever is going on feels bigger somehow.”
    Head swimming, I stood and walked to the back of the plane, lowering myself down into the leather cream cushion. I looked out at the haze of inky blue swirling around the Lear. The stars still shone overhead, but would soon fade as night started to give way to daylight. I knew time was running out for Hope Mitchell and finding her was essential. If what Ayden was saying was true, and what Noah had discovered was also true, and what I had heard , the little girl was not only a rare talent, but could potentially be used as a weapon in the wrong hands. What that weapon was, exactly, I didn’t know.
    But I would find out.
    I closed my eyes and put myself in a state to listen. I knew that Hope had been served breakfast. As I’d said to the guys, if she’d been trained properly, which if Simms was involved, then she had been, then she would have first been taught how to utilize her guardians, sources, guides—however, one wanted to word it. I preferred Guardian . Audial guides would be where I thought a smart place to begin. There are several categories from land, sea, and air, to plant life, minerals, and even more encompassing. It could be a long process to find her connections.
    I pulled out the earrings that her mother had given me from my pockets. Ha! I hadn’t taken a lot of notice before. However, they were ladybugs. Okay, now eleven-year-old girls probably do like ladybugs. I’m sure they do. Who doesn’t? But, this kid was no ordinary kid. Antennae is how the ladybug “hears.”
    I sat with this, eyes closed and went as deep as I could without it becoming dangerous for either Hope, or myself. I breathed her in and out. I finally connected, hearing that slow breath of hers coming and going. This child knew how to control herself