Free Double Play by Kelley Armstrong

“Not making sure she’s safer. You’ve done everything you can short of locking her up at that damned lodge of hers, which, by the way, I don’t suggest you try, however tempting it might be.”
    He gave her a look.
    She continued. “You don’t need to make her safer. You just need to calm down. You love her. Which is a pain in the ass, as you’re about to discover. Life’s a whole lot easier when you don’t give a shit about anyone. But this is your choice. So deal with it. Get off that hamster wheel of this-is-all-my-fault-and-I-have-to-save-her. She’ll save herself.”
    “She’s
hurt
.”
    “We have no idea what happened, and as frustrating as it is to sit on our asses and wait for Felix to give us her location, that’s what we have to do.”
    Before Jack could answer, a phone rang. He grabbed his only to see that the screen was dark. It was Cillian’s, over on the nightstand. He started to scramble for it. Then he stopped, inhaled and closed his eyes for a split second before answering.
    “Yeah,” he said.
    “We have her,” a voice said in a thick Spanish accent.
    Jack ramped up his own accent as he said, “Wha?”
    The man spoke slower, as if communication was an issue. “We have his girl. Dee. She took the bait. We grabbed her.”
    Jack’s heart pounded, but he only grunted. “Now what?”
    “Where is he?”
    Jack resisted the urge to give another short answer. Cillian liked to talk. So he said, “He’s doing the job I set him on, like we agreed. I’ve been having a fuck of a time with it. He’s not a fucking amateur. He wants to get done and get home, and I keep having to find new fucking things for him to do to keep him here.”
    “We are paying you very well for any inconvenience, so do not whine to me, old man. Your part is almost over. Call him in. Have your men disarm and disable him. I will call in two hours to speak to him.”
    “Two hours? I’ll be lucky if I can even get hold of him in—”
    “That is your problem, and I would not advise you to make it ours. Two hours.”
    “Make sure you have the girl.”
    “What?” the man said, his voice sharp.
    “He’s going to want to speak to his girl before he believes you have her.”
    “Do not tell us how to do our job.”
    “I’m just warning you. I know Jack and—”
    “And you will control him and convince him to do as we ask. He will speak to his girl when we are ready. We have much experience in these things and we do not appreciate some drunk mick thug—”
    “Hey! I’m—”
    “A thug. A blunt instrument. Do not attempt to think. You will only strain yourself. Two hours.”
    The line went dead. Jack stood there, holding the phone, eyes closed.
    “So they have—” Evelyn began.
    He raised his finger, asking for a moment. To his surprise, she actually stopped talking.
    “All right,” he said when he opened his eyes. “They seem to have her. But she’s okay. Alive. They won’t hurt her. Not unless I refuse their job. I have two hours.”
    “They won’t have left her cell phone on, Jack,” Evelyn said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “They probably wouldn’t even take it with her.”
    “Yeah, but it’ll tell us where she was last. That’s my only clue. I’ll take it. I just need to set an alarm.” He took out his phone and did so. “Two hours. Gotta make sure there’s no background noise.” He pocketed it. “Now can we drive? Get into Virginia?”
    Evelyn nodded, and Jack retrieved his backup weapons and kit.
    Twenty minutes after they left the motel, Felix called with a GPS location. The
current
one. Her phone was still on. Felix had tried calling but gotten no answer. That was troubling—both the lack of an answer and the fact that the phone was still active. In the meantime, Felix wanted to know what was going on. Jack was driving . . . and feeling even less talkative than usual.
    “Put Evelyn on,” Felix said. “I’m trying to help, Jack, not merely satisfy my curiosity. I can tell