Hacking off my right arm would’ve been easier than walking through that door. But as Zoe reminded me, it wasn’t about me. Not that she’d meant this when she said it.

The room was full of voices. A half dozen men were dressed as the alpha dog headed by one who stood next to the more elegant version of the same.

The air crackled around the two men in charge of this operation. Donovan was full of power and purpose, and the bloke with the buzz cut had the military bearing of a captain or something more ominous.

Me and the military hadn’t been on the same track.

But the way the entire room came to attention when they walked in—yeah, that was some seriously paralyzing shit.

“This way, please.”

I followed Roth to a command center of sorts. I glanced over my shoulder where Zoe stood with Donovan. He nodded to me as if to say he’d take care of her.

Zoe with her frazzled braid and her angel-colored hair haloing around her head. The purple ends showed her devil side. Almost as she’d been dipped into my fetid past and it was creeping up into her perfection.

Christ.

I couldn’t think about her or what I’d done to her right now. Making things right would have to start here in the monitors and computers, maps and murmured voices.

“How much did Mr. Lewis tell you?”

I straightened my shoulders. I felt small and inconsequential in this room full of so much motion and intent. “Just that there was a call.”

“Well, I’m Aidan. I’m the head of this unit. We aren’t the usual security team. I’m a former SEAL, as are half of my men.”

I frowned. “All I know about that is from television and movies.”

“We deal with kidnappings on occasion, but our specialty is protection and extraction. Since bringing the cops into this is less than ideal, we’re going with extraction.”

“Not paying?” My stomach dropped. “I’m not sure what kind of associates Jerry has.”

“The problem with paying is that then they’ll have no reason to give her back.”

Which was my greatest fear, but Jerry had never been more than threatening. Knowing he could hurt my mum at any time was always his best and most often used card. But murder?

Would he go that far?

I swallowed. “What did he ask for?”

“Three million.”

“Sweet Jesus.” That kind of number could make people stupid.

“Tell me about this Jerry guy.” His voice was sandpaper over steel. No nonsense as he fiddled with something with wires on the table beside us. He didn’t even bother looking at me. I was purely a means to an end.

“Mostly digital stuff.” I worried at the burn on my arm. Aidan glanced at me, his dark brow arching. I dropped my hands to my sides and cleared my throat. “I wouldn’t exactly call him a hacker type, but he seemed to have access to money when he needed it, but he was always looking for more.”

“Kidnapping is a step up from cyber crimes.”

I took a deep breath that somehow made my still raw throat ache even more.

Aidan’s gaze sharpened. “What are you not saying?”

“I don’t have any proof.”

“Well, we don’t know this guy and you do, so spill.” He moved in front of me and flipped back the button placket of my shirt.

I stepped back.

“I’m just checking your clothes to see what kind of tracker I can put on you for the drop off.”

“Oh.” We stood toe-to-toe and we were about the same height, but Roth had me by a good fifty pounds of muscle.

“Jerry?”

“Right. I got the idea that it wasn’t part of the plan. My mum called me in a panic and that’s when it went all sideways.”

His near-black eyes bore into my head like a fucking laser. “So, this is a panic move? Like they didn’t plan a kidnapping?”

“It wasn’t the plan. Ransom was, but for my mum. Not for anyone else. When I didn’t play along with their plan, it feels like they went off script or however you want to say it.”

“More opportunistic.”

“Yes. Jerry always seems to operate that way.” I clenched my fingers. “The wildcard in all of this is my mum. She plays with men to get what she wants, but she’s not stable.”

“How so?”

I didn’t want to give my whole fucked up history to some stranger.

“Look, kid. I get it, your childhood was fucked. We don’t have time to play nice about that.”

I stared at the floor. “It’s not that. Well, not exactly.” I locked eyes with him. “She’s not right about Simon. Obsessed. Unstable more than usual. She’s a narcissist, but Simon is like…” I wasn’t sure how to explain how twisted she was about him.

Aidan nodded. “My brother’s the more head games one, but I’d say fixated. Simon is an extension of her and she got it twisted in there.”

I blew out a breath. “I didn’t realize how much. Let’s just say the comparisons have been vast and I’ve lacked on every level.”

“So, she’s got a hard-on for her kid.”

I blinked.

“I’m sure there’s some Oedipus thing that my brother would be all brainiac about,” Aidan continued. “Does she know about the kid aspect?”

“None of us did.”

Roth flicked around a small circular thing on the tip of his finger. “Tracker and limited range mic. We usually hide it on a button or collar, but you seem like a nervous sort.”

“You try having your mum and her husband kidnap your brother’s pregnant wife and see how you do, asshole.”

“There we go.” Roth smirked. “Get angry. We need your head clear. Crying about it ain’t gonna fix shit.” He tucked the small tracker on my third button. He moved to a computer and hooked headphones over one of his ears. He frowned and fiddled with something on the laptop, then came back to me. “Got a phone?”

“Who doesn’t?” I took it out of my pocket and set it on the table.

He went back to the laptop, then fit both headphones on his ear. “Tony?”

“Yeah, boss.” A tall, skinny guy with tattoos came over.

“I thought this thing was good with interference from smartphones.”

“It is.” The new guy’s hands flew over the keys and then both of them were crowding me.

“Some space, mate.”

They paid me no mind.

Donovan crossed the room to us. “Problem?”

“We have backups, but something…” Aidan tipped his head then plucked something out of Tony’s back pocket.

“Hey.” Tony turned back. “Oh, you think he’s got a wire on?”

“A what?” I ripped the little tracker off my shirt and shoved it at Roth. “I don’t have a bug on me.”

“Yeah? Guess we’ll find out.” He held out the long, thin wand over my arms, moving down to the rings on my hands, then over my buckle. It started whining the closer it got to the middle of my chest. “Take off the chain.”

“What? I’ve had this since I was boy.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a perfect place to put a tracker. Take it the fuck off, kid.”

I pulled the chain over my head. The clasp had been soldered together after I almost lost it a few years ago.

Roth took it and sat at the table. “Well, shit. Tony, look at this?”

Tony pulled the chain down the table and he put on a pair of glasses. He started tapping away at the laptop again and did a low whistle. “Long range tracker. Doesn’t seem to have a way to listen, but it definitely is a locator.”

“What’s the range?”

“According to the specs I found on it, it has limited capabilities. Pretty much can just tell where he is, but more of a general location. Like within a few hundred feet maybe.”

“What the fuck?” My heart was racing. “He bugged my fucking cross?” I felt almost sacrilegious even saying that. The one small thing I’d had as a boy that hadn’t been tainted by my life. A nun had given it to me—one of the few teachers who’d ever given a damn about me.

Donovan dipped a hand in his pocket. “So, this Jerry could feasibly know where Ian was at all times?”

Roth nodded at Tony.

“Give or take a building if he was in the city.”

That was how he’d known where Zoe was. When I was with her, how much time I’d spent on the road. I bent at the waist, my stomach roiling.

How had my life spiraled out of control like this?

“Do you want me to disconnect it?”

“No.” Both Roth and Donovan said it at the same time.

Donovan’s face was unreadable. For that matter, Roth’s was as well, but suddenly, there was tactical glee surfacing in his. He glanced at Tony. “Do we have something that will work around this so we have the upper hand?”

Tony grinned. “I think I have just the thing. Gotta get it from my bag.”

Donovan folded his arms. “What are you thinking?” he asked when it was just the three of us.

“Use the asshole’s tracker to find him. One team on the kid with the money, another extracts Mrs. Kagan.”

I swallowed as Roth handed the chain back to me. “Is that a good thing?”

“You just became more than bait, kid. You became the whole trap.”