“What?” Sloane asked, straightening.
“Fuck me, I’m such an asshole. He was trying to tell us something.” Dex walked over to Sloane and grabbed the printout with all the abandoned places. He held it up. “He was trying to give us a clue without the Makhai figuring out that’s what he was doing. If they look up my record, or arrest records in Vegas, they’d find nothing, because thanks to Dad pulling in a favor, my arrest was never made official. They’d have no idea why he said that except that maybe he wanted to celebrate with his sons. We know I was in jail.”
“Jail. Abandoned locations.” Sloane cursed under his breath. He grabbed the sheet from Dex and scanned for what he was looking for as Dex confirmed his thoughts.
“He’s in a fucking prison.”
“Here,” Sloane said, pointing to one particular location on the list. “There’s an old abandoned jail in Newark.”
Cael leaned in, then tapped away at his phone. “This place has been closed since the seventies and is notorious for feral Therians, dealers, and illegal activity. The city plans to demolish it. It’s decayed, rusty, and falling apart, but there’re any number of places where you could hide someone.”
Sloane removed his cell phone from his pocket and put in a call to Austen, who answered on the first ring.
“Hey, Sloane. You got something for me?”
“Yeah, I need someone to check out the Old Essex County Jail over in Newark. I’ll be waiting to hear back from you. I’m thinking this is it, and if it is, we need to mobilize right away.”
“I’m not far from there. I’ll call you soon as I have something.”
“Be careful.”
“Will do.”
Austen hung up, and Sloane headed for the door of the conference room, everyone following close behind. “While Austen confirms visuals, we need to inform Sparks and put together a plan of attack.”
“Hope everyone’s had their tetanus shot,” Ash said. “Might I also suggest we go in with full armor. This place is going to be one giant landfill of rusted metal and used drug paraphernalia. Oh, and mercenaries shooting at us.”
Sparks’s door was open, but Sloane knocked anyway, just in case. She looked up from her desk and motioned for them to come in. She placed the room in privacy mode and laced her fingers on her desk’s surface.
“I was about to call you. Tell me you have something, because I’ve run out of time. I had my last interview of the day, and the Chairman just made contact. He wants me over at the closest TIN facility getting this USB plugged in.”
“We think the sergeant’s in Jersey. I’m just waiting on confirmation. If we’re right, we’re going to need backup. A lot of it.”
Sparks nodded. “Take Theta Destructive and Beta Ambush to backup your team. From there, get whoever else you need. Call in every team we have out there in
the city. I’ll deal with Princeton HQ and anyone else who wants to waste our time with paperwork bullshit. If there’s an agent on this floor, I want them out there bringing Maddock back.” Her eyes were filled with a fury Sloane had never seen before. “They want a war, we’ll give them one. Consider the Makhai’s men armed and dangerous. Take them down.”
“What are you going to do about the USB?” Dex asked. “Whatever’s on there can’t be good.”
Sparks stood and smoothed out her pantsuit jacket. “Whatever the Makhai want, I have no intention of giving it to them, but they won’t know until it’s too late. I have someone who’s going to make sure whatever is supposed to happen, doesn’t happen. You know what that means.”
Sloane nodded. He turned to face his team, his eyes falling on Dex. “If we don’t get Tony back by the time the Makhai figure out Sparks has screwed them….”
“Then Tony’s dead,” Dex said, balling his hands into fists at his sides.
Sloane’s phone rang, and his heart leaped into his throat. “Austen?”
“Get your ass moving, Brodie. They’re in there, and from the looks of it, they won’t be for long. I can’t confirm visuals on Daddy Maddock, but there’s a fuckton of firepower around, and it ain’t because of the scenery.”
“Shit. Thanks, Austen.”
Dex looked at him expectantly.
“Austen confirms the Makhai’s men are at the prison. We’re looking at a lot of firepower. Everyone full tactical gear and armor. We’re going in hot.” Sloane turned back to Sparks. “We’ll send you a text the second we have Tony secured.”
Sparks nodded, and Sloane hurried out into the bull pen to put together an army of his own.
CHAPTER 11