Dane

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As he watched the doors close on Lila and Josh, something rumbled in his bones. Like an earthquake from the inside. A reminder that he was human. That he could feel. That she needed him. And, maybe more importantly, he needed her.

He turned back to the room, the space between his shoulder-blades itching with the urge to go after her, to hold her, to kiss her. But he shut it down.

The best thing he could do for Lila—for all of them—was figure out what had happened to Tish, and how they could get her out of his father's grip.

Chris and John were still discussing the phone tracking and possibilities for escaping the building when he pulled out a chair and sat at the table. It occurred to him that everyone in the room knew he was married now, and that Lila was his wife. He didn't have to pretend anymore.

He let go of something and his shoulders sagged.

"Chris," he interrupted them. His brother looked up, a flash of irritation on his face, but he didn't say anything. "Can you go sweep the Penthouse again, please."

"Dane, it's done and there's been six guards posted ever since. You know—"

"Do it," he said. "Check the parking lot and her apartment first, and then the Penthouse. And keep an eye on Lila while you're there. You need to have a reason to be there, otherwise she'll know I just sent you because I'm paranoid. I might have… overstepped the last couple days."

"You think?" Chris said sarcastically, but after a second, he sighed and got up. "Fine. I'll go. But unless you guys find something, I'm going home after that to sleep. I have seven teams to track tomorrow. This is getting out of control."

Dane didn't disagree, but his tension was only slightly eased by knowing Chris was going after her. He waited for his brother to pack up and leave, muttering about how he used to have a life. Then, when the door closed behind him, he turned to John.

"So, this is where you tell me about the stuff you do that isn't strictly legal," he said quietly. "I know I said we keep things legit, but at this point, I want to know anything we can find, any ways to track—legal or not. I'll take it to the Police myself, and I'll pay the price if there is one. But we need to find her—and the people who took her."

John raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Well, in that case…" John hunched over his computer and became very, very focused on his screen.

*****

Lila

She stared at Tish in shock, but had to swallow it when the barrier between her and the driver started to come down. Tish had already pressed herself up against the wall that backed up to the driver. She pulled her knees up to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. She looked like she was terrified and in pain.

"Was there a problem with the door?" The driver asked, looking at Lila through the rearview mirror.

Act normal, Lila told herself. "Sorry, that was me," she said, letting her teeth show. "I thought the door wasn't latched properly so I was just closing it again to be sure before we started driving.

"You let us do that for you Miss Farris," the driver said seriously. "No risks, remember?"

"Right. Sorry. I won't do it again."

He nodded and put the car in gear. Without looking at Tish, Lila looked for her phone in her purse as she spoke to the driver. "I have a kind of sensitive phone call to make, do you mind putting the barrier back up?" she said, like it was no big deal.

"Certainly."

A few seconds later, it was closed and Lila heaved a sigh of relief.

Tish, trembling from head to foot, was hugging her knees and rocking herself.

"You've got about six minutes," Lila said, her phone in her hand, ready to push the emergency call. "Tell me what happened."

Tish opened her eyes, full of tears and started babbling. "I don't remember Friday night," she said through her tears. "Only… I only remember waking up in the dark at home and feeling really sick and wondering if I'd embarrassed myself."

Lila nodded.

"Then I realized there was a man in the room and that's what had woken me up. I tried to scream, but he put something over my mouth. The next time I woke up, I was in this little room. It looked like an office, but there were no windows. It had carpet, but it was really dirty. Exept there was this desk on the other side of the room. There was trash on the floor around it, and dust and… and he was there." She started shaking hard. "He kept asking me for passwords and stuff. I didn't give them to him, Lila, you have to believe me! I didn't tell him. I kept saying I didn't know. That I didn't get into the intel systems. But he didn't believe me and…" A shudder rocked her and tears leaked down her cheeks.

Shaking herself, but calming a little, Lila reached into her purse and got out a tissue, handing it to Tish, who took it gratefully and wiped her face and blew her nose.

"He was… he was trying to break into our surveillance and intel software. He wanted to track Dane, I think. He wanted Dane's access numbers. And when I wouldn't tell him… he hit me…" her voice got very high and she took a few quick breaths.

"How did you get here?" Lila asked, still uncertain, but feeling horrible for the poor girl who was clearly deeply traumatized. "Why didn't you go to the driver when he was waiting or me? Or Josh—why not let us all see you?"

"You don't understand, Lila. No one knows about our systems. No one has access outside the building. Literally, it's locked down. The stuff he was getting into, there's only a couple ways to get to it away from the building. He has to be staff—or someone on staff is helping him. He knew all the right questions to ask…" She shivered again and Lila wanted to cry, she looked like a terrified animal.

"How did you get away?"

"When he was there… he was beating me again and… I pretended to give up. I told him I'd help him with the computer and I… I… I… when he sat down, I hit him over the head with the lamp and I ran. I stole his keys and locked him in and I ran. And… Lila, that room was in our building. As soon as I got in the stairwell I recognized it. There's a level we don't use that's supposed to be locked down and patrolled. But he was using it. He had to know… he has to work for us. I ran out on the second floor because I knew there was that way out to the street, but the car came up just as I got there, so I hid behind one of the other cars. And when I saw you… What did Dane do? Why are these people doing this to us? Oh shit, I'm going to die," she sobbed, dropping her face into her hands.

Lila put a hand to her shoulder, trying to soothe her, but her own heart was beating far too fast.

Dane had been right. They had a spy. And now even she wasn't sure who to trust.

"Tish, I know this is scary, but you need to listen to me. We only have a couple more blocks. And we need to get you inside without the guys knowing. Can you hear me?"

Tish nodded into her hands.

Lila blew out a breath and started saying whatever she imagined Dane would suggest in the circumstances.

She just had to pray it worked.

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