Breakaway - Sadie Jacks Page 0,19

– Thane

“Pick up your damn phone, Tag,” I muttered as I struggled not to race for the elevator. One of the owners of one of the biggest telecommunication firms in the world does not run around the office like he’s a chicken with his head cut off. Even if he feels like his heart is being ripped from his chest. I could almost hear my mother’s voice whispering in my head.

Now my heart really did feel like it was being ripped from my chest. I slapped at the elevator button and tried Tag’s phone again. He wasn’t the head of our security for nothing.

“Call me immediately,” I growled down the line when his voicemail picked up again.

I called Tove. He answered on the first ring. “Okay, I hacked the building’s security. She somehow made it out the front doors. She’s wearing boxers and a black wife-beater. Where the fuck did she get that get-up? Anyway, she headed east towards the offices. Not more than twenty-five minutes ago.”

The elevator was moving as slow as molasses on a winter’s day. I inserted my executive key and pressed and held the Lobby button. Not that it moved me a whole lot faster, but at least I felt good about doing something. “Can you get her on any of the street cameras?”

“Yeah. I’m tracking her. She’s working her way up the street. She’s not talking to anyone, head down.” I heard him gulp. “Shit. Thane, we’ve got a problem.”

“What?” Only four more floors to go.

“A dark blue sedan is tracking her. I’m running the plates now.”

Three more floors. “Tove!” The suspense was killing me.

“They’re registered to a company. Wait for it…The Copse Initiative. And that’s copse as in trees, not the men in blue.”

The car dinged as it slid to a gentle halt. “Finally. I’m heading out. Which way?”

“Turn left at Charleston.”

I took off running, uncaring if someone saw me running hell for leather out of the building. I had to find her. The idea that someone else was after her had my chest tightening. That she’d run was something we were going to be discussing—at length. She wasn’t allowed to leave. Not now. Not ever.

“What’s happening to us, Thane?” Tove asked. “I can hear your thoughts and I feel the same exact fucking way. We’re not these kinds of guys. Crazy. Possessive. Emotional. What the fuck is going on?”

“I don’t know. And stay out of my head.” I took the turn onto Charleston a little wide and almost ran down an older woman with a walker.

“Go get her, sonny,” she hooted as I apologized.

I shot her a grin that was probably more a baring of teeth than anything else. “I intend to.”

“Don’t let that one go,” she hollered after me.

Wasn’t going to do that either.

“She’s up on Lexington. Three more blocks and you’ll find her,” Tove shouted.

Wishing I’d stopped to grab my earbuds, I ran and tried to keep the phone up high enough that I could hear him.

Three more blocks. Three more blocks. It echoed in my head like a chant.

“Shit. Thane, someone got out of the car. Big dude, bald. Wearing a jacket that doesn’t belong in this weather. He’s approaching her.”

I poured on the speed. Don’t let him take her. I cursed my slick-soled shoes. “What’s happening?”

“She turned to talk to him. Shit, the quality on this camera sucks. She’s either really happy to see him or about to pass out. Get there, Thane. Now.”

Forcing the last bit of speed I had available, I pummeled the pavement in a harsh staccato of dress shoes on cement. I saw them. Just up ahead.

“HOLLYN!” I screamed it at the top of my billowing lungs. “HOLLYN!”

She startled.

And that’s when I knew I’d made a huge mistake.

The mountain of a man grabbed her around the waist. Started hauling her to the car. Another man, much shorter than the other, jumped from the front seat, the glint of metal in his hand.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER! HOLLYN!” I lengthened my stride even as my muscles protested.

Startled passersby got out of my way. One industrious soul tried to help from the other direction. He was shot in the chest for his trouble.

“Tove, call for an ambulance,” I said as I bore down on the man who held Hollyn.

“On it. They’re on their way.”

I dropped the phone as I tackled both Hollyn and her would-be abductor. As we crashed to the cement, I smiled as the man landed on the bottom, his back at an odd