Billionaire Undercover - J. S. Scott Page 0,5

could have handled this initial check ourselves.”

I shook my head. “We weren’t blaming you in any way, Harlow. By all reports, it should have been perfectly safe for her to be there. It should have been safe for all of you.”

“You don’t have to blame me,” she said hoarsely. “I blame myself. I’ve already resigned from my position with Montgomery Mining, but that doesn’t matter. I still want to do everything I can to get Mark and Taylor home.”

“Why in the fuck did you have to resign?” Jax grumbled. “This wasn’t your fault.”

“We’ll discuss your resignation later,” I said, shooting Jax a warning look. “Let’s focus on the mission to rescue the two who are still in Lania first.”

While I didn’t agree with Harlow leaving our company, either, it was critical to keep our eye on our mission right now.

“Please do,” Harlow pleaded in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.

I quickly explained the basics about Last Hope to Harlow, and told her that we planned to attempt a rescue. While I hated telling anyone anything about our volunteer group, Harlow had been through hell, and she deserved to at least know somebody was trying to get her boyfriend and friend out of Lania.

I didn’t go into details since we technically didn’t exist as far as the federal government was concerned. Okay, so they actually did know we existed, and the FBI negotiators sometimes tipped us off about someone who needed help, but their official position was total ignorance about our operation.

When I’d finished, Marshall picked up a large envelope and slid it toward me as he said, “Here’s the info on Taylor Delaney. She’s a twenty-eight-year-old female who just completed her master’s degree in environmental geology. She opted to do a summer internship with Montgomery Mining while she hunts for a permanent position.”

“She’s been staying with me since she’s not sure where she’ll find a permanent job,” Harlow added.

I’d deftly snatched the information coming my direction. I was caught off-guard as I studied the image I’d fished out of the contents.

Taylor Delaney was a beautiful, red-headed woman who had the most stunning pair of green eyes I’d ever seen. She’d been so beaten up in the short video clip we’d been sent that I didn’t even recognize her as the same female.

My gut twisted as I tried to stay neutral and just observe.

But it was fucking impossible not to be outraged. Taylor was my employee. Our interns didn’t get paid much, but they did get a wage for their summer work. I felt responsible for everything that had happened to her, Mark, and Harlow.

I held the picture a little longer than I needed to in order to memorize her features before I finally shoved it back into the envelope and passed the entire contents to Jax.

There would be plenty of time to study files on the way to Lania.

“Victim number two,” Marshall announced as he sent another envelope flying down the table. “Mark Lansdale, one of your mining engineers. He’s thirty-five years old, and he’s been with Montgomery for almost six years. According to your files, he’s got a spotless employee record.”

I nodded sharply. “Nice guy. I’ve met him on a couple of work sites.”

“He was getting tired of traveling to remote locations,” Harlow mumbled. “He was considering some consulting jobs to keep him in the country, but he didn’t want to leave Montgomery because he loved working for your company.”

“You two are in a relationship, right?” Jax asked.

She shrugged. “Yes. It’s complicated. He’s not here that often. We were looking forward to doing the exploration together.”

Even though Mark and I had met, I looked at his recent picture, and then passed the file off to Jax.

“I’m all in,” I told Marshall sharply. “I’ll lead this one myself.”

“I’m in, too,” Jax said immediately. “This whole situation is so fucked up that I’m not leaving anything to chance.”

My brother elbowed me. “What’re the chances that they’re still alive?” Jax asked in a quiet voice so Harlow couldn’t hear him.

I shrugged as I answered in a similarly low tone. “Slim to none on Taylor. She’s obviously being mistreated now, and if she isn’t getting hydrated or fed while being held in a nearly airless, hot environment, it could very well be a lost cause. Even less for Mark, unfortunately. You know they usually kill male hostages and use the females for leverage.”

“But we have to try,” Jax said fervently. “We both know just paying them isn’t going to work.