cabin near…” V handed things off to Maks.
“Enumclaw. Little place east of Tacoma.”
“Isn’t that where you used to go deer hunting, Caleb?” Eva, who’d been unusually quiet, wasn’t eating so much as pushing her food around on her plate.
The biker nodded. “Lots of forest around there, tons of secluded cabins.”
“You know offhand how far away it is?” Gabriel asked.
“Forty-five to an hour,” Maks supplied, his thumb tapping on his phone while he ate with his free hand.
Paynne nodded his agreement as Gabriel’s cell went off. He picked it up from where it sat next to his empty water glass.
“Yeah.”
“Your brother arrived not long ago. In a place called Enumclaw.”
Dread filled Gabriel’s gut as Lucian confirmed the information. Dropping his fork, his food forgotten, he got to his feet and moved to the corner of the room, ignoring the inquiring expressions he left behind.
“I just heard.”
“Because my business in LA did not take as long as expected, we are on our way to you. I think you should know your brother has a full crew with him, some of whom currently have eyes on you. I am told Furio is also circling, hoping to find Vasily’s daughter on her own. Do not let that happen.”
Gabriel’s skin tightened as he absorbed all of that.
“I hear Vincente is back where he belongs,” Lucian commented, his tone casual, like it was nothing for him to have such detailed information that shouldn’t have been out there yet.
“Yeah,” Gabriel muttered. “And you’re really well fucking informed.” He tried to process faster as he looked over his shoulder to see Eva watching him anxiously.
“We will be there shortly. And before you ask why, I believe, if it comes down to it, you might appreciate someone else dealing with Stefano.” He went on before Gabriel could respond. “Enjoy what is left of your day, Gabriel.”
When dead air sounded, he tucked his phone away and returned to the table. With an apologetic look, he interrupted the small talk that had sprung up and shared the new information—once again leaving the girls and Paynne clueless by speaking Russian.
“Is this news we need to hear?” Paynne said while buttering a roll with enough gusto to tear the thing to shreds.
“I’ll fill you in later,” Vincente offered when no one else did. He also looked to Jak and made a circle motion with his finger, telling him to do a sweep.
As Gabriel’s wheels started turning, he sat with an arm resting across the back of Eva’s chair. He picked up a lock of her hair that had fallen from its binding and played with it, wrapping it around his finger and letting it unravel.
He did it again.
Wrapped it…let it unravel.
Wrapped it…let it unravel.
Wrapped…unravel…
“Okay.”
His break into the silence had Eva jumping and blushing when she dropped her fork and it clattered loudly as it landed on her plate. He kissed her temple in apology while giving Maks a pointed look that told him to play along with what he was about to say.
“Not that I think we’ll need it”—he knew for certain they would—“but I want you to find out what you can about access to Enum—”
“Population is a little over ten thousand,” Maks interrupted, rattling off the information he already had at the ready. “Has an airport, but just barely, a miniscule police department, tiny hospital.” He looked up and went mother tongue. “And, like the gearhead wouldn’t say earlier, it’s a perfect area to go if you want a lot of privacy. Stefano could disappear into that forest with her and no one would see or hear a goddamn thing.”
“Would you guys please stop doing that,” Eva complained tiredly. “It just makes me think you’re saying something worse than what you probably are. Speak English. Or French. Those I know. My Spanish is rusty, but at least I’ll get the gist.”
Maks’s demeanor changed in that way it always did when interacting with a woman. “Sorry, sweetness. Habit. And I was only saying that I agree with your lover. We’re probably not going to need the information because we’ll take care of it from here.”
As Eva blushed over Maks’s candid label, Gabriel released his breath slowly. He had only half an ear on the conversation because he was making plans. “The jet on standby?” he asked Alek.
“Of course.”
“Good. Then we’ll head home tonight. We’ll leave a crew to deal with Stefano and be in New York by morning.”
Eva’s surprise over the announcement was apparent when her jaw dropped.
Nika’s eyes widened like saucers.
Paynne’s