“My parents,” she sniffed. “I have to let them know I’m alive.”

He nodded. “I’ll take care of it. But you’ll need to give me some time. If your kidnappers took such pains to make you disappear, I wouldn’t put it past them to watch your parents now that you escaped. They must anticipate that your parents will be the first people you’ll contact. I want to make sure nobody is tapping their phone or intercepting any communications to them.”

“But, you don’t understand! They must be hurting. I have to tell them I’m still alive.” She stared at him with a look that could squeeze blood from a stone.

“Oliver is right,” Blake said from the door. “Not just for your safety, but also for theirs. What if they threaten your parents if they have reason to believe they know where you are?”

The words seemed to sink in, because finally Ursula nodded. But it didn’t diminish the pain that was etched on her face.

“I’ll arrange for our office in New York to send somebody to Washington and check out the situation. If everything is clear, we’ll arrange for you to speak to them. I promise you,” Oliver said.

It was a promise he was determined to keep.

15

“You’d better be right about this,” Zane warned.

Oliver squared his shoulders and lifted his chin slightly. They stood next to Zane’s Hummer which was parked outside of Oliver’s house. The sun had set only a half hour earlier.

“She’s telling the truth. You have to believe her.”

“I don’t have to do anything. The only reason I’m even authorizing this is because the whole story intrigues me.”

“If Gabriel were here, he would—”

“But he isn’t here,” Zane cut him off. “I’m in charge right now. And I expect my orders to be followed.”

Oliver bit back his next remark. Zane could be such an asshole sometimes. And now that he was subbing for Gabriel, who was visiting Scanguards’ New York headquarters to assure himself that everything was running smoothly, Zane was downright unbearable.

“Understood.”

A black Porsche careened around the corner, barreling toward them. Neither he nor Zane flinched. When the car came to a stop only inches from them, Oliver shook his head.

“He loves to make an entrance,” Oliver said and watched as the car door opened and Amaury emerged.

A wide grin spread over his colleague’s face, and the light evening breeze blew through his long dark hair. His piercing blue eyes were even more brilliant at night than during daytime.

“Right on time,” Zane acknowledged and raised his hand in greeting.

Oliver took a step toward him. “Hey Amaury, thanks for coming.”

“Didn’t want to miss the action.” Amaury’s gravelly voice echoed in the quiet side street.

“We’ll see if there’s any action to be had,” Zane cautioned. “Amaury, you’ll ride with me. Oliver, you’re taking Cain and the girl.”

“She has a name.”

Zane cocked an eyebrow. “Ursula then. We’ll follow you, Oliver. And she’d better not be leading us on a wild goose chase. Call me when you’re in the car, and keep the line open. I want to hear everything that’s going on.”

With a tight nod, Oliver turned and walked back up the stairs leading to the entrance door. After Cain had given him all the information pertaining to Ursula’s background, he’d contacted Zane to ask him for help, knowing that if he did anything without Scanguards’ support, he would put not only himself, but most likely others in danger. That by others he was primarily thinking of Ursula was something he kept to himself.

When he entered the living room, Ursula shot up from the couch, and both Cain and Blake looked at him expectantly.

“Zane’s agreed to it.”

Blake grinned. “Excellent! Some action!”

“You’re not coming, Blake.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Nobody is in the mood to save your ass tonight.”

It wasn’t exactly how Zane had put it, but since they didn’t know what they would be facing, they had agreed to leave the human behind. It was bad enough that they had to take one human—Ursula. Two could distract them when they ran into trouble.

“That’s totally unfair!” Blake complained.

“Life isn’t fair. Get used to it.” Then Oliver motioned to Cain and Ursula. “Let’s go. We’re taking the minivan. Zane and Amaury will follow in the Hummer.”