Chapter 27 — Nicholas

Seth hadn’t left the window since the EAGLE director had fired off the gunshots. None of the men made any move to search the office again, but they made no sign of leaving either. Sooner or later, Nathan Harker would come to grab an object from his desk and my hiding place would be discovered. I wasn’t recklessness enough to follow Ace out the window.

“He isn’t moving,” Seth said.

“He’s unconscious,” Harker soothed. “A fall from thirty feet does that to a person.”

“He landed flat on his back. A lesser fall has cost a person their life before.”

“Give him some credit. He’s proven annoyingly stubborn so far. I doubt he would make our lives easy by dying.”

Seth glared at him. “I swear to God, Nate, if you’ve killed him—”

Will shot to his feet. “I don’t believe it! He’s sitting up! That fall should have knocked him out.”

I could picture the EAGLE director giving Seth an “I told you so” look.

“Your family has the luck of the devil on their side,” Harker marveled. “Now let’s get down there before his luck carries him to his feet and out of our reach again.”

“There’s a backup plan if that happens,” Seth said. “Will, tell the men to bring in Josiah Sargon, alive at all costs.”

Will nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves?” Harker asked. “We might have Ace captured within the next few minutes, and we’d have no use for the boy.”

Seth shrugged. “I can always release him later, but time is of the essence right now and it may prove difficult to kidnap a person without arousing suspicion.”

The moment they were out of the room, I wrenched open the control panel and snapped a large wire. It would disrupt the circuit.

There was a possibility it wouldn’t affect the elevator, but given the tendency for circuits on the same floor to be interconnected, there was certainly a chance.

A stream of swear words came from behind the door. I waited a few minutes to ensure the men were gone before reconnecting the circuit with a bit of metal. Never had I been so grateful for Ishaan’s engineering lessons.

The elevator controls took a while to respond, but I made it to the ground floor before the EAGLE director. No one stopped me from opening the front door and strolling out on the street.

I found Ace walking across an intersection looking worse for wear. A giant bruise ran along the back of his forearm and his eyes were cloudy, indicating a concussion.

“We have to get you to a hospital,” I said.

He shook his head and winced at the motion. “The recording is more important. We need to get it to the Blue Jay.”

“It’s a long walk back, and you look like you’re on the verge of keeling over. Let me take the phone. You need to see a doctor.”

“I’m fine.” Ace closed his eyes. “I have to make sure Josiah’s alright. Will mentioned using him to lure me into a trap. I don’t want the Underground near him.”

“Will can’t hurt Josiah. Not when you consider how prominent his father is.”

Ace pressed on. “I’m not taking that chance.”

Nothing I could say would sway him. It took us almost an hour to reach the house on foot, but the look on Tom’s face when he answered the door made me wish it had taken longer.

“Where have you been?” he demanded. “Why did you leave without a note or—”

“Is Josiah here?” Ace cut him off.

Tom looked taken aback. It wasn’t often that someone had the audacity to interrupt his lectures.

“Well?” Ace pressed. “Is he?”

Tom pursed his lips. “He went out a couple hours ago. Now, where you two have been?”

“Do you know where he might have gone?”

“Answer my question first.”

Fast as a viper, Ace’s arm shot out and latched onto the front of Tom’s shirt, lifting him onto his toes.

“Don’t test my patience, old man,” he hissed. “You want to know where I’ve been? I’ve been doing what you and your agents are too afraid to do. Going out on the field and getting evidence of my father’s crimes because it sure wasn’t coming to us. Because of it, Josiah might be in danger.”

Tom tried to twist free.

I grabbed his wrist. “Ace—”

He sent Tom sprawling on the hardwood floor. The commotion drew people to the doorway. Isabel, Harrison, and Ishaan arrived just in time to see Ace aim a kick in his direction.

I dragged him away. “Have you lost your mind?”

Ace hurled his phone at Tom who caught it before it struck his head. “There’s your evidence,” he spat. “I would ask you if it was worth it, but you haven’t given up anything in this whole ordeal, have you? You haven’t even tried to make an effort.”

Isabel marched up to Ace and slapped him across the face. “Apologize to him.”

“Tom deserved every bit of what I said,” Ace snapped.

As Isabel raised her hand to strike him again, I rushed to separate them. “Ace fell from three stories an hour ago. He’s not thinking straight.”

Ace gritted his teeth. “Don’t patronize me, Nicholas. I’m perfectly fine.”

Isabel stared at me like I had grown a third ear. “Why are you defending him? He kidnapped you in the middle of the night!”

I blinked. “That’s not what happened. If anything, I kidnapped him.”

Ace snorted. “As if you could force me into anything. Now, for the last time, where is Josiah?”

There was a long pause before Tom spoke. “He’s headed to Cropper Road.”

I frowned. “That old place? Ace, why would he go there?”

But Ace was already out the door.

“Someone should tail him to make sure he doesn’t cause trouble,” Ishaan said.

“On it.” Isabel grabbed her car keys. “Nicholas, come with me.”

Even with traffic along the way, we reached the neighborhood ten minutes ahead of Ace. I ducked down in the passenger seat as he knocked on the door. There was no answer.

Isabel shifted into a sitting position and stuffed her keys into her purse.

I pulled her back down. “Let me handle this. If I’m not back in ten minutes, you can come after me.”

Isabel didn’t seem happy with the idea but nodded and sat back.

Outside, Ace opened the door, scuffing his shoes on the mat before going inside.

I counted to thirty before starting after him. Ace had been careless enough to leave the door unlocked. The carpet muffled my footsteps as I walked through the house.

A cry of fury came from the kitchen, and I broke into a run.

A woman was bound to a chair with a dish towel stuffed in her mouth. Ace unwound the rope from her wrists, the rage in his eyes promising death to whoever had harmed his mother.

That anger could turn on me if I revealed myself. Seth had been right about one thing. Ace was unstable, and that made him dangerous.

Andrea pulled Ace into a tight embrace the moment he freed her. Ace winced but let her hold on.

“What happened, Mother?” he asked. “Where’s Josiah?”

His tone implied that he already knew.

“I’m so sorry, Ace,” she said.

“Did they hurt him?”

Andrea didn’t answer.

Ace pulled away. “Did they hurt him?”

She pursed her lips.

“Mother, please—”

“He fought back,” she said. “He tried to defend me, not realizing they were after him the whole time.”

Ace clenched and unclenched his fists, his body shaking with anger. He paced across the kitchen, muttering under his breath. Andrea frowned as she watched him. When he passed a counter, he picked up the envelope lying on the wooden surface.

“What’s this?” Ace asked. “Did the Underground leave it?”

His mother looked at the envelope like it was a loaded gun. “Some old bills. Toss it in the trash, and I’ll get rid of it later.”

“But it has my name on it.”

Ace used his knife to slit it open. Andrea tried to snatch it away, but he jumped out of reach. He unfolded the note, his face darkening as he read.

Andrea’s lips trembled. “Don’t go, Ace. You know it’s a trap.”

“No, it’s a trade. Seth was always a businessman at heart. He’ll release Josiah if I give him the recording and hand myself over.”

“You’re too much alike. A confrontation won’t end well for either of you.”

“It sounds like you still care about him.”

“That ship has sailed.”

But she had waited too long before answering.

Ace threw his knife on the kitchen table. “Don’t worry, Mother. Seth told me to come unarmed. I won’t leave a scratch on him.”

As he walked through the doorway, I lunged forward and pinned him to the wall. His reflexes were sluggish from the fall, but he put up a good fight, clawing at me like a wild animal.

“I’m trying to help you, Ace,” I said.

He went still so fast it was startling. “How do you plan on doing that?”

“By keeping you from doing something you’ll regret.”

“Listen to Nicholas,” Andrea implored. “Delivering yourself to the Underground will get you killed. I’ve seen how much some of those people hate you. Seth can’t protect you forever.”

Ace laughed. The sound was high pitched and unnerving, coming from a part of him that wasn’t quite sane.

“My father has tried to manipulate me, shoot me, and kill me. You call that protection? And if he can do that to his own son, can you imagine what he’d do to Josiah?”

He slammed his head into my chin and twisted free. On instinct, my hand shot to my gun. I clicked off the safety as I pointed it at his heart. Andrea drew a sharp breath.

“That evidence is the one shot we have at convicting these men for their crimes,” I said. “I’m not letting you hand it over to the enemy.”

Ace’s eyes fixed on the gun. “I’ve told you before, you’re no killer. You won’t shoot me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

I aimed lower and pulled the trigger. The bullet struck him on the side of his foot, sending a spray of red over the carpet. Ace stumbled. Instead of falling like I had hoped he would, he doubled his pace forward, using the wall as a crutch.

I chased after him and collided head on with Isabel as she came through the door. By the time we got to our feet, Ace was nowhere in sight.

And neither was the car.