Chapter 34

Seb glanced at his cell phone. "She hasn't responded to my text. Something's wrong."

Fifteen minutes ago, a room on the second floor had lit up. They'd assumed it was Butler's study and Alexis was going over the information on the USB drive with him. It had to mean Butler wasn't involved—another assumption. What if they were wrong?

Seb had carried out another surveillance check while Alexis met with Butler. He'd seen nothing unusual, but it still bothered him that Antoine hadn't expected Alexis to approach Dr. Butler in his home.

Drake tapped the steering wheel with one finger and drew in a deep breath. "She told us it could take a while, but she should have answered the text message by now. Do you want to go in alone, or do you want me at the back entrance?"

"I'll go in alone." Seb got out of the car. If he was interrupting, Alexis would be angry. He could deal with angry if it meant Alexis was safe.

The front door was unlocked. Seb hesitated before pushing the door open. Alexis had been the only one to enter the home since they arrived. She must have left it unlocked. It would be one less thing to slow her down if she had to leave in a hurry. It was another assumption, and he withdrew his hand.

Seb slipped out his Glock from his ankle holster. He quietly opened the door and entered the house.

A man's voice echoed down the staircase facing the door, growing louder. Seb stopped and aimed his weapon at the stairs in front of him. He relaxed as Alexis appeared at the top of the stairs.

As she descended the stairs, the man behind her became visible, and the gun in this hand.

"I see you decided to join us, Mr. Tremblay," the man said, as if greeting a guest. "Please come in and put down the gun so we can avoid any unpleasantness."

The man who'd been hiding behind the living room couch stood, a Glock in his hand. Another man approached from the dining room to the left. He pointed his Berretta at Seb. The two men's preference in arms differed, but the end result would be the same. A bullet in the head.

"Do I need to remind you of our deal, Antoine?" Alexis asked, her eyes on Seb, pleading for him to put the gun down.

So, this was Antoine. Seb could see the handsome man easily manipulating Leo's sister. He was as smooth as he was lethal. And Seb was certain the face wasn't his, but an expensive prosthetic. The hair hung too perfectly. Seb would have expected slight stubble around the perfectly trimmed beard this early in the morning, unless he'd groomed his beard before leaving for Butler's place. That wasn't likely the case.

"Gun on the floor or I'll have to do something that would inconvenience me," Antoine said and smiled. "Dr. Hayes has agreed to help me, provided you and your friends remain unharmed. I'm a man who keeps his word, but if you try to stop me, Dr. Hayes will suffer."

He squeezed Alexis's arm. She missed the last step on the staircase and would have fallen if he'd let go. Her face drained of color and she gasped in pain.

Seb set his gun on the floor.

"Get his cell phone." Antoine released Alexis, but kept his gun pointed at the two of them. "We should leave your friends in the car out of this."

She raised worried eyes to the ceiling as she pulled the cell phone out of his pocket. Butler hadn't accompanied them down the stairs. He was upstairs. Dead or dying would be Seb's guess. Antoine no longer needed Butler now that he had Alexis.

"Come here, Alexis," Antoine said. Without a word, she obeyed his command. An angry red band circled her arm. "Drop the phone on the floor."

It hit the hardwood with a thud, and Antoine ground the heel of his expensive leather loafer into the screen.

"I'm disappointed, Mr. Tremblay." A flicker of mocking amusement crossed Antoine's face. "I expected your men to search Dr. Butler's house when he was absent. If they had, you would have found the surveillance cameras my men had installed months ago. Dr. Butler wasn't important enough for me to waste men on."

Antoine had just confirmed Butler hadn't been involved in creating the algae. They'd stolen the formula for the failed trial. Anyone who had the professor's password could have copied the files. The list would be long.

"Tie him up in the kitchen and then let the men at the hospital know they're no longer needed." Antoine led the way, his free hand once again gripping Alexis's arm. "I'm glad you're wearing jeans, my dear. You'll need to climb the professor's fence."

That answered another question rolling around Seb's head. Antoine had known they were watching the front door, so they came in the back.

Alexis turned her head in Seb's direction, and Antoine yanked her forward. "I hate long goodbyes. Goodbye, Mr. Tremblay."

He opened the back door and pushed her ahead of him. Seb stood in the middle of the kitchen and watched them through the kitchen window. Antoine kept his hand around Alexis's arm, guiding her across the yard. He shoved his gun into his back holster and grabbed a patio chair. He set it against the stone wall at the back of the property, indicating she should stand on it. His hand still wrapped around her arm, he boosted her to the top. Alexis straddled the wall, waiting for him to follow.

Seb spun as Alexis and Antoine disappeared behind the fence. His right fist shot out, catching the guy to his right square in the face. He staggered back, dazed, but he held onto the Glock.

Seb's right leg snapped out, catching the guy on the left holding the Berretta in the chest. The weapon clattered onto the tile floor, as the guy clutched his chest, dropping to his knees, fighting for air.

The guy with the Glock had recovered and raised the gun. Seb turned and his hammer fist strike caught the guy's wrist, but he was a second too late. Pain streaked across Seb's bicep, as the bullet grazed his skin and smacked into a wall.

Still wheezing as he sucked air into his lungs, his other opponent was crawling across the floor, going for the Berretta a few feet away.

Seb rammed his knee into Glock guy's groin. He doubled over, loosening his grip on the Glock. Seb wrenched the weapon from the man's injured hand and fired off three shots as his buddy reached for the Berretta. The suppressor on the gun muffled the gunfire.

A fist hit Seb in the face. He flung the Glock in his hand across the kitchen as he staggered back. He'd rather neither of them have it than fight for it. Instinctively, Seb moved to the side. The second punch whizzed by his ear and Seb swept out his foot. The guy fell hard, his hand close to the Berretta. Shit.

This time, Seb was faster. He stomped on the guy's hand before he reached for the weapon.

His scream filled the kitchen as Seb kicked the Berretta and it skidded across the floor to join the Glock. He grabbed a wooden chair beside the kitchen table as the guy stumbled to his feet and swung. Antoine's man collapsed on the floor.

Seb stood in the middle of the kitchen, panting as Drake walked in, Emery behind him.

Drake looked at the men on the floor and the broken chair in Seb's hands.

"They got Alexis. Antoine has surveillance cameras throughout the house and outside," Seb warned Drake and Emery. He grabbed the roll of duct tape they'd intended to use on him off the kitchen table and threw it to Drake. "Butler is upstairs. Take care of Antoine's men."

Seb ignored the burning across his bicep, and his throbbing eye. He ran past Drake, who was already dialing 911, and took the stairs three at a time. A light was on in the room at the end of the hallway. Seb raced toward it. He could hear Emery behind him.

Butler sat facing the doorway. His hands covered in his own blood pressed against his stomach. The man looked nothing like the picture from a conference he'd spoken at a year ago that Javier had sent with the background check. Butler was seriously ill.

"Move," Emery said and pushed past him, a stack of towels she'd grabbed from the bathroom next to the study in her arms. She kneeled next to the man, gently lifted his blood-stained hands away from the wound, and opened his bathrobe. "Gunshot wound to the stomach. I've seen worse, but it looks like Butler has been battling something for a while. He may not be strong enough to make it."

Seb looked at her, puzzled by the odd comment.

Her face flushed. "When I was a teen, I thought joining a gang would solve my problems."

That detail had been missing from the information Javier had dug up on Esther Gayle Stanton. It wasn't something he would have missed which made Seb wonder if there was more to Emery than she let on. Questioning her further would have to wait. Butler was the priority.

Emery pressed a folded towel against his stomach as they heard the first wail of an ambulance in the distance. She placed her fingers along Butler's wrist, almost as thin as a child's. "It's weak."

The urgent wee-oo wee-oo of a police siren joined the ambulance's wail.

Seb fought the urge to run to Drake's SUV and go after Alexis. It would be a fruitless effort. They didn't know where Antoine had taken Alexis. CCTV cameras would have picked up Antoine's vehicle and Javier would already be checking them.

"In here," Drake said, and three EMTs filed into the room.

"Sir, please step into the hallway to give us more room."

Seb nodded and joined Drake in the hallway. Emery stayed to answer questions.

"You stay here and I'll sort things out with the police," Drake said at the sound of a police cruiser pulling up in front of the house. The siren shut off abruptly. "They need to know the place is bugged."

As Drake left to talk to the cops, Seb watched the paramedics. He waited until Butler was strapped onto a gurney, intravenous bags hung off a pole attached to its side. The lines snaked under the blanket covering Butler.

"How is he?" Seb asked the EMT perched over a laptop he'd set on the desk's corner.

"It's going to be touch and go," he replied, tapping on the keyboard. "I got permission to access his medical records since he was unconscious. His medical history is complicated. You'll need to check with the hospital. I can't tell you anymore."

The EMT closed the laptop. "Thank you for your help. We're loading him into the ambulance while we wait for dispatch to let us know where we're headed. Apparently, there's been an accident and they need to verify the availability of the hospital we'd been given."

"I'll go with them and get that information," Emery said, following the EMTs and gurney down the hallway.

Seb didn't move. Drake could deal with the police, and Javier would be sure to intervene. Their partner had a way of smoothing out the roughest situations. They'd want a statement from him, but it could wait. Seb needed a few minutes alone to reset and work out their next step.

He was careful to hide his feelings under a mask of indifference, certain Antoine would find any show of emotion amusing. Once Leo had safely hidden his family, they'd need to talk.

One of the more pressing questions he had for his friend was whether Xenia had filled in Antoine on Alexis and himself before or after they'd left the island in the seaplane. That sixth sense that warned Seb when things were off was twitching.

He was certain Xenia had contacted Antoine after they left the island. Leo was unaware that he and his family were in grave danger. Antoine wouldn't let his betrayal go unpunished. Xenia was young and believed Antoine was in love with her. She'd be easily manipulated, and from what Seb had seen, Antoine was a master at it.

There had to be a way of locating Leo. If they waited for him to contact them, it could be too late. He needed to talk to Javier. If she was still in touch with Antoine, Xenia was their best bet to locate both Leo and Alexis.

Seb walked into Butler's office. Blood covered the leather chair's arms. It could have been Alexis's blood. She agreed to go with Antoine, knowing he would ask her to fix the flawed formula, in exchange for the safety of him and her friends. Seb would find her.

He stood to the side of the chair and slipped on a latex glove. He always carried a couple on him for situations like this. The police would find his prints downstairs, but he didn't want to explain why he touched the computer mouse. Seb closed the files and folders Alexis and Butler were looking at. It was in everyone's best interests if the police were unaware of the algae's existence.

A red dot flashed on the cell phone sitting beside the mouse. Butler's body had hidden it from view when they'd entered the study. It was Alexis's phone, and it was on record. She'd taped their conversation with Antoine, hoping it would help them find her. He pretended to look at something on the desk and palmed the cell phone. The less Antoine knew, the better.