? ? ?
Thirty minutes later, I was right back where I’d started two nights ago in the woods behind Damian Rivera’s massive estate. Only this time, Finn, Bria, and Owen hunkered down just inside the tree line with me, while Silvio, Jade, and Ryan were waiting in Silvio’s car down the street from the front of the mansion. Jade had wanted to come with us into the woods, but I’d finally convinced her that a small team was the best option for finding Elissa and getting her out of the mansion to safety.
As much as I wanted to confront Rivera, finding Elissa was our top priority. Once she was safe, though, all bets were off. I might be an assassin, but Fletcher had trained me to follow his code, one that didn’t include torturing people. But I figured that the old man would be okay with me making an exception for Rivera for all those women he’d tortured and murdered. Besides, I still needed information about the mysterious leader of the Circle. Whether Rivera gave it to me willingly or screamed out the answers after I’d cut him up like a chopped salad, well, that was up to him.
I was hoping for option number two, though.
I scanned the mansion and grounds again. A sprawling two-story structure of gray stone, surrounded by acres of lawn, with Bruce Porter’s caretaker cottage sitting off by itself at the very back of the property. Someone had finally gotten around to taking down all the holiday lights and removing all the snowflakes, white velvet bows, and other decorations.
According to Silvio, half a dozen dwarves were guarding the front of the mansion as usual, but no one was patrolling the grounds back here. I supposed that I shouldn’t have been surprised by that, since I’d killed Henry. I was just hoping that Rivera hadn’t noticed how long his men had been gone.
Bria and Owen peered through their binoculars at the back of the mansion, while Finn texted Silvio on his phone, letting him know that we were in position. I palmed one of my knives, focusing on the familiar, comforting weight and the spider runes in both the hilt and my hand pressing against each other. Someone had mockingly drawn my runes on the Dollmaker’s latest victim, calling me out and daring me to find him. I still wasn’t sure if it had been Rivera, but either way, he was going to be the one to regret it.
“Where do you think he’s keeping Elissa?” Owen asked. “The mansion doesn’t have a basement, so she has to be somewhere aboveground.”
Bria lowered her binoculars, her mouth twisting with disgust. “You would think that one of the servants would notice something like that. Rivera holding a woman captive.”
“Maybe they have,” Finn said, still texting. “Maybe he pays them to look the other way.”
“For every single woman he’s kidnapped and murdered over the last two years? I don’t care how well he pays his servants or his guards. Someone would have a conscience. Someone would have cracked and talked by now. At the very least, someone would have tried to blackmail him for more money to keep quiet.” Bria shook her head, making her blond ponytail swing from side to side. “Something about this just doesn’t feel right. We’re missing something about this whole thing. Something big.”
She was voicing the same concerns and questions that I’d asked myself a dozen times over the past two hours, ever since we’d begun focusing in on Rivera. But we were here, and it was too late to turn back now. I wasn’t going to turn back now. I couldn’t. Not until we found Elissa. And if we had to search every single square inch of the mansion, then so be it. I’d promised Jade that I would do everything in my power to find her sister, and I was going to live up to that. Keeping your word was another part of his code that Fletcher had drilled into me, and I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror otherwise.
“We think that Elissa is in the mansion,” Owen said, lowering his binoculars. “But what are we going to do if she’s not?”
I flashed my knife at him. “Then we’ll grab Rivera, and I’ll cut the answers out of him. He might be a serial killer, but I can get him to talk. Trust me.”
“I’m okay with that plan,” Owen murmured.
Bria nodded. “Me too.”
Finn’s phone lit up. He glanced at the caller ID and held up a finger, asking us to be quiet, before he answered. “Yes, sir? Of course, sir. Thank you, sir.” He hung up and looked at me. “Mosley just made the call. Damian Rivera has been alerted to a very suspicious transaction on one of his accounts, totaling more than three million dollars. Mosley’s asked him to come down to the bank in person so they can straighten it out.”
I nodded. That was the favor that I’d asked of Mosley, given his position at First Trust bank.
Bria and Owen picked up their binoculars again and stared at the mansion, while Finn kept his eyes glued to his phone, waiting for an update from Silvio. I looked out over the lawn, but no guards appeared, not even Bruce Porter heading back to his caretaker’s cottage.
Finn had already walked around the cottage and peered in all the windows, making sure that the structure was empty. Porter must be up in the mansion with Rivera. Hopefully the dwarf would drive his boss to the bank and take at least a couple of men with them. The fewer guards here, the better it would be for us and especially Elissa.
A minute passed, then two, then three. Cold worry trickled down my spine. What if Rivera didn’t take the bait? What if he didn’t go to the bank? What if he didn’t leave the mansion?
My hand tightened around my knife. Then I’d go in and confront him after all, no matter how many guards were in there with him—
Finn’s phone lit up with a new message. “Silvio says a car just pulled out of the front gate. Porter’s driving, and Rivera’s in the passenger’s seat.”
I’d been hoping that they would take at least one more man with them, but this was the best—and only—chance that we had to find Elissa.
“Good,” I said. “Let’s go get our girl back.”
Finn nodded and texted Silvio, telling him that we were going in. He put his phone away and pulled a silenced gun out from the small of his back. Bria and Owen both had similar weapons in their own hands. We all plugged transmitters into our ears so that we could talk to each other, checked to make sure that they were working properly, and headed for the mansion.
Since no guards were patrolling back here, we were able to sprint all the way across the lawn and over to the stone patio that surrounded the pool. We hunkered down behind the patio furniture and peered in through the windows. I spotted two women in the room where the giant Christmas tree had been, boxing up ornaments and other holiday decorations. I glanced in through the other windows, but I didn’t see any more servants or guards.