When I’d finished, Marshall picked up a large envelope and slid it toward me as he said, “Here’s the info on Taylor Delaney. She’s a twenty-eight-year-old female who just completed her master’s degree in environmental geology. She opted to do a summer internship with Montgomery Mining while she hunts for a permanent position.”
“She’s been staying with me since she’s not sure where she’ll find a permanent job,” Harlow added.
I’d deftly snatched the information coming my direction. I was caught off-guard as I studied the image I’d fished out of the contents.
Taylor Delaney was a beautiful, red-headed woman who had the most stunning pair of green eyes I’d ever seen. She’d been so beaten up in the short video clip we’d been sent that I didn’t even recognize her as the same female.
My gut twisted as I tried to stay neutral and just observe.
But it was fucking impossible not to be outraged. Taylor was my employee. Our interns didn’t get paid much, but they did get a wage for their summer work. I felt responsible for everything that had happened to her, Mark, and Harlow.
I held the picture a little longer than I needed to in order to memorize her features before I finally shoved it back into the envelope and passed the entire contents to Jax.
There would be plenty of time to study files on the way to Lania.
“Victim number two,” Marshall announced as he sent another envelope flying down the table. “Mark Lansdale, one of your mining engineers. He’s thirty-five years old, and he’s been with Montgomery for almost six years. According to your files, he’s got a spotless employee record.”
I nodded sharply. “Nice guy. I’ve met him on a couple of work sites.”
“He was getting tired of traveling to remote locations,” Harlow mumbled. “He was considering some consulting jobs to keep him in the country, but he didn’t want to leave Montgomery because he loved working for your company.”
“You two are in a relationship, right?” Jax asked.
She shrugged. “Yes. It’s complicated. He’s not here that often. We were looking forward to doing the exploration together.”
Even though Mark and I had met, I looked at his recent picture, and then passed the file off to Jax.
“I’m all in,” I told Marshall sharply. “I’ll lead this one myself.”
“I’m in, too,” Jax said immediately. “This whole situation is so fucked up that I’m not leaving anything to chance.”
My brother elbowed me. “What’re the chances that they’re still alive?” Jax asked in a quiet voice so Harlow couldn’t hear him.
I shrugged as I answered in a similarly low tone. “Slim to none on Taylor. She’s obviously being mistreated now, and if she isn’t getting hydrated or fed while being held in a nearly airless, hot environment, it could very well be a lost cause. Even less for Mark, unfortunately. You know they usually kill male hostages and use the females for leverage.”
“But we have to try,” Jax said fervently. “We both know just paying them isn’t going to work. The bastards only let Harlow go because they were hoping it would motivate a much larger payment for Taylor. You know negotiating and paying her ransom would probably be a death sentence for her if she’s still alive.”
“I know,” I answered harshly.
I had far more confidence in my brother and I as a team getting Taylor back safely…if she was still alive.
I stood up, antsy to get moving. “I’m going to get things in motion. I’d like to be in the air within an hour. Marshall, can you get me the coordinates?”
The older man walked over to me like his slight limp didn’t bother him at all, and I knew that meant he wanted to have a short, very private discussion. “You need backup?” he asked.
I shook my head. “We can mobilize and move around better without detection if it’s just the two of us. We need to get in and out of there as quickly and quietly as possible.”
“Agreed,” Marshall answered as he handed me a small envelope that I already knew would contain the woman’s location and other sensitive information. “It’s just her, Hudson. I got a text during the meeting that Mark’s body was recovered by the Lanian government while they were searching for Taylor. His body wasn’t far from the same dock Taylor and Harlow used. I think he was probably ambushed just like they were. They’ll be returning his remains to the States. I’m sorry we lost one, but I’m glad you boys are taking on Taylor’s rescue yourselves. Good luck, son,” he said in a firm voice as he slapped me on the back.
“If you found Taylor’s location, why aren’t you contacting the Lanian government?” I asked him.
Marshall raised a brow. “They’ve been looking for it for nine days now. I found it in an hour. Lania may be slowly improving, but their law enforcement and military are totally inept. Do you really trust that they’d have any success getting Taylor out of there alive?”
“Hell, no. We’re out of here,” I grumbled.
I looked across the room at Harlow.
She looked completely destroyed. Now definitely wasn’t the time to tell her that her boyfriend was dead.
“Can you get Harlow back into the hospital? She’s doesn’t look good,” I told Marshall.
“I think I can handle that,” he answered drily.
Since there was very little Marshall couldn’t deal with if asked, I nodded to Jax.
He stood and followed me out of the conference room.
Hudson
“Do you think we should have told Harlow that her boyfriend is dead?” Jax asked as he finished cleaning and inspecting his weapon and set it aside.
I looked up from the file I’d been studying on Taylor since Jax and I had boarded my private jet earlier.
I leaned back in my seat as I replied, “She didn’t look good. I think she needs some time to rest before we deliver that information.”
Jax kicked back on the comfortable couch in the cabin of my aircraft.
We’d both changed into sweats after we’d gotten underway so we could get some sleep at some point during the long flight.
He shrugged. “You’re probably right. Not that I’ve ever had a serious girlfriend, but if I did, I’d probably want to know the truth. I feel a little bit guilty that we didn’t tell her.”
I looked at my younger brother in surprise. “Since when do you actually feel guilty about anything? And if you’d go out with a woman more than once, you might have a serious girlfriend.”
Jax was known as the billionaire mogul who was never seen with a woman more than once, and the press had a field day with his playboy antics.
“Seriously?” he said drily. “At least I date, unlike you, who is never even seen with any female.”
I ignored his comment. It wasn’t like I’d never had a girlfriend. I just hadn’t had one for a long time, and I’d pretty much given up on trying to find a woman who cared about me more than she cared about the status of the Montgomery name and wealth.
Apparently, Jax was still willing to try. Really, really hard. I didn’t actually see my brother as a womanizer, but I was starting to think he had a really high tolerance for chronic disappointment.