Page 149 of What Remains

“I’m so sorry.” Gwen’s voice is small and soft, and we all turn to look at her.

Gray holds up his hand. “None of this is on you, you hear me?”

“Listen to my brother.” Natasha nudges Gwen in the side. “And look . . .” She points at the screen. “The program is done.”

Carter jumps to his feet as Gwen slides her laptop closer and leans in as if she doesn’t trust her own eyes. I follow him over as Gwen stays engrossed in whatever’s on her screen.

I don’t realize I’m fidgeting with the chain around my neck until I spot Wyatt staring at my hand with a raised brow. Clearing my throat, I hide the medal beneath both my shirts and grab a stick of Spearmint to deal with my stress.

“We rebuilt the antidote, as well as the CCTV trigger tracker,” Gwen reiterates what Natasha said, fingers flying across the keys again. “I had to pair them first. This lets me backtrack deployment routing.”

I understood about half of that. “Translation?”

“I can find out what happened and exactly where they used the nuke to cover their tracks.” She gives me an uneasy smile, and I know I won’t be seeing a full-blown one until Julian and Zoey are safe and alive. “Give me a minute to find out what went down at the hotel.”

“Maybe get Gideon on the phone?” My suggestion is unnecessary. Carter’s already calling him over speaker.

From what Gideon already informed us back in Bern, Julian and Zoey were in Julian’s suite working, and when Gideon went to let them know about the Swiss attack, there was no answer. He used his key to get in, and they were both gone, along with Julian’s laptop and the footage displaying what the hell happened.

“Hey,” Gideon answers, barely letting it ring once. “I assume since you’re calling me this time, you know something?”

“I’m pulling up the raw footage so we know what happened,” Gwen shares.

“It looks like they nuked quite a bit of footage.” Natasha points to the screen as Carter and I head over for a closer look. “And they may have inadvertently created a roadmap for us by doing that. With any luck, they still don’t know Gwen’s alive, or that we can see the truth.”

Yeah, we’re going to need more than luck on our side.

“Got it!” Gwen blurts out. “I’m pulling up the footage in the hallway outside their hotel room.”

“We never heard any commotion, and they were in the suite next to us. So, I don’t think they were attacked inside,” Gideon’s sister, Hollis, interjects, letting us know she’s on the line, too.

Gwen sits back, face blanched. “This doesn’t make sense.”

“What is it?” I rasp, nerves locked tight.

“Zoey walked out of Julian’s suite alone,” Gwen says, her tone hesitant. “And she’s got Julian’s backpack with her.”

“And there’s Julian leaving shortly after her.” Natasha spins the laptop to the side so we can look on.

He’s sprinting down the hall, and he takes the stairs instead of the elevator.

What the hell happened?

“What?” Gideon grates out.

“Let me switch frames to a street cam and get a view of the exterior of the hotel,” Gwen says while sliding her laptop around in front of her.

“There. Stop.” Natasha’s brows snap together as she squints at whatever’s before her. “He caught up with her.” They turn the screen again, rewind, then hit play.

Across the road, in grainy but usable footage, Julian and Zoey are facing each other. Based on the hand gestures and movements, they’re arguing. An SUV pulls up, blocking the camera’s view of the two of them. Seconds later . . . they’re both gone.

“What the hell are you looking at?” Gideon demands. “Talk to me.”

I glance at Carter, his jaw set tight, nostrils flaring as he stares at the screen.

Natasha takes point and gives Gideon a play-by-play as Gwen switches cameras to find a better shot of what went down.

“Got it. Four men are visible in the SUV. Two have weapons drawn. From the looks of it,” Gwen shares, “they were forced to get in.”