Ultimate Prey (Book 3 Ultimate CORE) (CORE Series) Read Online Free PDF

“I’m sorry, Lola. I didn’t know. You have to admit, you and your mom look nothing alike, plus you don’t have the same last name.”
    No, they didn’t. When Lola was a little girl she used to envy her mom’s peaches and cream complexion, blue eyes and blond hair. She’d sit in front of the mirror and move the skin around her eyes, wondering what she’d look like if she hadn’t had a Chinese father—not that she’d trade her dad for any other. If an accident hadn’t taken his life, her parents would probably still be together now. Living in LA, enjoying life. Only her mom was in the Everglades, being held hostage and—
    She slumped back into her seat and stared at her mother’s photo. “I want to know everything.”
    “Everyone here does,” Dante said. “Rachel?”
    “Okay, so I received a text at eleven-fifty from Ian’s cell phone. The message said, ‘Gather every CORE agent. I will contact you via Skype in forty minutes. If I don’t see Owen Malcolm, John Kain, Hudson Patterson, Dante Russo and you during my call, I will kill the woman.’” Rachel glanced her way, apology written all over her face. “He attached this picture to the text.”
    After Rachel made a couple of strokes to the keyboard, another photo appeared on the next screen. Lola quickly covered her mouth and turned away.
    “Hang in there, Lola,” Dante said, his voice soft, gentle, yet commanding. “Your name wasn’t mentioned, so I’m going to need you to be strong for us.”
    Us . Meaning CORE. In the six months she’d been working for Ian, she’d come to realize that these people lived, breathed and existed for his agency. They were committed to one another, to Ian and to the company. She, on the other hand, owed nothing to them and had yet to feel as if she belonged here. But she’d be strong. Not for them or for CORE, but for her mother.
    With a nod, she swiped at her eyes, then faced the terrifying image on the screen. Ian sat in a chair next to her mom. Both of them were bound, had duct tape over their mouths and blindfolds over their eyes. Black mascara coated the skin along her mom’s cheek, while blood oozed from Ian’s nose. Her stomach rolled and her heart ached. At the same time, resentment toward Ian and his damned agency made her want to lash out and punch a hole in the wall. Her mom wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for Ian. She had no enemies. No crazed stalkers. No, this had to have something to do with Ian. Her mom was merely a casualty.
    “Owen and I rushed to CORE as soon as we could,” Rachel said, pushing her red bangs from her forehead. “Along the way, I started looking into anyone who has a grudge against Ian or Camilla.” She shook her head. “I didn’t find anything relating to Camilla—”
    “Cami,” Lola said, still staring at the photo. “She goes by Cami.”
    “Okay,” Rachel began, “as for Ian…he was with the FBI for over twenty years before he left, and with CORE being in business for the past eight, I don’t even know where to begin looking.”
    “When the kidnapper Skypes, will you be able to track his location?” Hudson asked.
    “Unfortunately, no.”
    “Wait,” Lola said. “Didn’t you call the local PD? If you don’t have the address of the place Ian rented, I do. My mom texted it to me before she left.” She pulled her cell phone from her purse and opened up the last text from her mom. “She also sent me these.” She handed the phone to Dante, who glanced from the pictures of the rental her mom had taken earlier that day, to the picture the kidnapper had sent.
    Dante handed her the phone and nodded to the TV. “That’s the rental’s kitchen.”
    Rachel pinched her fingers along the bridge of her freckled nose. “The last part of the text said that if we send the cops, they both die.”
    “And you believe this guy?” Lola asked, stunned. “If he’s going to go through the trouble of holding my mom and Ian hostage, he’s not going to kill