Chapter 15
Lucky was exhausted. The nighttime training had been brutal, but also very good.
They ran through several scenarios, and even though the platoons they’d been training with had known they were out there in the darkness, trying to infiltrate the mock city, his team had still been able to get into the building where the “hostage” was being held undetected.
Trainings like this were essential for keeping the Delta Force team’s skills up to par, but it also helped the soldiers they trained with as well. Lucky had only been able to catch a few hours of sleep here and there, and was ready to crash.
But he couldn’t wait to see Devyn. To see how the last two days had gone for her.
How work was going. He wanted to see Angel and Whiskers.
He was just happy to be home. He’d never really thought of his townhouse as much of a home before; as much as he liked it, the townhouse was still just a place to lay his head.
But with Devyn, Angel, and Whiskers now taking up residence, it was much more than that.
The empty spaces teemed with life and energy and it made all the difference in the world.
Lucky had never thought he was lonely before, but he now realized that was the empty feeling he’d had all along, deep down inside.
He unlocked his door, frowning when he realized the dead bolt wasn’t engaged. He’d asked Devyn to please make sure she always completely secured the door, because he never wanted anyone to be able to kick the door in while she was inside.
He pushed the door open and called out, “Dev? I’m home!”
Only silence greeted him.
“Devyn?” he called again. Her Mini Cooper was sitting outside in the same place she always parked it. He couldn’t remember if she was working today or not, but he guessed one of the other women could’ve picked her up if they were going to hang out.
He threw his keys on the kitchen counter and headed to the fridge. He opened the door and took out a bottle of water. He’d been hydrating like crazy the last two days, but he always seemed to be thirstier than usual after a mission or intense training.
Turning, Lucky tilted the bottle up to his mouth and took a long swallow as he rested his ass against the counter. He lowered the bottle and happened to glance down—and froze.
There was a pile of dog shit on the floor of the kitchen. And a puddle nearby.
He’d missed it before, intent on greeting Devyn and getting a drink.
“Angel?” he called out, putting the water bottle down and stepping out of the kitchen. He didn’t see the dog or cat anywhere. They weren’t in their favorite fluffy bed in the corner of the room, and they weren’t curled up under Devyn’s favorite blanket on the couch.
But Lucky did see another pile of poop near the back door, leading out into the backyard.
“Whiskers? Angel?” he called again, a little more desperately now.
Taking the stairs two at a time, Lucky headed for the master bedroom. He walked in and could immediately smell that something was definitely wrong. The scent of urine and feces was almost overwhelming.
Walking into the bathroom, Lucky’s heart nearly broke.
Angel and Whiskers were huddled behind the pipes of the toilet, shaking, and his dog was whimpering.
Fuck. They hadn’t done that since the first day he’d brought them home.
He had no idea what had happened, but whatever it was had freaked his pets way the fuck out.
He could see little footprints all over the room where the animals had walked through their own feces.
The cheap rug he’d put on the floor was scrunched into a corner, and if the smell emanating from it was any indication, both animals had used it to pee on.
“Oh, my poor babies. What happened?”
There was no answer from them, and Lucky spent the next few minutes trying to get either of them to come out from their hiding spot. Angel was the first to move, inching toward him on her belly.
“That’s it, come ’ere. I’m not gonna hurt you. I’d never hurt you,” he said in a soft and easy tone. The terrier mix was shaking uncontrollably, and it almost broke Lucky’s heart all over again.
When she finally rested her head on his knee, Lucky saw what looked like blood on her front paws.
“What happened here?” he asked softly. His pets were obviously traumatized—and suddenly, Lucky had a horrible thought. “Where’s Devyn?” he asked.
Angel looked up at him and whimpered.
“Shit,” Lucky said. He needed to give his girls attention and clean up the house, but first he needed to find Devyn. He gave Angel and Whiskers one last pet then stood and headed back down the stairs. He grabbed his phone and immediately dialed Devyn’s number.
It rang…and Lucky’s blood ran cold. Her phone rang in his ear through his earpiece, but he could also hear the ringtone coming from the living room. Walking into the other room, he saw Devyn’s phone sitting on the small side table next to the couch.
“Fuck,” he swore, ending the connection and immediately pushing the button to call Grover. As the phone rang, Lucky looked around more closely, a dark stain on the floor catching his attention.
“Hey? You missed me so much you had to call twenty minutes after you saw me last?” Grover said in lieu of greeting.
“Is Devyn at your house?”
“No, why? Is she not there?” Grover asked, any hint of teasing gone from his tone.
“No. My animals are freaked and it doesn’t look like they’ve been let out in at least a day. Maybe more. I called her but her phone’s still here.”
“Don’t panic. Maybe she went back to her apartment,” Grover said.
“She wouldn’t leave Angel and Whiskers,” Lucky told his friend. “And her car is here.”
“Okay, we need to call the team. Maybe something happened with one of the other women and she got wrapped up in helping them. You call Oz and I’ll call Trigger.”
“Grover, I’m telling you, something happened here. There’s a stain on my rug and—” Lucky walked back toward the door, remembering that the bolt hadn’t been turned when he’d gotten home. “Oh, shit.”
“What? Lucky…what?” Grover asked impatiently.
“Blood spatter just inside my door,” Lucky whispered.
“Don’t panic,” Grover repeated, sounding like he was doing just that. “Get out of there so you don’t contaminate the place.”
“I’m not leaving Angel and Whiskers,” Lucky said firmly. He was about to come unglued. Something had obviously happened inside his townhouse while he wasn’t home, but he wasn’t going to abandon the dog and cat that both he and Devyn loved so much. They’d been through an emotional hell.
“Okay, go get them and bring them to my place. I’m still going to call the others, but if they haven’t heard from her, I’m gonna call the cops. Get over here as soon as you can.”
“I will,” Lucky said.
He felt as if he were in a fog. Where was Devyn? What had happened?
He couldn’t understand what was going on. She had no enemies. Had someone targeted his place to rob? And she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time? If so, where was she now?
He was under no illusions; something awful had happened to Devyn. She wouldn’t have left Angel and Whiskers, she wouldn’t have left without her phone, and she would’ve called Commander Robinson if something serious had happened.
Unless she had no choice and was forced out of the townhouse.
Willing himself to calm down, Lucky took a deep breath and spun to grab the crate he’d set up in the corner of the room for the animals to go to when they needed to feel safe. He hated to use it to transport them, but he wasn’t leaving them here.
It took longer than he would’ve liked to coax the animals into the crate. Lucky knew he should probably feed them, as they most likely hadn’t eaten since Devyn had left, whenever that had been, but he also wasn’t sure they’d eat at all. Not with as tense as they were.
Grover had called back to let him know none of the other women had heard from Devyn.
They’d only spoken briefly, and Lucky hadn’t been surprised no one had been able to reach her.
Yet, it was totally out of character for Devyn to just up and disappear.
“Riley said she’d tried to call Devyn yesterday and she hadn’t answered,” Grover had told him.
“She figured she was busy, or had been called into work on her day off. She didn’t think too much about it. ”
The fact that Devyn had been missing for at least twenty-four hours was like a knife straight to Lucky’s heart. He was well aware the longer a person was missing, the less likely the chances of recovering them became.
“Please let her be all right,” Lucky whispered as he headed for his truck with the crate in his hands. Saying the words out loud wouldn’t make them true, however. He hated to be a pessimist, but this wasn’t looking good.
He should call the cops himself, have them come to his townhouse to start looking for clues, but he needed to be around his team. Needed their support. And he knew without a doubt they’d do everything in their power to help him find Devyn.
He couldn’t live without her. He’d just found her. It wasn’t fair.
Lucky drove way too fast toward Grover’s house. He apologized to Angel and Whiskers as he took turns too sharply and accelerated too quickly from stoplights. Every second he took was one more second Devyn could be out there hurting, waiting for him to find her.
He raced down Grover’s driveway and saw most of the team was already there. Gratitude welled up inside him. Thank God. He even noticed that Brain’s vehicle was there. That the man would leave his wife and premature baby to come help him meant the world to Lucky.
When he walked up the stairs onto the porch and opened the door, Lucky saw that it wasn’t just his team who’d arrived. All the women—minus Aspen, who was still recovering from giving birth—were also there.
Gillian immediately reached for the crate. “Let me take them.”
Lucky handed over his animals.
“Oh, you poor babies,” Gillian cooed through the slats. Then, looking up at Lucky, she asked, “Are they hurt?”