Chapter Twenty-Four #2
Oh, man. Not what he wanted to hear despite the way she’d betrayed Beau. “Copy that.” He ended the call and resumed running, ignoring the building pain in his side. Nothing would stop him from finding Rayne.
Grant ran for several minutes until he burst from the treeline to see an access road. He hurried across the asphalt to search for a trail on the other side.
Nothing.
His heart sank. The attacker must have had a vehicle waiting here because there were no signs of their passage on the other side of the road.
A slight rustling sound behind him told Grant that Seth, Teagan, and Andre had arrived. One by one, they walked from the safety of the trees.
“Well?” Teagan demanded.
“He had a vehicle here. Rayne’s gone.”
“More than one vehicle. Look at this,” Andre said, pointing at impressions in the soil.
Grant joined the others in studying the ground. Fury burned a hole in his gut. How had they misread Gino and the others so badly? “They’re all involved in this up to their eyebrows. Five vehicles, five drivers.”
Teagan looked from Grant to Seth and Andre and back. “I don’t understand.”
“Gino and the others are working with Donovan. They’re using this fishing camp as their headquarters.”
“Wouldn’t other people coming to the camp notice if five other campers never caught a single fish but disappeared in the woods to play war games or target shoot?”
“I don’t think there are any other guests,” Andre said. “Riley did some research on the drive to the camp. She said the camp is booked up for the next six months so there aren’t other guests to worry about.”
Seth’s brows knitted. “Wouldn’t that be expensive?”
“Did you see how rough this place is? I doubt the owner has many guests. People might want to fish but they want luxury when they come back from the lake. This place doesn’t even have Wi-Fi.
The owner probably is thrilled some outdoorsy military guys are taking over the place and forking over their money. ”
“He wouldn’t care as long as they paid the fee every month,” Teagan said, standing with her hands on her hips. “Look, we need to find Rayne fast. We don’t have a clue which way those yahoos took her. And I’m not seeing any security cams hidden in the trees.”
Grant’s stomach knotted as he pulled out his sat phone and called Zane Murphy, the head of technology and communications at Fortress. There had to be something to give them a clue where to hunt for Rayne.
“Yeah, Murphy.”
In the background, a child cried. Grant flinched. “It’s Grant. Sorry to call you at home, Z.”
“What do you need?”
“Your superior hacking skills. Rayne was kidnapped and we don’t have a clue where to look.”
“Hold.”
He heard Zane talking to his wife, then a minute later, a door shut. “Okay. Go.”
Grant gave Zane their location. “I need you to hack into the traffic cams on the roads surrounding this camp. I have to find Rayne before something bad happens to her.”
“I’ll do my best but there’s no guarantee the roads out there have cameras.”
His heart skipped a beat, then plunged ahead at double the pace. Zane had to find a glimpse of the vehicles, anything to give them a starting point. If he lost Rayne now, he’d be a shadow of himself. She was everything to him.
“Any more information I can use to pinpoint their location?”
His hand clenched around the phone so hard the plastic groaned in protest. “I’m sorry, Z. I didn’t see them leave the area. We don’t know what they’re driving. There are five vehicles, though. They all kept their rides here.”
Then he thought about Eileen. “One more thing. Eileen Reed was shot and killed a few minutes ago. Elias called law enforcement and is waiting for them to arrive along with Iona and Riley.”
A groan from his friend. “Oh, man. I know what that means. I’ll notify the lawyer. Hold.”
From the phone’s speaker came the sound of rapid-fire keystrokes on Z’s keyboard. Two minutes later, Zane growled. “No cameras near the camp, Grant. That place is out in the middle of nowhere. I’m activating one of Rayne’s tracking tags now.”
Grant swallowed hard. Of course. The tag. In his haste to find his woman, he’d forgotten about them. Fortress operatives had two tracking tags inserted under the skin of their back as a safety measure in case they were captured by the enemy. The tags had saved several operatives’ lives.
A moment later, Zane said, “Got her. She’s moving toward the Kentucky border. I’m sending you and your team the link to her tracker’s GPS signal. I’ve already alerted the boss. Is there anything else I can do to help?”
“Keep tracking her signal in case we lose it. Also, I know you’re not on duty, but would you be our tech support on this mission? Rayne matters too much to have less than the best working with us.”
“You bet. Let me know when you’re ready for me to link in with your team.”
“Thanks, Z. I owe you one.”
“Nope. No debt owed between friends. Besides, I like your lady.”
“Me, too,” he murmured. Grant gripped his phone tighter, then called up the tracking app. He had to get her back.
“Well?” Seth said. “Where do we start?”
“She’s heading toward the Kentucky border.”
Their team leader shot off a text to the rest of the team, then slid his phone away. “We’ll take your ride and leave the other SUV for the rest of our team. Let’s move.”
Seth, Teagan, Andre, and Grant ran back toward the road at the front of the camp where they’d left their SUVs.
Grant gritted his teeth as the pain in his side surged to the forefront of his mind.
He hadn’t felt blood trickling down his side so he hoped that he’d escaped ripped stitches so far.
His luck wouldn’t hold if he pushed himself much more.
Tough. He wasn’t sitting this one out. Popped stitches was a small price to pay to have Rayne safe and back in his arms where she belonged.
On and on they ran through the night until the operatives passed the entrance to the camp and headed toward the parked vehicles.
When they were close enough, Grant unlocked the vehicle, and they piled into the SUV with Seth behind the wheel.
As bad as Grant felt, situating him behind the wheel wouldn’t be wise.
Seconds later, Seth put the vehicle in motion. “Andre, you’re navigating. Tell me where to go.”
“Yes, sir.”
His team leader soared past the speed limit. “Let’s hope we don’t have any overzealous cops doing speed checks tonight.”
“No delays, Seth.” Grant shifted his position, uncomfortable. “Every minute counts.”
Teagan turned in the shotgun seat to look at Grant, her expression sympathetic. “We know. She’s the top priority.”
“He drugged her.” He pulled the used syringe from his cargo pocket, voice rising. “I don’t know what he gave Rayne. What if she’s allergic to the drug? She could be in trouble from the shot. On top of that, if Donovan has her, she might be the next victim to make me suffer. We have to find her.”
Seth glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “I get it. Believe me, I understand. If something happened to Teagan, I would be lost.”
She reached over and squeezed his thigh.
That’s what loomed in the dark for him. He’d be lost without Rayne. Man, how did he fall so hard and so fast for this woman?
“There’s a junction up ahead,” Andre said. “Turn left and stay on Highway 52 for 60 miles. If the shooter stays on this road, we’ll cross the Kentucky line.”
Frowning, Grant settled deeper into his seat, hoping the extra support would ease his pain.
What was in Kentucky? Another compound for the group to use as a base?
A place to lie low for a day or two? Whatever it was, he hoped the place wasn’t a fortress.
Any delay reaching Rayne could have deadly consequences for her.
His stomach twisted as he thought about what could happen to his woman.
And thinking about that would leave him paralyzed with fear for Rayne.
He had to trust in her ingenuity and her training.
Fortress spent a fortune training her and the rest of Artemis.
Those women were extraordinary and deadly.
If the shooter stripped Rayne of her weapons, she was resourceful enough to find something with which to defend herself.
He had to believe that because if he didn’t, worry would consume him and he’d be useless in the rescue mission.
That couldn’t happen. He loved Rayne. His hand fisted. No one would take her from him. Anyone who hurt her would pay. Hard.
“Rayne’s tracker turned off Highway 52.” Andre frowned and tapped his screen. “They’re on Leeville Road, heading east at a good clip.” He looked at Seth. “I’ve been on that road. It’s not a smooth ride. At the rate he’s driving, Rayne will take a beating unless that vehicle has superior shocks.”
“We’ll deal with whatever the consequences are from her kidnapping.”
“Can’t you go any faster?” Grant snapped.
“Chill, buddy.”
“You wouldn’t say that if an unknown enemy had snatched Teagan.”
“While that’s true, we can’t help Rayne if we’re in the hospital or morgue because of reckless driving.”
“You’re a combat trained driver, Seth. We all took the same training.”
“Yeah, but we’re not on dirt roads in the Sand Box. We’re driving on roads leading to housing developments. We can’t endanger people’s lives. Rayne wouldn’t want innocents to suffer in our quest to save her.”
Grant held up a hand. “Yeah, yeah. I got it. Doesn’t mean I like it.”
“I’m driving 20 miles over the speed limit, Grant. If we drive too fast on Leeville Road, we might blow a tire. We can’t afford that delay, either.”
He sat back and closed his mouth, the drive to reach Rayne at any cost shoved behind an invisible wall. Complaining wouldn’t help any of them, and it would tick off his team leader. Not a smart move.
“Turn right here.” Andre stared at his phone’s screen. “Looks like they’re heading into farm country.”
“Easier to hide.” Seth guided the SUV into a controlled skid to make the turn, then stomped on the accelerator. “How far behind them are we?”