Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
XAVIER
Why didn’t I come back right away?
Why did I assume Lucy fell asleep after work, and that’s why she didn’t answer my call?
I should have realized something was wrong.
Lucy always answers. Even that time I called her at three in the morning after finding out one of the guys I served with was killed in action, she answered. She wasn’t upset that I woke her up. She said she always wants to hear from me, no matter when.
But I didn’t want to be that guy. The overprotective boyfriend who freaks out just because his girlfriend had a long day and didn’t hear her phone.
As I sat in my hotel room in Houston, debating whether to call Lucy back, I reminded myself that she’s thirty-five years old. A woman who’s been living on her own for a long time. An independent woman who’s more than capable of taking care of herself.
Just because Lucy comes across as sweet and trusting and generous to a fault doesn’t mean that’s all she is.
She’s strong and smart and incredibly creative, coming up with incredible ideas that captivate her devoted readers.
She’s worked her ass off to get where she is, instead of relying on the wealth of her parents. Lucy could have easily used their money to support herself, to help advance her writing career, but she didn’t. She wanted to do it on her own.
And despite her sunny nature, she’s fierce when it comes to defending the people she cares about. Like when a customer made a derogatory comment about her boss, she didn’t hesitate to give the customer a stern talking-to.
I was worried about Lucy’s safety just hearing about it after, how she got right in the guy’s face and told him if he couldn’t behave respectfully in the store, he should find somewhere else to shop. That what he said was cruel, and he should be ashamed of himself.
The customer—who, according to Lucy’s account, was easily twice her size—could have lashed out at her. Even hurt her. But he didn’t. The guy shriveled under her glare and apologized to Remy. Then he said Lucy was an incredible employee, and anyone would be lucky to have her work for them.
Despite what the asshole said earlier, that last part was true.
Anyone would be lucky to have Lucy work for them. Anyone would be lucky to know her.
I’ve never met anyone like Lucy, and that’s why I’ve been so desperate not to mess things up. It’s why I went against my instincts and waited until the next morning to call her back. And it’s why I didn’t race back to Seguin to see her the second my gut felt something off.
Now I could kick myself for it.
No. That’s not enough of a punishment.
I hate myself for not acting sooner.
Five days she’s been missing, and I’m losing my mind with worry.
Fear is a constant, a cold ache in my chest, an icy hand squeezing my heart.
Where is she?
Is she hurt? Scared? Wondering if I’m looking for her?
Is she?—
No . I can’t think about that.
Nervous energy pulses through me, and I jump up from my computer again. It’s a miracle I haven’t worn down the carpet from my incessant pacing. As I circle the living room, I run through everything I know again, desperately searching for some missing clue.
That night five days ago, when she never answered my call, I reassured myself it was normal. That Lucy was just tired after an unexpectedly long day. By the time twelve hours had gone by and I still hadn’t heard back from her, I knew something was wrong. Missing a late night call was one thing, but there was no way she would have ignored my increasingly worried calls and texts the next morning. So I left Houston before noon and headed straight to Lucy’s house, spending the entire drive hoping for some rational explanation.
Maybe her phone died and she hadn’t realized it. She could have gotten sick; the flu or a twenty-four-hour virus or food poisoning, and she was too out of it to answer the phone. Or worse, she might have hurt herself, could have broken her leg falling down the basement stairs and couldn’t get up to call for help.
My worst fear as I sped down the highway to Seguin was that Lucy had been in an accident and was in the hospital, unconscious and unable to contact me.
I wouldn’t let my brain go further than that. I couldn’t.
But I never imagined Lucy would be missing.
When I first got to her house, I was relieved. Her garage door was still open, her car parked inside, not a scratch or ding on it.
Then a second later, I saw her purse on the ground beside it. Not set down carefully, but like she’d dropped it, her wallet and phone still inside.
I searched her house, running through the rooms with my heart in my throat, but in my gut, I already knew.
She was gone.
Had she been taken from inside her house, there might have been something on the security footage. But her garage just has one camera aimed at the driveway, and nothing by the door at the rear. So it would have been easy for an intruder to pick the lock and enter the garage undetected. To lurk in the darkness—the overhead light had the bulb removed—and wait for Lucy to come home.
I feel sick every time I think about it—Lucy getting home after a long day of work, her mind probably on her book, assuming she was safe. And then…
Did they pull a gun on her? Knock her out? Drug her?
She must have been so scared.
Fuck.
Days later, it’s impossible not to think about the worst.
Lucy’s so sweet and beautiful—with long chestnut hair, cornflower blue eyes, and hourglass curves—she’d be a prime target for a trafficker. If someone saw her at the bookstore, it would be easy enough to follow her home, figure out she lived alone, and just wait for the perfect moment to take her.
Fuck .
Is she being touched? Violated? Or was it not a trafficker at all?
Could it have been a customer upset at a perceived slight? Maybe he asked her out and she said no, and he decided to get even by?—
No. I refuse to put words to my fears.
She has to be out there.
And Lucy knows what I do. She has to know I’m searching for her.
Not just me, but my entire team. And Blade and Arrow Security isn’t just a run-of-the-mill security company. The six of us that make up the Bravo team—me, Dante, Niall, Matt, Rhiannon, and Erik—are all former Green Berets, part of the elite Operational Detachment A, or A-Team. Though we served on different teams—Rhiannon and Niall on mine, Dante, Erik, and Matt on another—we all trained together for years, and I’d trust any of them with my life.
And now I’m trusting them with Lucy’s.
Yes, I know the police are searching for her, too. And I don’t doubt they know what they’re doing. Some of the officers are good friends of mine, and they’re working tirelessly to try to bring Lucy home.
But at Blade and Arrow, we can do things they can’t. Like hacking into databases and security systems. Our tech guy, Matt, calls it gray hat hacking—not getting permission, but not doing anything malicious with the information, either.
And we’re not as concerned about following the rules. While the police have to wait for search warrants, we go in first and notify the police after.
Could we get in trouble for it? Possibly. But given the reputation of Blade and Arrow and all of our connections, plus our willingness to share information afterwards, the police are willing to look the other way.
For Lucy, though? I don’t give a shit about getting in trouble. All that matters is finding her.
So where is she?
Jaw clenching, I stop by the window and take a few deep breaths of the warm spring air. It’s different from what I grew up with in Maine, when April was still on the cusp of winter. Here, it feels like summer already, and I can only imagine what July and August will bring.
I’ve been planning to take Lucy to the coast over the summer, to this incredible rental house Dante and his girlfriend, Sarah, visited a few months ago. Her birthday is in July, so I thought it would be the perfect present. A week on the beach, seeing my gorgeous girlfriend in a bathing suit, spending evenings looking out at the water, having lots of sex…
Shit.
I can’t lose her.
Not the first woman I’ve ever truly cared about.
But why haven’t we found a clue yet? I was sure there’d be something on a traffic camera or a neighbor’s security footage. A doorbell camera that would spot a car leaving her house, or a person lurking around, or something…
Dammit.
I slam my hand on the windowsill, welcoming the flare of pain. The glass rattles, and just for a second, I consider putting my first through it. Letting my anger out instead of keeping it jammed up inside me.
But I don’t. When I find Lucy, I don’t want to explain a bandaged hand, and I don’t want to give her a reason to worry about me. To wonder if I’m too rough and impulsive to be with someone as gentle as her.
None of my friends would ever call me gentle or sensitive. I’m the guy who curses too much, who jokes and doesn’t take anything but his job seriously. For years, decades, even, I’ve kept my emotions under tight restraints. But with Lucy, it’s different. I want to be everything she needs.
Which I’m doing a pretty fucking terrible job at, considering she’s still out there, missing, and all the searching and interrogating and favors I’ve called in have done nothing.
Shit.
I start pacing again, wondering how long before I can reasonably call Matt for another update. He finally kicked me out of his office, saying that I needed to stop hovering and go get some sleep. I didn’t want to, but then I realized I was wasting Matt’s time by arguing, so I grudgingly came back to my apartment for a while.
When my phone buzzes with the signature Blade and Arrow ringtone, my heart lurches into my throat. My lungs seize.
It’s one of my teammates, and they wouldn’t be calling just to check in. Not considering I just saw them all at our strategy meeting a few hours ago. There has to be news.
I jog over to the coffee table and snatch up my phone, but my finger hesitates before tapping to answer.
Right now, I can still believe Lucy’s alive.
What if this call…
No. I’ve faced off against insurgents, ten to one. I’ve completed missions when the odds were stacked against us. And once, I jumped from a second-story building as it was exploding behind me. If I could do that, I can answer a call.
Before I get a chance to speak, I hear Dante’s voice, brisk and commanding. “Matt found something. Get to the conference room. Now.”
Through a narrowing throat, I ask, “Is she alive?”
“Yes.” Dante exhales. “She is. Now get over here. I’m not telling you on the phone.”
He doesn’t have to say it twice. And I’ve never been more glad to live in the same building as I work, a renovated ranch that not only serves as the Blade and Arrow headquarters, but also includes apartments for each of us.
So it takes me less than a minute to sprint down the hallway and into the conference room, grabbing the door jamb as I round the corner, slingshotting myself inside.
Matt and Dante are at the end of the conference table, Matt sitting, and Dante standing behind him. They’re both staring at Matt’s laptop, their expressions grim.
“Where is she?” I blurt as I jog over to them. “Is she hurt? How soon?—”
“Wait.” Dante puts his hand up to stop me. “Let Matt explain, first.”
Anger surges through me, and I snap, “I’m not fucking waiting. Where is she?”
Erik and Niall come jogging into the room, and Niall says, “Rhi’s on her way. She was out checking the perimeter fences.”
“Where is she?” I repeat, pinning Dante with my gaze. “You said Lucy is alive. How do you know?”
“Xav.” Matt looks up at me. His tone is low and somber. “Let me explain what I found.”
Shit. I’m forgetting all my training. My discipline. “Fine.” I don’t sit, but I stand behind one of the leather chairs with my hands on the back of it. “What did you find out?”
If possible, Matt’s features go even more solemn. “I’ve been using a web crawler to run facial recognition on videos found on the dark web, trying to see if Lucy’s in any of them.”
Bile rises in my throat, and I have to swallow to keep from vomiting. “And you found her?”
“Don’t freak out,” Dante interjects. “It’s not trafficking. Not like that.”
“So what is it?” I bite out.
“It’s a game,” Matt replies. “A fucked up one. It’s called Expiration Date.”
Rhiannon comes running into the room and comes to stand beside me. She puts her hand on my shoulder, a small gesture of support.
“What’s Expiration Date?” Niall asks. His brow furrows. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s fairly new, apparently.” Matt scowls. “The people behind it… they kidnap innocent victims and hold them captive. Each person is put in a separate location. Abandoned houses. Cabins. Bomb shelters. And they’re”—he grimaces—“given some food and water. But not enough.”
“What does that mean?” I glance between Dante and Matt. “Are you saying Lucy?—”
“Yes,” Dante replies, his gaze darkening. “They took Lucy. And what they do… Each victim is just left there. No one goes back. But there’s video surveillance, so viewers on the dark web can watch. And—” His jaw goes hard. “They place bets. On how long the contestant , they’re called—will last. Once the food and water run out. And there’s a rope…”
“What?” Rage like nothing I’ve felt roars through me. “Lucy’s part of some fucked up game? Where people are betting when she starves? What the fuck ?”
“It’s only been five days,” Matt says. “She’s not in danger of starving yet. And I’m working on tracking the camera right now. As soon as I get the location, we’ll get her out.”
A terrible realization hits me. “But you saw Lucy. Held captive.”
His eyes meet mine. “I did.” Then he turns the laptop towards me. “Don’t freak out, Xav. We’re going to get her.”
As I walk towards Matt, it feels like I’m moving in slow motion.
I’m desperate to see Lucy, but I’m also scared.
And then.
I see her.
She’s huddled in the corner of a tiny cabin, her arms wrapped around her legs, her forehead resting on her knees. Her long hair falls in tangled curtains around her face. There’s a heavy metal shackle around one ankle and one of her wrists, and she’s shaking, her shoulders heaving with silent sobs.
My Lucy.
Rage and sorrow and guilt slam into me in waves.
Who would dare do this to her?
I’m shaking, not with fear, but fury.
Niall comes to my other side. “How soon before we locate her?”
“I have a program running,” Matt answers. “Hopefully soon. I identified the VPN used to post the video stream. Now I just need to find the IP address.”
“As soon as we get the location, we’ll head out.” Dante pauses. “Niall, Rhiannon, can you get the car ready? All the standard gear, medical kit, and—” He pauses, and then more quietly, “Bolt cutters. Just in case.”
Fuck .
I can’t take my eyes off Lucy. Watching her cry is the worst kind of pain. I’m desperate to get to her. To comfort her. Protect her like I should have done before.
Then the laptop dings, and Matt spins the laptop back towards him again. A moment later, he says, “I’ve got something.”
Everything in me freezes.
Please. Let this be the clue we need.
After what seems like an eternity, but is probably only a few seconds, his gaze rises to meet mine. “I found her.”
“Where?”
“About five miles north of Blanco.”
“Shit,” I grit out. “That’s over an hour away.”
Niall pats my arm. “There’s still plenty of time.”
“No, there’s not,” I retort sharply. “You saw her. She’s scared. Traumatized. Any time is too long.”
“Did you call the police?” Rhiannon asks, directing her question to Dante.
“Not yet. I will once we’re on the road.”
My jaw clenches. “I don’t want them interfering. If there’s a threat nearby, if her captor comes back… I’m not willing to risk some local cop fucking things up and getting Lucy hurt.”
Dante looks at me, understanding in his gaze. “I’ll make sure we’re there first.” He lifts his chin. “We’ll get Lucy, Xav. I promise.”
A quick glance around the room shows the same determination in each of my teammates’ eyes.
Hope flares in my chest.
I’m going to bring Lucy home.
Voice rough with banked emotion, I lift my chin at Dante. “Okay.”
Rhiannon gives my shoulder a squeeze. “Let’s go get Lucy.”