CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
CHAPTER
SIXTY-TWO
Lana rolled over in the bed and saw that Jayson’s side of the bed was empty. When she laid her hand on his pillow, it was cool to the touch, which told her he’d been up for a while.
She got up, putting on her yoga pants and a baggy Army shirt that belonged to Jayson, and walked out of the bedroom. When she came into the living room, she saw it was also empty.
She stilled, listening for any kind of sound, and found none. She went back into the bedroom and grabbed her phone and dialed Jayson’s number.
“Hey babe, you were sleeping so well I didn’t want to wake you. Kids and I are on the way back with breakfast.”
“O-okay.”
“Hey, baby, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Damn it! The man could tell she’d been ready to cry at hearing his voice, knowing he and the kids were okay.
“Pregnancy hormones. That’s all. You and the kids are okay?”
“Yeah, baby. We are all okay. I should have left you a message on my pillow or on your nightstand. I figured we’d be back before you woke up with the way that you were sleeping.”
“Yeah. I sleep better when you’re next to me for some reason,” Lana admitted.
She couldn’t help but admit she did sleep better when he was there with her. When she’d been in Texas, she only slept a few hours at most.
For years she’d survived on only four hours of sleep a night since the twins were born. Since she’d been back in Hellburn Falls, she’s been sleeping more than usual and didn’t know how to handle that.
Her teammates had all made comments about her sleeping more than she normally did. They felt they had been slacking when they would show up for the office or to the house to work from home, and she’d already been working for a while.
When Jayson was around, she found herself falling asleep easier, especially after they’d just had sex and even staying asleep instead of tossing and turning through the night. She usually fell asleep in Jayson’s arms and would wake up in the same position.
“Same, Lana. Kids and I will be home in about five minutes. Get you a warm shower and get dressed so the kids and I can feed the momma,” Jayson said, making the kids laugh in the background at his statement.
Lana hung up the phone and did just that. When she got out of the shower, the house was still empty.
She tried to call Jayson’s phone several times and couldn’t get an answer. After the fourth try, she called Ryan’s phone in a panic.
“Hey, Lana. Everything okay?”
“Did Jayson and the kids stop by your place by chance?”
“No, why? What’s wrong?”
“Jayson and the kids had gone out to get breakfast. When I talked to him, he said they would be home in five minutes. It’s been fifteen and now I can’t reach him on the phone. He always answers his phone or sends me a text letting me know he’ll call me back.”
“I’m on the way.”
Lana hung up the phone with Ryan and called Rocky, explaining the same information to her. Without hesitation, her entire team that was at her dad’s house was on the way to her.
Ryan knew where Jayson and the kids had gone to get breakfast, so he retraced that route on his way to her. Because of him doing that, her team had made it to her first.
Twenty minutes after the call to Ryan, he’d called to tell her he’d found Jayson’s car, and it was empty. The team loaded up and headed to that location.
They were looking at Jayson’s vehicle and determining the way the bad guys could have gone when Lana’s phone rang several minutes later. The entire team went into warrior mode. Her heart raced as she answered the call.
“Mommy, it’s me Jayson. Some bad guys shot at Daddy’s car and forced us off of the road. Daddy yelled for me and Dani to run and gave us his phone. I don’t know where we are. Daddy was shot by the bad men and taken when they couldn’t find us. They hurt Dani on her leg and arm.”
“Okay baby, stay calm. Mommy and the others are on the way. Leave the phone on so we can find your location. Turn the volume down so that way if they still have someone looking for you, the ringing phone won’t alert them to your location. Hang tight, baby.”
“They can’t be far. Let’s split up into teams. Ryan, you’re the local here.
Take a team and check that gas station there.
Geo, you and Swift are the best trackers we have.
You two take a team and search that wooded area.
Little Jayson is a climber, but if Dani is hurt, he won’t climb without her. ” Rocky took the lead.
“He knows how to make dugouts, like snipers do. He’s always reading up on that and watched documentaries. It’s what he wants to do when he grows up,” Lana informed the group with a soft smile.
“We’ll find them, Lana. Then we’ll find Jayson and take whoever took him out,” Captain Windsor promised, making Lana look her way.
“Let’s find my kids. But Captain, fair warning, there will be no mercy, no redemption when we go after these people. They shot at my kids. I will take them out without a second thought,” Lana promised, her voice going ice cold now that she had her bearings about her.
“I have your back, Lana. Whatever you need, we are all here for you.”
Lana nodded at her captain and the rest of her team. They all split up, Lana going with Geo and Rocky going with Swift.
Her captain went with Ryan and a few others to check the gas station inside and out to make sure no one tried to escape if they realized who they were. They weren’t taking any chances with the kids out there on their own.
They broke up into four teams of four. Ryan took three with him to check the gas station, Geo took three with her while Swift took three with her to search the woods and be able to spread out more.
The last group stayed behind to search the vehicle and collect forensics. They even checked the area for shell casings and traced the vehicle back a little way to when they were first ambushed.
They were leaving nothing for anyone else to look at and leave to the side.
They were going all out to nail the bastards who didn’t care that small children were in the vehicle and could have been killed because they were throwing a tantrum about the fact the truth about how evil they were started coming to light.