Chapter 27
Zane
“How bad?” Doctor Lani Hunt, the youngest of the Hunt siblings, demands when the four of us reach the stairwell of the private plane they flew in on. Her dark hair is swept up into a ponytail that swings as she walks. Dark eyes that miss nothing travel over the four of us.
I imagine we all look rough. Crawling your way out of a collapsed building will do that. Still, we made it out. Something I send a silent thank You to the Lord for. He protected us and guided us toward what must be one of the last payphones in the city, then brought the Hunts here safely.
Without knowing who to trust, there was only one call I could make after what happened. And it was to Dylan, who sent his two brothers and sister out to rescue us.
We should all be dead. But when the building came down, it left a gaping hole in the side of the stairwell. Just large enough for us to slip out before the news crews and first responders showed up. Thank You, God.
“Concussions would be my guess,” I say as we all but collapse onto the floor of the plane. Weston, Ryker, and Sawyer all drop down into seats and close their eyes. Blood crusts on their faces and arms, and anywhere there’s no blood, concrete dust clings to their skin.
I’m sure I’m not any better. But we’re alive.
“We weren’t followed. I’m going to tell him Lani wants to look you guys over before we can leave.” Bradyn Hunt, the eldest Hunt sibling and the leader of Hunt Brothers Search and Rescue, heads for the cockpit of the plane while his brother, Riley, starts offering us water bottles.
Lani starts for me, but I shake my head and point to my team.
She purses her lips, but doesn’t argue as she heads over and starts looking Sawyer over.
“They good?” Riley asks.
“Do I look like I know yet?” she snaps. “Sorry, just trying to listen.”
He holds up his hands. “Yes, ma’am.”
“We need to get to Brenda,” Weston growls as soon as Lani finishes looking him over. “She set us up.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Sawyer replies.
“Don’t we?” Ryker demands. “No way her intel was legitimate, and she’s too smart to take someone’s word without looking into it first. She had to have known we were walking into a trap. No one else knew we were going to be there.”
Lani finishes with my team and crosses over to me. She presses her stethoscope to my back. “Deep breath.”
I do as she says, coughing and sputtering when my lungs burn, thanks to the dust I inhaled.
“They’re okay to travel,” she says. “I’m going to start treating surface injuries.” She retrieves her medical bag and crosses over to kneel in front of Sawyer, who has a nasty gash on his forehead. We’d slapped a field bandage on it, but blood has already seeped through the gauze.
“We’re good to go,” Riley calls out.
Bradyn offers a thumbs-up from the cockpit.
All while my mind is still on Weston. “She set us up.” He’s right.
Ryker’s right. All signs point to Brenda sending us in there to die.
The question is, why? “Can I use your phone?” I ask Riley.
We’d destroyed ours and left them in the rubble.
That way, if someone tried to track them, they’d be right where they hoped to find us.
“Sure thing.” He offers it to me, and I type in Garrison’s phone number.
It rings once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then goes to voicemail.
Fear creeps up my spine. He always answers. Or, at the very least, sends a text saying he’ll call back. I wait, holding my breath, but no message comes through. Even with this being an unknown number, he would answer.
Unsure what else to do, I call him again.
“Garrison’s not answering?” Sawyer asks. His expression tells me he’s thinking the same thing as I am: We weren’t the only ones led into a trap.
“No. I’m calling Leopold.” If it’s not an emergency, Garrison will likely be annoyed that I sent the police over there, but if it is…
“This is Officer Leopold,” he answers.
“It’s Zane.”
“Zane.” His tone is sharp, laced with emotion. “Listen—”
“What happened?” I all but choke on the words. Is he okay? Is Tessa okay? Did I leave them to die by following the orders of a traitor?
“Garrison was attacked in his apartment. Stab wound to his side. The attacker used a serrated blade for maximum damage. He suffered a collapsed lung and lost a lot of blood.”
No. No. No.
The lump in my throat makes breathing impossible. “Is he alive?” My gaze levels on my team. All of them are staring back at me, their expressions hard as they expect the worst news.
Even Lani and Riley stop what they’re doing to focus on me. I pinch the bridge of my nose. God, please don’t let him be dead. Lord, please wrap us in Your light. Please, God, protect us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I put the phone on speaker because repeating whatever he’s about to say is likely going to be too hard. “He’s in surgery right now. A neighbor found him. I was actually just about to call you because I don’t think he has any family here. I wasn’t sure who else to call.”
“Tessa?” I choke out.
“I haven’t had a chance to go check on her yet.”
“She’s okay, though?”
“I’m headed to the boat now just to check and see. I sent an officer there to wait outside and keep an eye on things.”
The boat. What little hope I was clinging to that she wasn’t involved is gone. “She’s not on the boat.”
“Where is she? I want to make sure she’s okay.”
“She was staying at Garrison’s apartment.”
He goes completely silent, processing what I just said. “You’re sure she was there?”
“Positive.” I choke on the word, my entire body rigid as I sit here.
“She’s not there, Zane,” he says, speaking the words I was terrified to hear.
There wasn’t a body. That’s good news for now, I try to remind myself, but all I can see is Tessa bloodied and broken as she fights for her life. “Then they’ve taken her.”
“Who? Do you know who is doing this?”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I need you to do me a favor.”
“What is it?”
“Keep Garrison in the hospital under a false name. To anyone not on this call, he died right after surgery. I’m bringing a doctor with me; she’ll treat him when we get there.
” I lock eyes with Lani, who offers me a single nod.
“Send someone over to watch my mom’s house, please.
I’m going to call Anastasia and have her head over there, too. ”
“Why? What’s going on, Zane?”
“Someone just tried to take all five of us out in one night. I want them to think they succeeded so they don’t see me coming for them.
We’re on our way back. Call me with an update.
” I end the call and tighten my hand into a fist around the phone.
If it were mine, I’d crush it just to have some control.
“They tried to kill Garrison?” Weston growls.
“And took Tessa,” Sawyer adds.
I tap my sister’s contact, then breathe a sigh of relief when she answers with a groggy, “Hello?”
“Listen, Anastasia. I need you to pack a bag and get to Mom’s house. Now.”
“What happened? What’s going on?” A faint click in the background tells me she likely just turned her lamp on.
“Do not open the bakery. Do you hear me? Get to mom’s house now, and you two stay put until I get there. Don’t open the door for anyone. Don’t answer the phone unless it’s me. Do you understand what I’m saying? No one.” My voice trembles.
“Zane, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
Fear finally sinks its sharp talons into me, momentarily robbing me of my ability to speak. They nearly killed Weston, Ryker, Sawyer, and Garrison. They took Tessa. If this is Brenda, she knows about my family—will they go for them, too?
“Zane?”
“Hey, Anastasia, it’s Sawyer.” He coughs. “We can’t tell you everything right now, but please get to your mom’s. Take your gun and get there now. Text this number when you do, okay?”
“Sawyer. Are you guys safe?” Her voice cracks beneath the weight of emotion, and Sawyer closes his eyes tightly, his expression tortured.
“We’re okay. Just please get there now.”
“Are you sending Garrison over? How is Tessa?”
“We’ll tell you everything when we get there, okay?”
She doesn’t answer for a few moments. “Okay. Zane?”
“I’m here.” Tears slip from my eyes, and I pinch the bridge of my nose, hoping the pressure will keep me grounded and prevent me from completely losing it.
“I love you and stuff.”
“I love you and stuff, too,” I reply. It takes every bit of strength in me to keep my tone level when all I want to do is tear apart this entire world until I find who did this. Until I find who took Tessa…and make them pay.
Hospitals are not my favorite place to be, but they’ve never really bothered me before. Not until now, when I’m sitting here beside Garrison’s bed, waiting for him to open his eyes.
Leopold is scouring Garrison’s apartment, surveillance cameras, and anything else he can think of, looking for any sign of where Tessa might have been taken. Tucker Hunt is doing the same, though on a much larger scale, from his computer room back in Texas.
Bradyn and Riley have set up shop in my sister’s apartment while she is staying with my mom. Sawyer is with them now, just in case whoever came for Tessa and us makes a move on them as well.
I’m betting they don’t, though, because they already think we’re dead.
“They took her.” Garrison’s voice cuts through my thoughts, and I quickly get to my feet, then cross to his bedside. His eyes are glassy, his expression slack. “They took her. I’m so sorry, Zane. I tried.”
“It’s okay. We’ll get her back.” I saw the blood stain in his apartment; it’s a miracle he’s even still here. Hearing his voice settles a bit of the gnawing fear that’s been eating me alive ever since I got the news. “They’re working on identifying the guy in your apartment,” I tell him.
“They were so fast. I didn’t even see the third guy.” He sucks in a ragged breath, then closes his eyes and winces in pain. “I was just getting out of the shower when I heard her. I came out, and there were only two. The third guy was hiding.”
I can imagine how terrified she must have been. Not just being taken, but did she see Garrison get stabbed? Does she think he’s dead? “Just stay calm, okay? We’ll get it figured out.”
He nods, but the movement is slow. Then, he opens his eyes and narrows them on me as if he’s seeing me for the first time. “What happened in Savannah?”
“They blew the building while we were in it. Set a thirty-second countdown on a crate that was rigged to blow the moment we opened it.”
His eyes widen. “What kind of bomb?”
“I have no clue. Didn’t get a good look at it, but it leveled the building. We were in the basement.”
“How are you here?” he asks. “Are you here?”
“I’m here, brother. God brought us through.” I gently clasp his shoulder. “We have you here under a fake name, but I’m going to get the doctor so she can look you over, okay?”
The door opens, and Lani steps in. “Hey there.” She smiles brightly.
“This is Doctor Lani Hunt,” I tell him.
“Or, as I’m referred to most often in circles like this, the youngest Hunt sibling,” she adds with a laugh. “Anyway, I’m treating you since technically you’re dead.”
He turns to me. “What?”
“We’re letting them think they succeeded in taking us all out.”
He nods and closes his eyes. “So how bad is the damage, doc?”
“Collapsed lung, some muscle and tissue damage from the serrated blade. But your worst enemy was the loss of blood. They gave you a transfusion, but—medically—you really shouldn’t have survived.”
“Thank God above that I did,” he says, then tries to sit up. “So what’s the first step in finding her?”
“You’re not going to find anyone,” Lani says as she steps forward and places a hand on his shoulder to keep him from getting out of bed. I do the same, wanting to ensure he rests long enough to heal. “Seriously, any overexertion and you’ll collapse that lung again.”
“I have to help.” There’s so much guilt on his face. So much brokenness. But even though I know he wants to see this through, I can’t risk losing him, too.
“Lani is right, Garrison. We need you to stay put.”
He shakes his head. “The last time you went anywhere without me, you all nearly died. I nearly died. We have to stick together.”
“You have to heal, brother. Otherwise, they will have succeeded in destroying us.” I reach forward and cover his hand with mine. “It wasn’t your fault.”
His eyes fill, and he takes a deep breath. “Make them pay.”
“Even if it’s the last thing I do, brother, they will.”