Chapter 29
Zane
“Zane!” Anastasia rushes forward and throws her arms around me. I’d sent Sawyer, Weston, and Ryker ahead to get showered, changed, and to check in on my mom and sister, while I’d remained at the hospital.
Riley Hunt came and relieved me, though, offering to stay and keep an eye on Garrison until I can get back. Bradyn is with his service dog, Bravo, back at Garrison’s apartment. They’re trying to pick up on Tessa’s scent to see if we can get a direction she was taken out.
My mom comes out of the kitchen and wraps both arms around Anastasia and me. “Honey, I am so glad you’re okay. Come on, get a shower, and I’ll get you some food.” She and my sister pull away.
Weston and Ryker are sitting at the dining room table, barely-touched sandwiches sitting in front of them. Sawyer is on the couch, seated in front of his open laptop.
“I will, Mom, thanks.”
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“I will be once we find Tessa.”
“Sawyer told us what happened.” Anastasia’s eyes fill as she crosses her arms. “I can’t believe it. Garrison—” She trails off and covers her mouth with a shaking hand.
“He’ll be okay, Anastasia.” Aside from us, the Hunts, and Leopold, Anastasia and my mom are the only ones who know Garrison is alive. Even when the neighbor who found them came to check on him, she was given the news that he hadn’t survived his injuries.
It has to be this way until we get Tessa back and figure out who is trying to kill us. Though my money is on Brenda. That’s where all signs are pointing. I just can’t figure out what her motives would be.
Was this truly triggered by Tessa’s arrival?
Or was this the plan all along?
Someone knocks on the door, and everyone stills. The room falls completely silent until my mom looks up at me. “Do I answer it?” she whispers.
Withdrawing my handgun, I peer out through the peephole. Agent Weathers. What are you doing here? Because I don’t think he’d have warned me about Brenda having it out for Tessa if he were a part of this, I take a risk and open the door myself.
He arches a brow and looks me up and down. “You look rough.”
“A building fell on me earlier today.”
“So you were in that Savannah mess?” I nod. “Everyone thinks you’re dead,” he adds.
“Because, to everyone else, I am. Question is, can I trust you with the truth?”
He doesn’t look the least bit offended, which speaks volumes. “A 9-1-1 call was received yesterday morning. A woman claiming to be Tessa Lane said she was being held at the Southeast Environmental Commission.”
Hope floods my system, and I pull the door all the way open so he can come in. “You found her?” I close the door behind him, and he crosses his arms.
“We searched the building and found no sign of her. As soon as I finished, I hopped on a plane here because none of you were answering your phones.”
“We’ve been a little busy,” Weston quips.
“I see that. I’m assuming she’s not here?”
“No. Someone gutted Garrison to get to her,” Ryker growls.
Jack’s expression turns furious. “Is he—”
“You said she wasn’t there?” I quickly change the subject. I may trust him with the knowledge that we’re alive, but Garrison can’t defend himself. And that makes him a different story.
“Not that I saw. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t there. Or—”
“That she isn’t still there, just hidden.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “We scoured that place, but it’s a big building. They saw us coming, and that means they could have hidden her.”
“She’s alive. That’s what matters,” Anastasia says.
“She was alive yesterday,” Weston says.
“No, she’s alive. I can feel it.” It’s the same feeling I had over the last eighteen years she was missing. Despite what everyone said, what the police said, I knew she was out there somewhere. This time, I won’t stop looking until I find her.
“Then maybe you can—” His cell rings, so he pulls it out of his pocket and groans when he sees the readout. He turns it to face me, and I see Brenda’s name on the screen.
“She can’t know we’re alive.”
“Yeah, I got that.” He answers it, then puts it on speakerphone. “Weathers.”
“What are you doing in Stormwatch Landing?” she demands.
“Excuse me? I didn’t realize our relationship warranted location tracking. Did you chip me?” he jokes, but there’s no humor on his face.
“I make it a point to know where people are.”
Jack arches a brow. “To what do I owe the honor of this call?”
“Have you heard from my team?”
“I have not. Was I supposed to?”
“They’re not answering their phones. The building they were watching is nothing but rubble, and I received a troubling update this morning about one of them. Garrison Holt was murdered last night.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” he replies.
Anger burns in my gut. She wouldn’t have known that any other way because no one reported it.
“I assumed that was why you were there.”
“Actually, no. I’m here to check in on Tessa Lane.”
Brenda goes quiet. “Oh?”
“Yeah. I recently had a troubling phone call myself. That Ms. Lane was being held against her will at the Southeast Environmental Commission office. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you? I know your contacts are much more adept at finding sensitive information than mine.”
She’s silent for a few moments. “I’ll look into it. But as far as I know, Tessa was staying on Knox’s boat.”
“Looked there. She was nowhere in sight.”
“Where are you now? I’m in town, but I only have about twenty minutes before I need to make my flight.”
She’s here?
“Actually, it doesn’t matter. I’m headed to Zane’s mother’s house to ask her some questions. Meet me there.”
Without waiting for Jack’s response, she ends the call. Before I can even open my mouth to speak, a black SUV pulls up outside of my mom’s house. “Get in the back,” I tell everyone.
“She’s going to expect me to be here,” my mom insists.
I shake my head. My gut is screaming at me that Brenda is behind this, and the last thing I’m willing to do is put my mom and sister right in her crosshairs. “It’s too risky.”
“If you don’t want Brenda to know you’re alive, you all need to go. Now.” Jack unholsters his pistol and checks it before sliding it back into his shoulder holster.
“I’m not leaving my mother and sister unprotected,” I say, hands clenching into fists.
“I will keep them safe. You have my word. But if you don’t get back there now, she’s going to know you are all alive.
Something you said you didn’t want, right?
” When I don’t move, he continues, “Look, we need to know where Tessa is. Let me distract her, and you and your team come back around the front. We’ll flank her.
Then I’ll leave the room so you can do whatever it is you do to extract information. ”
I arch a brow. “Whatever it is?”
He shrugs. “I imagine there’s a good reason you were brought on to do whatever it is you do for her. I told you, I’m here to solve a murder. Now I can add another body and a disappearance to that. You help me do that, and I’ll go to bat for you.”
Garrison and Tessa. That’s who he’s talking about. “Thanks.”
“No problem. Go.”
“Give me your cell,” I tell Anastasia. She reaches into her pocket and hands it to me without argument.
After shoving it into my own, I give her and my mother hugs, then slip down the back hall and prop the window open.
“We’re heading out, and we’re going to circle back around front.
It’s well past time Brenda starts answering some of our questions,” I tell the team.
I withdraw the cell phone and text Bradyn.
Me: Brenda is here. Backup may be needed.
As soon as the text is sent, I shove the phone back into my pocket and wait.
A series of rapid knocks, loud enough to be heard even from back here, sends my heart racing. If I'm wrong about Brenda and she’s not involved, what we’re about to do will land us in the type of prison no one knows exists.
I know I’m not wrong.
A few moments later, I can hear the door open. “Can I help you?” Anastasia asks.
“I’m Brenda Leroy, your brother’s boss? I was wondering if—what are you doing here?”
“You knew I was in Stormwatch Landing,” Jack replies smoothly. “And you asked me to meet you here.”
“How are you here already?” All of the friendliness is gone from Brenda’s voice. Replaced only with stern anger and clear suspicion.
“Jack and I are dating,” Anastasia blurts. “He was here when you called.”
Beside me, Sawyer stiffens. It’s subtle but there.
“Oh?” Brenda questions.
“Yeah, it’s new,” Jack says smoothly. “But Anastasia told me she hadn’t heard from Zane, and since the call at Southeast Environmental Commission was a bust, I hopped on the first plane out here.”
“You flew four hours to console your new girlfriend?”
“I did.”
I gesture toward the window. Since I’ve been working with her for over six years now, I can read Brenda without even being in the same room as her. And the tone of her voice screams disbelief. She smells something else going on, and we need to make our move before she makes hers.
Quietly, we slip from the spare bedroom and out onto the back porch. One by one, we move around the house. I peer out over the small fence toward the front of the house. Two armed security guards are keeping watch.
If Brenda hears us coming, she’ll likely engage to save herself.
But how are we supposed to distract them without being caught?
Even as I think it, Bradyn’s rental truck pulls up.
Thank You, Lord.
He climbs out, Bravo off his leash at his side. The dog’s ears are pointed straight up, his focus intently on the men standing at the front door.
“Who are you?” One of the guards asks.
I prepare to make my move as soon as they’re fully distracted.
“A friend of the family. Who are you?”
“Same,” the guard replies. “I’m afraid you can’t go inside.”
“And I’m afraid you can’t stop me,” he replies. “Fahs, Bravo.”