Chapter 23 Frost
TWENTY-THREE
FROST
Everything happened so quickly that I almost couldn’t wrap my head around it.
I watched the video footage Chloe managed to set up over and over, looking for any sort of clues we could use while West tracked the cartel’s movements.
Of course, that required us to hunker down and do work instead of getting out there to find Chloe, which Lexi wasn’t happy with.
Nevertheless, we were making steps in the right direction.
Well, sort of.
However, I knew that our efforts wouldn’t be in vain.
“You got anything in that video yet?” I asked.
West flickered his gaze toward me before he shook his head. “Still running background operations.”
“Got that facial recognition on that man’s face that we saw?”
He snickered. “What do you think is one of the programs running?”
I sighed heavily. “Yeah, I figured as much.”
Everywhere we turned, we came up with nothing.
Outside of the basic information stored with videos, such as the time it was recorded and the location of the original video, we had nothing to go on in terms of figuring out where the hell they had taken Chloe.
We sat there for almost two hours with West running those god damn programs on his laptop.
Until finally, he came up for air.
“You think Chloe’s got her phone on her right now?” he asked.
I raked my hand down my face. “I doubt it, especially if they found it.”
He stood to his feet. “We need to go find that phone, then. If it’s sitting out there on the side of the highway somewhere, that will help us a hell of a lot.”
I stood with him. “What do you mean? What could we do with her phone? We obviously can’t track her with it.”
He smirked. “Then, you clearly don’t know me. Freya!”
“What!?” she called from down the hallway.
“Get your ass in here a second! I got a favor to ask!”
I furrowed my brow. “We got kids in this place, my dude.”
He shot me a look. “You wanna find Chloe, or not? Because right now, the least of our concerns is language in front of the kids.”
And that’s when Freya came around the corner. “Could you be any more crass in front of those kids?”
I held my hand out. “See?”
West rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Look. Frost and I are heading out to search for Chloe’s phone. If we find it, I’ve got a plan. But, if those assholes were stupid enough to keep it, I need you with us.”
Freya shrugged. “Sure, I’ll help. But, why do you need me?”
West placed his hands on her shoulders. “How good are these impersonation skills I hear about so much?”
She cracked a broad smile. “Better than your sex skills will ever be.”
“Oh, shit!” I said as I started cackling.”
West turned her around by her shoulders. “Frost, you’re with us. Freya, you’re on the back of my bike. Let’s go.”
We made our way out of the clubhouse with every little effort due to everyone pretty much being entranced with the movie currently on television.
We hopped onto our bikes and Freya gripped hold of West’s leather jacket before we started back toward the highway.
We had about a couple more hours of daylight before darkness would shroud us completely, making the cell phone finding situation damn near impossible.
However, once we got out to the spot where we had found my daughter, we started backtracking in both directions.
Before we stumbled upon a set of tire tracks and an empty vehicle on the side of the road that I fucking recognized.
“There!” I yelled as I pointed.
West swerved off onto the side of the road and I followed suit.
I practically dropped my bike into the grass before I started throwing open doors.
Never in my life had I wanted to not find a fucking cell phone in all my life.
I checked underneath the seats while West tore through the front of the car, rolling seats back and rummaging through the glove compartment.
And as my heart pounded in my ears, I got down onto my stomach and checked beneath the vehicle.
Before Freya’s voice sounded. “I’m going to check the wood line, just in case they tossed it.”
I gave her a thumbs up before I pressed myself upright. “It’s not under the car.”
West wiped at his brow. “It’s not in front, either. You find it in back?”
My eyes met his as a smile crossed my face. “Not a damn thing in the back of his car.”
“Freya!” West exclaimed.
“I’m searching, hold onto your panties, asshole!”
I barked with laughter while we waited for Freya to finally emerge. And when she did, she had come up empty-handed.
“Nothing,” she said breathlessly as she wiped at the sweat on her forehead.
West looked over at me. “You know what that means?”
I snickered. “It means those assholes might still have her phone.”
He pointed at me. “Get Lexi on the phone so we can get Chloe’s cell number. If she knows what provider Chloe used, get that, too. Then, Freya and I can work our magic.”
It only took a brief text message to Lexi’s phone before she shot back everything I needed. And after handing it over to West, he made the call he had to.
Before handing the phone to Freya.
“Ah, yes,” she said as we both hovered around her, “hi there. I’m so sorry to call so late at night.
But I’m having trouble finding my cell phone.
I mean, I’ve tore my damn apartment apart.
I’ve looked through my car. I backtracked my steps.
I can’t find it anywhere! Do you guys have some sort of tracking whatever I can activate, or something, to help me find my phone?
I don’t know, like a—oh, you do!? That. Is.
Outstanding. What do you need from me? I’ll literally pay you in nudes if you help me out here. ”
West and I tried not to die laughing while I held my phone up with the information in front of her face.
She rattled everything off from Chloe’s name to her address all the way down to the pin number she used to unlock her account.
And after Freya got done chatting that customer service member’s ear off, the call hung up.
Before she downloaded an application onto my phone.
“Here,” she said as she handed it to me, “you have to log into her phone account before you can see it, but the person on the other end of the line said it’ll tell you where the phone is once you do.”
I stared at the log-in information. “Hold on, I have to message Lexi again.”
“Give me that, idiots,” West murmured as he snatched the phone out of my hand.
With his shoulders hunched over and his eyes focused, he stuck his tongue out while his fingertips flew across the keyboard. We waited on bated breath as he cursed beneath his breath and grumbled to himself, and it didn’t fill me with much hope.
“Are you sure I don’t have to--?”
He shot me a look. “Just a couple more minutes, damn. You know how long this kind of shit takes? Be patient.”
I held my hands up in mock surrender. “Well, sooooooorry.”
And after what seemed like a fucking eternity, even as the sun started setting behind us, West smiled.
“Got her,” he said.
I snatched the phone from him and looked at the location beeping on the map. “That’s where she is?”
“That’s where her phone is,” Freya said for clarification. “Whether she’s still with it or not, we don’t know.”
West nodded. “But, it’s a damn good place to start.”
I furrowed my brow. “That’s not far from here. That’s only one exit up.”
West patted Freya’s shoulder. “Come on. We’re gonna get you back, and then we’re gonna gather the guys. Stone would want to be part of this recon mission.”
We headed back to the warehouse filled with hope and a renewed sense of vigor.
We burst through those doors, and I started yelling for the guys while Freya darted off to inform the women as to what was about to happen.
West started gathering guns for all of us to suit up.
He grabbed guns, and knives, and extra ammo.
He even grabbed some of our bulletproof gear to put beneath our clothes.
And as the guys came charging down the hallway, West quickly filled them in while I simply handed them the phone that housed the blinking dot that had given us hope.
However, I should’ve known that Lexi wouldn’t have allowed herself to stand on the sidelines.
“I’m coming with you,” she said as she came around the corner.
I finished strapping myself to the bone with guns. “No, you’re not.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “This isn’t negotiable. I didn’t ask a question. That’s my best friend. That’s the only shred of family I’ve had all these years. I’m coming with you to help.”
Texas sighed. “You can help by staying here and comforting your daughter.”
She shot him a look. “You leave my daughter to me.”
But I took her hands within mine. “He’s right. If this shit goes sideways, I can’t have you caught in the crossfire. Natty needs you.”
“She needs you too, Dean.”
The guys snickered at her using my actual name, but I didn’t give a shit. I cupped her cheek and smoothed my thumb along her warm skin. I wanted to memorize every feature. Drink in every moment. Relive the love she had for me as it swam around in her eyes.
Because this all had a chance of going to hell.
Then, Stone patted my back. “Gotta go. It’s getting dark.”
I kissed Lexi’s forehead. “I’ll see you when we get back. And when we get back, I’ll have Chloe.”
“Please,” she begged.
“Let’s go, guys,” I said as I twirled my finger in the air.
We all headed outside to get to our bikes, but in the blink of an eye I heard Texas cry out.
I whipped around long enough to watch Lexi rip the gun off his hip before she aimed it at the broadside of the warehouse, and she popped off three shots.
One after another, without breaking a sweat.
Her body barely jerked. Her face barely flinched.
And after she slammed those bullets into the front outside wall of the warehouse, I noticed something.
She had shot them in such a tight formation that it left me breathless.