32. Rhett
32
RHETT
I crumple the wrapper from Reese’s fries into her nugget container and look up at Cole and Shep.
Sloane hasn’t returned from… where did she run off to with that clipboard of hers? It’s been more than a few minutes.
“Where’s Sloane?” I ask, watching my teams’ gazes shutter.
I’m standing, plopping Reese down in her mom’s seat and nodding to Cole, who slides in beside her easily.
Stepping through the door to the warehouse, I scan the nearby aisles and don’t see her. Before I go searching, I peek back into the office.
“Hey, Shep.” I wave him through the door. “I don’t see her, but she was working that way earlier.”
We stealthily step toward the dock. I take the right, he takes the left. Our steps are silent, our breathing shallow. We swing around the outside and come back up the left a little faster until we reach the back, where it branches off into stacks and stacks of inventory.
Following the same routine, we switch on our mag lights and search for any trace of her. Anxiety spreads through me the longer we go without finding her.
Reaching the end of the stacks, Shep turns and sends me a look that nails the emotions bubbling up inside me. She’s gone.
Fuck. She’s gone.
My chest is radioactive, on the brink of a meltdown. Hands clenching, I’m ready to tear apart whatever threat is lurking nearby.
Shep gestures back to the office, and I reluctantly follow. I want to find Sloane. Now.
Stepping through the door, I see Reese’s big, innocent gaze before I meet Cole’s. His reaction is immediate, but I say it aloud anyway. “She’s gone.”
No sugar coating it. We don’t have time for that.
Boss stands, whispering something to Reese as her eyes get watery. I hate seeing those tears. Fuck, they break my heart.
Cole pets her hair and drops a kiss on the top of her head. “Don’t worry. We’ll get her back.”
Reese nods, sucking in a stifling gasp. She’s a trooper, keeps those tears from falling. “I know.”
Shep crouches in front of her. “We can use your help.”
She bites her lip the same way her mom does when she’s nervous, and she gives him another nod.
“Can you tell me about your mom’s routine?”
Reese has to take a lot of deep breaths between her words as she walks us through her mornings with her mom, that she always takes the same route to drop her off to school. She likes to do things the same way, the same foods in rotation, the same trips to the store. Even her route through it is the same every time.
Every month, Alistair would make Reese go to a babysitter’s so they could go out or have a party. She knows the babysitter’s name, but not the number. The number is in her mom’s phone.
Cole still has it. He’s been picking through the data while trying to maintain some of her privacy. He’s been keeping it in his go-bag, which means he’s already reaching into a pocket for it.
Her name is Chelsea, and the boss hands the phone over to Shep.
“What’s the longest she’s kept you? Overnight?” He looks her in the eyes, and she barely blinks.
“Only once.” Reese’s voice has lowered so much that it amplifies all of the sick feelings I’m currently battling. The implications of that is a good distraction as Shep calls the babysitter and explains to her that we need an emergency overnight situation.
I start packing her things in her backpack and rub her back as Shep ends the call.
She’s on her feet, but she puts her fists on her hips the same way Sloane does. “My mommy is smart. She notices things. She’s good with messy things. She can keep herself alive. But you have to go now.”
What a strong little girl. I bend to plant my own kiss at her temple. “You’re smart and observant, too. Stay safe.”
Reese peers up at me with pride. “I know how, too.”
“I have no doubt.”
She lets me put her backpack on her shoulders before she takes Shep’s hand and pumps those little legs to keep up with him until he swings her in his arms.
Cole turns to me once they’re through the door. “Let’s go have a closer look.”
He flips the lights on, and my gut tells me the dark part of the warehouse where we turned around. Cole lets me take the lead back there.
We already know the boxes, crates, and equipment meant to be destroyed are in the back by the weapons cage.
And right away, I spot the disturbances. The gun cage is open. Signs of movement on the floor, chunks of gear and creates missing, like they were all moved at once.
How, with all of us just right here?
I grab the log to help me remember what they were keeping back here. Extra gun parts. Magazines of mislabeled bullets. Satellite equipment for long-range communication. All of the things Sloane has marked for return or destruction. Everything that’s been out of the ordinary is gone.
There’s only one way for that to happen. Kingswell.
So where is the traitor?
Cole advances, seeing something I don’t. He always does. But when he steps out of the back door, disappears, and comes back with the surliest frown I’ve seen in a while, it’s got to be bad.
“One of the planes is gone.”
I shake my head in disbelief, the shock of it freezing me in place before I march after him to look.
Fuck, he’s right. The small Short C-23 Sherpa that’s been waiting for parts is gone. There are wheel marks in the wet blacktop from where it turned around to get in the air.
It makes the distance they could have taken her much farther.
This is not good.