Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
Linc bolted upright, looking for the source of the noise that woke him. The screen lit up as his phone vibrated on the coffee table. Still clinging to the hope that Bri would find a way to get free, his surge of adrenaline waned when he saw the call was from Walt.
“Sorry if I’m waking you,” Walt said. “But the kids are up and want Jalen to go to church with us. I wasn’t sure when you needed to get him.”
“I hadn’t thought that far, but if he wants to go with you, that’d be a help.” Linc ran a hand over the back of his head, trying to shake off the remnants of a sound sleep. “I appreciate it.”
“We’ll trade. You can keep my three while I take Tammy on a weeklong cruise.”
“Right. That sounds like a fair tradeoff.” Hardly. Though, if Bri came home safely, he’d do it—with her help. They were down to two days before she was supposed to fly home. Two days to find her, or . . . Or what? Possibilities he didn’t want to think about flashed across his mind. In his work, he’d seen the horrible things people did to others—not just in war.
There was no going back to sleep now, so Linc went to the kitchen. He started the coffee and set out what he needed to fix breakfast.
“Good morning. Can I help with anything?” Kendra appeared wearing Dev’s T-shirt and athletic shorts, which showed off her shapely legs.
“If you want some scrambled eggs and ham, you can crack the eggs. I’ll take four. Sorry if the phone call woke you.”
“Clara or the police?” She started cracking eggs into a bowl.
“I wish. The Shulers. They’re taking Jalen to church, so we’ve got the morning free.” He opened the package of country ham. “The water in the pot is for your tea.”
“Thank you.”
The smile she aimed at him would normally have him taking things in a more romantic direction, but he wasn’t going to risk moving too fast. Even though her tantalizing mouth tempted him to taste her, he settled for the slow burn of anticipation.
After she poured water into a mug and added a tea bag, she hunted in Dev’s pantry for spices and seasoned the eggs while he cooked the ham. It’d been a long time since he’d cooked breakfast with a woman he hadn’t slept with. Kendra had the kind of positive outlook and restraint that countered and complemented his disposition, but her family wouldn’t approve if they dated. There was no point worrying about that yet.
He’d ended his last relationship when Tayshia started pushing for their fun, no-commitment arrangement to become more. Before he deployed, she’d invited her parents to meet him, telling him after the plans were made. Her parents had been on board with him being military, even Special Ops, but things got uncomfortable when her mother began asking about his parents and family. Something that he and Tayshia hadn’t even discussed yet. It became clear they envisioned different futures, and she wanted things he couldn’t commit to.
He’d made it into the elite Delta unit because of the men who helped mold him for that. But how could he be a good husband and father with no role models? He shouldn’t waste mental energy on that when he needed to focus on finding Bri.
“I’ll call Clara to see if she knows anything more and let her know which grid I plan to search today,” Linc said as he carried his plate to the sink.
“I’ll clean up here while you call,” Kendra offered.
The line rang twice before his call was redirected to voicemail. A message popped up on his screen.
Can’t talk now. Call you shortly.
At least she wasn’t totally ignoring him.
The weight on his shoulders and in his chest grew as he opened his laptop to the map. Fayetteville wasn’t a big city, but even spending hours canvassing yesterday, they’d barely covered a fraction of the city. He had no idea how many license plate readers the local police had. If the guy had swapped out plates, they weren’t going to get leads that way. This might be their best shot at finding Regina. But he couldn’t count on her having any information on Bri’s location in Mexico. They needed the guy who took her. He would know where they were.
By now, the police might have found a hotel reservation for Tawnya. He could leave Jalen with the Shulers and be in Mexico tonight.
With the clock ticking down, if the police hadn’t learned anything, it was time to call in reinforcements. Ask Angela Hoffman to see what she could dig up.
“I’m going to get dressed so I can head out.”
“I will too,” Kendra offered without him asking.
He’d just emerged from the bathroom to wait for Kendra when his phone rang. “Wondered if you had any updates,” he greeted Clara.
“We caught a break and think we have a location. We’re waiting for a judge to grant a warrant now.”
“How long will that take?”
“I don’t know. It’s Sunday.”
“Just give me the location.” He didn’t need a warrant. Adrenaline pumped through him as he reached for the notepad.
“Leave this to law enforcement.”
“My team and I are some of the best in the world at what we do. This kind of mission is exactly what we train for and execute— successfully . If it were Kendra or someone else you cared about, we are—I am—who you’d want going in to get them out.”
“We’re trained as well.”
“Trust me, it’s not the same.”
“I understand you wanting to help, but you’re too personally involved. This is not your mission . You are not deployed?—”
“I have credentials allowing me to operate on US soil.”
“You’re not listening to me. At this point, we don’t know that the van is there or that it’s the right location.”
“I have access to equipment that can tell us what type of vehicle may be housed and to determine how many people are on the premises. Where they’re located inside. Sending me in covertly has a better chance of success than sending a uniformed officer to the door or rolling up with a SWAT team.”
“I can’t have you going vigilante and breaching some residence. I’m trying to keep you from being arrested, which won’t do your sister or her grandmother any good.”
“I’m not going vigilante. I want him taken into custody because he’s our best—and maybe only—shot at finding Bri.” Not that he’d get to participate in the interrogation.
“We want him alive, but recovering Mrs. Feldman is our priority. I’ll give you an update once I know more.” Clara ended the call.
“Dammit. They’re making a mistake.” A huge one. He breathed out, trying to keep from smashing something of Dev’s.
Kendra hung back near the kitchen counter.
“I guess you heard that.”
“Kind of hard not to. I know it’s frustrating, but you need to trust that the police know what they’re doing.”
He shook his head. Frustrating didn’t even begin to describe being shut out when they finally might be learning something. Hell yes, it was personal, but it meant he would do it the right way to bringing this guy in alive.
“Are we going out searching for the van?”
He took a moment to think. Clara mentioned a residence. They might stumble across the action if he and Kendra continued their search. Then what? If he had a pair of thermal imaging goggles, he could call Clara and offer them up so SWAT would know what they were looking at before going in. “I need to go over to post and get some things.” He grabbed the car keys.
“Okay.” Kendra picked up her purse.
“That part of post is restricted. You’ll have to stay here.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him.
“I’m serious. I would need to get authorization. By the time we do all that, I can get there and be back. You don’t want to be around me right now, and I can’t just sit here.”
“I get that.” She sighed. “Promise me you won’t do anything illegal or stupid.”
Hopefully, that was her way of saying she cared. “I promise.” He closed the distance between them.
Resting a hand on Kendra’s hip, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I said I’d take you to dinner. I keep my promises.” Which is why he had to save Bri. He promised he wouldn’t let anything happen to her again.
After going by post and getting thermal imaging goggles as well as surveillance cameras that could snake under a door, Linc called Clara. It went straight to voicemail. Was she on another call or had she blocked him?
He gave her a few minutes to text him back before he called again. This time, when it rolled to voicemail, he left a message. He left post and headed back to Dev’s. He’d just hit the garage door button when Clara called him back.
“We got the warrant. It was the right house.”
Yes!
“Mrs. Feldman is shaken up and a bit disoriented, but physically not harmed. They’re taking her to Med to be checked out.”
“And the guy who took her?”
“He was there. He’s on his way to Med with a GSW to the chest.”
Fuck! He pounded his head against the headrest. “How bad?”
“It doesn’t look good. He fired on one of our officers. They didn’t have a choice.”
Yes, they did. A shot through his gun hand or hit him in the knee. If they had let him go in, that’s what he would have done. He kept his mouth shut since he already had a strike or two against him with Kendra’s family because he served in the Army, and he didn’t want to piss off a potential ally in Clara. However, if it came down to saving Bri or pleasing Kendra and her family, he’d have to do the best things for Bri and Jalen. Kendra would understand. He’d never make her alienate her family for him.
“We’ve got a team combing the house for information on Tawnya’s and Bri’s whereabouts,” Clara continued.
“Was Tawnya living there?”
“Doesn’t look like it. There were only men’s clothes. We’re running down the LLC that owns the house. Whoever rented it for him may have also rented one for Tawnya.”
“Have you ID’d the guy?”
“Heath Malloy. He’s got a pretty lengthy rap sheet. Mostly drug-related. Some assault charges. We questioned him a few months ago but didn’t have enough evidence to make charges stick.”
Evidence usually wasn’t a problem with drug and assault arrests. A chill ran down Linc’s spine. “What kind of charges?”
“Attempted kidnapping. It could have been a similar situation. I’m headed over to the hospital. I’m guessing you’d like to meet me there while I question Mrs. Feldman. Even though we got Malloy, you should keep your nephew someplace safe. Based on the clothing, there were two men living in the house. Right now, we don’t know anything about the second’s identity or whereabouts. We’re running a list of his known associates and getting prints from the house to determine who else was staying there and their current location.”
Shit. “Got it.” He’d thought they’d caught a break learning the location where Regina was being held. Instead, they might have killed their best shot at getting Bri out of Mexico.