Chapter 46
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Kenny
L iz didn’t hesitate.
She said, “Give me three minutes” and raced away, fast enough I couldn’t truly appreciate the tiny sleep shorts and barely there shirt she was wearing. I shouldn’t be admiring her right now anyway, or maybe not at all anymore.
My phone rang and I took the call, getting an update from Cookie on local police responses. Beast would be into the office soon and he’d help us pinpoint them if Cookie couldn’t manage it before then.
They were unlikely to have their phones, but we might get lucky. We’d know in the next minute or two, and we’d also attempt to activate Jack’s beacon. Since he was a VIP client, he had additional coverage with us while he was in town. Our main hope was that would lead us to his location.
Liz jogged out of her room in black pants, utility boots, and a long sleeve T. We’d gear up at Saint, so these were a good start. We hustled out of her place, then jogged the block and a half to the Saint building, where Tristan was waiting for us with gear.
“Still working on location but we got a call from the Juniper View Sheriff saying one of his residents had made a call about something suspicious he thought we might want to know about,” Tristan explained as we walked to the tactical room where Bruce and Cookie were gearing up.
“I let him know we had a situation before I went to get Liz. He’s a good dude and if he’s got a flag raised, we should look closer.”
I’d gotten to know the Sheriff of Juniper View in the last few years as he served on a county-wide advisory board I’d joined. After that, we’d ended up playing soccer against each other in a casual adult soccer league and discovered our shared military backgrounds. He had a reputation for being wise and fair, and his popularity was likely unhurt by the fact that he was also a single dad and decent-looking. Knowing he was clued in and letting us know what’s going on was incredibly good news.
A few minutes later, we’d gotten no official word. They couldn’t get a signal on the beacon, but after talking to the sheriff, my gut said we needed to move.
“I know we can’t roll on hunches, but this one feels big,” I said, watching Beast and Cookie rolling through information at a pace I couldn’t even pretend to emulate. Having two fewer fingers on my left hand was part of it, sure, but their ability to follow a thread electronically was masterful.
Bruce ended a call. “Police are out in force here and Sheriff Ryan has patrols going in Juniper View and the surrounding area. But it’s time to move. Malcom?” He looked at Liz .
“Kenny’s right. Worst case, we spend time driving out there and if something changes, you signal and we haul back.” She glanced at me. “But you guys do this. You know what fits for a domestic or even celebrity kidnapping, so I’m following your lead.”
Bruce snapped at me as his phone rang again. “Go with it. Stay in touch. Take a sat phone just in case and I want reports in every twenty once you get there.” He ducked his face to the phone and spoke.
We moved.
In minutes, we’d loaded up into a vehicle and were on the road. Sunrise was still a little more than two hours away, though we’d have the sky lightening up for us in an hour and a half.
“What did we miss?” Liz asked from the passenger seat. She’d brought a tablet with all the case files and information on it.
“I’m not sure we missed anything we could’ve caught. This is one problem of being law enforcement adjacent. We’re not officials so we can only do so much—legally, there’s even less we can do.”
The temptation to stop problems before they started was always there. Not necessarily take someone out entirely but maybe intimidate someone—scare ’em straight, so to speak. But the moral compass of the Saint leadership, and I dared say every one of the team, was unflagging.
“Was anyone watching the ex? If the LAPD haven’t found him yet, that seems like a pretty bad sign.” She swiped at the screen.
“Agreed. Seems like he’s here and he probably has Jack and Evie. There must be more than one person involved, though, because Jack isn’t dumb and he’s not a small man. He just spent time training with the SEALS and EMU prior to shooting a movie where he plays a Tier One guy, so he’s even got some decent self-defense skills.”
It didn’t make sense, honestly, and second only to having them safe was the need to understand what’d happened.
We drove in silence for a while, me doing my best not to let my mind stray from the road ahead and her reading through the information on the case. When the sat phone rang, she answered.
“We’re… ten minutes out from the edge of town,” I said, estimating being able to cut some minutes this time of night when we came out of the canyon.
She relayed the information and in the corner of my eye, she perked up, energy sliding through her in a jerky movement.
“We’re going. I’m ready to copy.” She then tapped out coordinates, repeated them, and we ended the call.
“There’s a signal coming from this location. It’s five minutes out of town.” She took the GPS and adjusted our destination. Seven minutes now.
Five.
Three.
We parked blocks away from a small house on the end of a street that abutted a national forest. My heart thundered in my chest, the adrenaline amping up, pouring into my bloodstream and readying my body. The years of training kicked in now, even when I only got to do this kind of mission every so often.
I took a breath and steadied my pulse, my heart rate, my breath, my mind.
“Ready?” she asked, appearing so damn calm I would’ve thought she was asking me to take a leisurely stroll .
So attractive. Completely not the time for the thought, but it settled into my silly little brain anyway.
“Go.”
I moved, she followed. Though she was immensely capable, I had more experience. If we’d brought personnel, we’d have a breaching group to do this job with a bit more heft, but that was the challenge of spreading out to follow a hunch. Fortunately, this one appeared to be right.
Every bit of me hoped it was. I wanted to open that front door and see Evie and Jack sitting uninjured on a couch and have all this mess be done with.
Light shone from a window at the back of the house and we moved, sliding along the west-facing side of the house toward it. I peeked in and didn’t see anyone, but the window was high and there very well could be someone right there. We crept closer, grateful this part of the yard wasn’t snow-covered or we’d be announcing our arrival by crunching along in the snow.
There was a storm door and a back door which was cracked slightly—an easy way in. But also, likely the way our bad guy got inside. Liz’s instincts were good—she grabbed the metal handle of the storm door, ready to swing it open. It looked rusted, and I didn’t have what I’d need to stop the squeaking, so we were about to announce our arrival. I held up a hand as we made eye contact, then dropped it. She yanked the door open and I slipped in as she did, kicking the main door and scoping for threats.
The only person in the room was Jack, who lay on the ground, bound and apparently unconscious. I swore under my breath but after checking his pulse and feeling it was strong, we kept moving to clear the house.
In minutes, we’d moved through the entire two- bedroom home and found no evidence of anyone else, let alone Evie.
Liz called in to Bruce and the command post while I cut through the duct tape at Jack’s hands, feet, and gently removed it from his lips. The movement roused him slightly and he blinked, instantly reaching for his shoulder. Might be dislocated based on the way he was moving.
“You’re alright, Jack. We’re still looking for Evie. Paramedics are on their way.”
His speech was slurred but he nodded, and after another minute, he could speak and passed some tests that told me he was groggy from being drugged, not recovering post-stroke. My pulse slowed as he told me who the president was, what month it was, and so on.
Tristan came on the line then. “We got a call from Sheriff Ryan a few minutes ago. He was in pursuit of someone speeding who ran a red light. They ended up abandoning the car and running into the woods. He stopped to check on Evie who’d been abandoned in the car, and she was in distress, so he stayed with her. We need you guys to get to him and offer support until medical can get there.”
“She’s hurt?” Liz asked, her jaw hardening as she likely imagined all the ways she’d make Evie’s ex pay.
“Not sure. The main issue is, she’s having the baby now.”