Chapter 10
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KNOX STOOD IN HOLT’S home on Sunday afternoon, his gaze scanning the crowded living room.
The entire team was there, celebrating their successful op to stop the homegrown terror cell.
Xaden and Cooper were chatting off to one side of the room.
Gage was deep in conversation with Holt.
Boone and Radley had arrived late, the two of them completely lost in one another.
Logan was there, too, tipping back a beer, along with a few other IT staffers.
Knox scanned the room again and frowned, noting who was missing.
Quinn. He hadn’t heard from her at all yesterday.
While he didn’t typically text her on the weekend, he’d shot off a brief text to make sure she was okay.
He didn’t think she’d outright ignore him, and he was concerned to not receive any reply.
Then again, maybe she was really sick and sleeping it off, preferring to be left alone.
Laughter filled the room, the team celebrating their success, but uneasiness settled in Knox’s gut. He’d ask the IT staff if they’d heard from her. Something felt off, and he didn’t like it.
The doorbell rang, and a U.S. servicemember and his sister arrived—the woman Boone and Radley had rescued in L.A.
It was damn lucky they’d found her. More conversation ensued, and Knox piped up, joining in the conversation.
“Fortunately, we found your notes,” Knox told her.
“Both of them. We knew someone was being held against their will by the terror cell.”
Her confused gaze slid toward him. “Both notes?”
“The first was written in sawdust at the cabin,” Knox patiently explained, recalling how Radley and Boone had made that crucial find. “We discovered the second on one of the crates when we intercepted the vehicle in Seattle. They both said help.”
“But I—I didn’t leave two notes.” Her voice trembled, and Knox crinkled his brow. There were no other hostages that they were aware of. The woman exchanged a worried look with her brother.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Knox said, frowning. “There was definitely the word help written on the crate we discovered.”
Cooper and Xaden were already moving toward him, seeming puzzled as well. “It was clear as day,” Cooper agreed. “Someone used a pencil to scribble on the outside of the wooden crate.”
Knox’s mind was already flooding with possibilities. If someone at the warehouse or cabin hadn’t written on the crate, had there been a person in the trunk with it? What other explanation was there for what they’d found?
Shock washed over him.
They’d been focused on locating the explosives, but had they missed something?
“Where’s the vehicle now?” he pressed. “We had it towed, but where did the Seattle PD impound it? I want to search it again.”
Just then, Holt’s phone began vibrating. He pulled it from his pocket, frowning as he stared at the screen. “Holt here. What? Yeah. Affirmative. Yeah. God damn it!” His gaze swept over the group, landing on Knox specifically.
“That was someone from IT. Quinn is missing.”
The living room exploded into a flurry of motion, people pulling out their own phones and expressing their surprise.
“What? What are you talking about?” Knox bit out the words, already rushing toward his boss. Logan and the IT staffers were closing in as well, wanting to hear the details.
“What do you mean she’s missing?” Logan asked, exchanging a glance with Knox. “I thought she’d been sick all weekend. She texted us to say she went home.”
“She was sick,” Knox agreed, anxiety churning through him. She’d texted him. Had they all thought she was ill when in reality, something more nefarious had happened? God damn it. Nothing about this was making sense.
Holt muttered a curse, looking at the group assembled. “That was Emily from the office. Quinn texted everyone that she was sick and heading home the other night. Evidently, Emily grew concerned because Quinn stopped responding to her texts.”
Knox cleared his throat. “She didn’t reply to me yesterday either. We don’t typically text outside office hours, so I figured she was resting and wanted to be left alone,” he said, running a hand through his hair, growing agitated. “What makes Emily think she’s gone?”
“She went to Quinn’s apartment,” Holt said, his voice grim.
“Quinn hasn’t been home since Friday night.
Emily checked with her neighbors and the rental office.
When she wasn’t getting any useful information, Emily checked the camera feeds that Quinn was recording in downtown Seattle. She spotted her on surveillance.”
“On surveillance? What the hell happened?” Knox asked, his heart thudding.
“Quinn was sitting at a stoplight and then parallel parked on the street. She got out of her vehicle in a rush, leaving the car running. It looked like she was following someone—a man hurrying down the block. She never returned.”
“Holy shit,” Knox said, fear washing over him. “We need to get back to the office.”
***
KNOX WAS ALREADY TURNING away from the group, hustling toward the front door.
Xaden called out something behind him, but he didn’t even hear the words.
His sole focus was getting back to speak with Emily and check the footage himself.
Friday was two days ago. Quinn had been gone for nearly forty-eight hours, and they’d just realized it now.
Guilt wracked through him. Why hadn’t he called her? Followed up again?
She wasn’t his, but damn it, he’d never felt so helpless in his life.
Twenty minutes later, he was rushing into the building.
He knew his teammates weren’t far behind him, but he didn’t wait for anyone to catch up.
Knox swiped his badge, rushing into the secure area.
Not bothering with the elevator, he took the stairs, sprinting up two flights.
It felt like every second counted, and she’d already been gone far too long.
Adrenaline spiked through his bloodstream. Was she hurt? Scared? Worse?
The reality was something he barely dared to consider.
He paused for a split second, wondering if he should’ve headed into the city first. That was pure madness though. He didn’t even know what block she’d been on. Her car had likely been towed. They’d have to check other cameras, contact the police, search the area.
Knox was already running down the hallway.
Emily’s strawberry blonde hair swung as she turned toward him, and he could see her eyes were watery. “What happened?” Knox asked, his voice hoarse. “What did you see?”
“Quinn was recording downtown Seattle from multiple angles. I replayed the footage to locate her. Watch this.”
Knox hovered behind Emily, watching the surveillance of Quinn sitting at a red light. It was her car. Despite the fact that it was night, she was right under the lights. He could see her plate clear as anything. “See that man?” Emily asked, pointing at the screen.
Knox swallowed and nodded, watching as a man darted past Quinn’s vehicle before jaywalking across the intersection. “I had a hunch that’s who she was following. Nothing else makes sense, so I checked different camera angles in the surrounding blocks.”
“And?”
Emily didn’t say anything, just clicked a different feed, nodding at the screen.
“Son of a bitch!” Knox exclaimed, watching as the man removed several wooden crates from a sedan, carrying them down the block. He disappeared from the footage, but sure enough, Quinn was right behind him.
“I’ve got footage of her car stopping on a different feed, but this is the crucial one,” Emily said, her voice trembling.
Knox felt his breath catch as he watched Quinn hurry down the block. Her dark hair swished behind her, and she had a phone clutched in her hand.
“Did she call anyone? What’s she doing?” he murmured.
Several men had rushed into the room behind him, and Knox glanced back.
Holt’s eyes were trained on the screen, his lips pressed together.
Cooper and Xaden flanked him, their gazes hard as they watched the footage.
Gage came running in next. Emily cleared her throat.
“I’m not sure. They both disappeared from view after this. ”
Emily replayed the scene again, and Knox felt his stomach churn as Quinn moved swiftly down the block. She looked so damn fragile. Innocent. She didn’t have any weapons or gear. All she was carrying was her damn cell phone.
“The cell phone!” Knox exclaimed, his voice urgent. “Can you track that? Shit. I should’ve thought of that sooner.”
“We can try,” Emily said. “It was turned off, but maybe we can trace some of her movements. We can determine her location when she last texted any of us.”
Knox clenched his fists, frustrated. “I should’ve checked up on her again. She’s been gone for nearly two days. She’s been missing, and none of us did a damn thing!”
Holt muttered a curse behind him. “None of us knew.”
Anger coursed through Knox, red hot and searing. “I’d bet anything those were the crates we intercepted in the self-driving vehicle. It was only a few blocks from this location. That bastard took her. And he must’ve thrown her in the trunk—” He cut off, his voice hoarse.
Holt clapped him on the shoulder, giving Emily some instructions.
Knox didn’t even hear it. More people came into the office, watching the footage, and he stumbled away, feeling numb.
He’d felt like something was wrong and just—ignored it.
Trusted that she was okay. Quinn wasn’t his, but he felt like he’d let her down anyway.
They’d stopped the damn terror cell from setting off explosives, but at what cost?
Quinn was missing. And Knox would never forgive himself if any harm came to her because he’d failed to protect her.