Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Shadow looked at his watch impatiently. Five o’clock.
Brinley had been missing for hours. While Zamora had attempted to contact this Tex person, Shadow couldn’t make himself sit around and do nothing.
He’d gone to the police station with Grinder and had met with a detective.
It had taken two hours for him to explain, over and over, what was happening, and his suspicions about who had kidnapped Brinley.
Thankfully, Grinder had asked the coffee shop employees to email him the video of Brinley from the parking lot, and they were able to show that to the detective as well.
By the time they left, he’d convinced the detective that Brinley was in danger, and the man agreed to work on tracking her phone, as well as talking to other businesses around where Brinley was last seen…but as Shadow knew, that would take time. Time Brinley probably didn’t have.
He and Grinder then drove around town, fruitlessly, trying to see if they could spot Brinley’s Outback, before getting a call from Torch telling them to get back to the base. Zamora had been able to get a hold of Tex.
His remaining friends had come back from the field and been briefed about what was happening, and when Shadow entered the conference room on the Army base, he was relieved to see them already there.
They all looked as worried as he felt. No one was dismissing his fears, attempting to downplay what was happening, telling him that maybe Brinley had decided she “needed a break” or some such bullshit.
The only person missing was Echo. He was at Brinley’s apartment with Cypress, doing his best to keep her from going off half-cocked. She wasn’t doing well, apparently alternating between threatening to kill Tamika Black herself and crying hysterically.
Zamora approached Shadow and put a hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes for a long moment, as if trying to gauge how he was doing.
The truth was, he wasn’t doing well. He was hanging on by a thread.
Every minute that passed was a minute that could be the difference between life or death for Brinley.
And Shadow felt helpless, which was the worst feeling in the world for a man who was used to taking charge.
To doing what was needed to save lives—his own, his teammates’, and the civilians around him while on missions.
“I haven’t met John Keegan, Tex, but I’ve talked to others who have, and they say if anyone can find your Brinley, it’s him.
He’s already been briefed on the situation and he’ll be calling at any moment to tell us what he’s been able to dig up so far.
Whatever he says, you need to stay calm. Understand?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Zamora nodded.
The phone rang, sounding extremely loud in the small room. The lieutenant colonel moved to the phone and answered, putting the call on speaker.
“Zamora here.”
“Tex. Shadow?”
“I’m here.”
“We’re going to find her. I’m on this. The best thing you can do is stay positive. Don’t give up. You understand?”
Shadow swallowed hard. “Yeah.”
“All right. I got the video from the coffee shop and enhanced it. The woman is definitely Tamika Black. The man with her is Louis Marden. His rap sheet is a mile long—assault, burglary, DUI, domestic violence, drugs…you name it, he’s done it.
I haven’t been able to figure out how he and Tamika are connected but I will.
For now, it’s not important. I’ve tried to ping Brinley’s phone but it’s been turned off.
Tamika and Louis’s phones are also off, so they’re either using prepaids or no phones at all.
I’ll search their bank accounts for any signs of them buying a burner in the last few months, but if they were smart, they bought one with cash.
But even those phones have to be registered to someone, so I’ll be looking into that too.
“More importantly, I found airline tickets for both of them. They arrived in Fairbanks yesterday on one-way tickets. Stupid of them to use their own names, but whatever. They don’t have return tickets…
yet. But I also have the make, model, and year of the car Tamika rented when she arrived.
A car that hasn’t been returned yet. I’ve sent Zamora the details on that and passed it on to the detective you talked to earlier today, Shadow, so he can put out a BOLO. ”
Shadow was shocked that the man already knew about his visit to the police station, but then again, if he was as good as everyone claimed he was, maybe it wasn’t so surprising.
“But what I know you’re all interested in is what, if any, security footage I’ve been able to find.
I’ve been able to track Brinley’s Outback from the coffee place, past a dozen different businesses, getting onto the George Parks Highway.
There’s just one business in Nenana, the next town from Fairbanks along that road, that has a security camera…
and her car’s not on it. My best guess is that she’s somewhere between Fairbanks and Nenana. ”
Fuck. That left way too much ground to cover. There were miles and miles of wilderness between here and there. Hundreds of dirt roads that snaked off into the bush. How in the hell were they going to find her?
“Oh…hang on…Damn! I put an alert on my software for her license plate and it just pinged. The car is back in Fairbanks. Just passed a traffic camera near the airport. Just a second, let me call the detective…”
Silence filled the room. Shadow itched to jump up and go to where Brinley’s car was last seen. But of course, by the time he got there it would be long gone. He had to stay where he was and wait for Tex to act as his eyes and ears.
He hoped like hell Brinley was still in her car.
That Tamika and her companion had changed their minds and brought her back to the city.
That they’d scared her and gotten her to agree to make a gown for the bitch…
but deep down, he knew that was unlikely.
He held on to his composure by the skin of his teeth.
Several minutes passed before Zamora’s cell vibrated where it was sitting on the table in front of him. He picked it up and frowned at the same time Tex came back on the line.
“You there?”
“We’re here,” Zamora said. “Got your email.”
“Just sent over a video of your girl’s car pulling into a motel near the airport.
It’s grainy, but two people got out, a man and woman.
And I’m sorry, it’s obvious that neither are Brinley.
The cops are on their way to grab them now.
At the very least, they’ll be charged with being in a stolen vehicle.
But they’ll do what they can to find out where Brinley is. ”
Shadow waited for more. But when Tex didn’t continue, he blurted, “That’s it? That’s all we got?”
Tex sighed. “Unfortunately, for now? Yes.”
No. This was unacceptable. Despair threatened to overwhelm Shadow. He wasn’t sure what was worse, not having any intel at all, or having just enough to realize that Brinley left the city with Tamika and Louis and wasn’t with them when they’d returned.
“I’ve done some calculations based on the amount of time they were gone,” Tex said, after a long, emotion-filled silence.
“I’m sending you a map of the area where Brinley might be.
It’s big. Too damn big, but we have no idea how long they drove, how fast, or how long they might’ve stopped anywhere. ”
The implications were huge. Had they driven a short distance and tortured Brinley for hours? Or had they driven as far as they could before doing something horrible, quickly, then returning to the city?
Shadow’s breaths came hard and fast. It felt as if he’d run a five-minute mile.
Kodiak’s hand landed on his shoulder, grounding him.
Their phones all vibrated with a message, and Shadow looked down at the map Tex had just sent. He didn’t ask how the man had gotten all their emails; it was a moot point.
He was right, the area was big. Immense.
“We can break this up. Each take a team of volunteers from the base to drive the back roads and search.”
“There are already at least twenty men and women ready to head out.”
“If you give me the name of the detective you talked to, I can call him and see if he can get some off-duty officers to join the search.”
“Anyone know anyone with access to a helicopter?”
Shadow closed his eyes in gratitude. He didn’t know what he’d do without his team at his back. He’d be lost.
“Right, okay. Atlas, you’re in charge of organizing the search. Everyone needs to check in every fifteen minutes. The last thing we need is anyone getting lost out there.”
Shadow would’ve laughed at that if he wasn’t so upset. They all knew why Zamora had put Atlas in charge…he was the weakest link when it came to sense of direction. It was better for everyone if Atlas stayed back and organized things.
The next twenty minutes were spent sorting out logistics. Figuring out who would be going where and setting up the search grid. Shadow wanted to get the hell out of there and find Brinley, but he knew they stood a better chance of finding her if they were methodical about their efforts.
Right before they were about to head out, the phone on the table rang once more. Zamora answered.
“Shots were fired at the motel,” Tex said without preamble, his tone low.
“Apparently Marden and Black decided not to surrender…and they weren’t going down without trying to take as many people with them as they could.
They threw open the door to the motel and began indiscriminatingly shooting.
Thankfully they had shit aim, and they didn’t manage to kill any of the officers or innocent bystanders on the scene before they were neutralized. ”
Shadow’s blood ran cold. Even though he and his team and all the volunteers were ready and willing to do whatever it took to find her, in the back of his mind, he was hoping that either Tamika or the man she’d brought to Alaska with her would cave. Would admit to what they’d done with Brinley.
That was no longer an option.
“Fuck.”
“Damn.”
“Pieces of shit.”