3 - Colson
COLSON
The call came through on the satellite phone; the secure one, the one that rarely got used. And whenever it did, it was never for something good.
“Find her.”
It wasn’t a request, it was an order. One that was growled to me in a voice I’d never heard before, because Donovan Prescott never raised his voice.
Never, until now.
“Sir, we arrived here too late. She’s in the air.”
“I know she’s in the air!” Donovan snapped. “Figure out where she’s going!”
It wasn’t like him to lose his cool. Then again, I’d never seen him this rattled, this much at a loss of what to do. His bride-to-be had really thrown him a curve ball. I couldn’t help but admire her for it.
“We’re working on it now, sir,” I told him, my body straightening to attention. The movement was reflexive. Marine stuff. It never fully left you.
“Work faster.”
I looked behind me, scanning around. Ripley was there, pacing restlessly back and forth before the SUV. He’d wear a hole in the tarmac, if we didn’t move soon. Theo stood behind him, bent over his open laptop. His fingers moved fast and with grim purpose.
“Call the tower,” Donovan suggested, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Get her flight path.”
“There is no tower,” I replied smoothly. “It’s an unmanned airport. No clearance, no witnesses, no flight plan.”
My eyes scanned over the tiny runway, and into the deep blue ocean beyond. We got here quick, and found her motorcycle even quicker. It wasn’t quick enough though, which could only mean one thing:
She planned this.
She knew exactly what she was doing, and made arrangements ahead of time.
“Seems like you weren’t fast enough,” Donovan spat, in a voice that was meant to be demeaning. “So find her when she lands. Reacquire and retrieve her, as fast as possible.”
Retrieve. It was a funny word; for a groom to use who should be worried about the fragile emotional state of his loving bride. You retrieved a stick, or a ball. Or something that belonged to you.
“She’s confused, Colson,” he added for good measure. “When you find her, she might not be in her right mind.”
“No,” I agreed, scanning the sky. “I imagine she’s not.”
“That’s why I need her back right away. Take custody of her, if you have to. Do whatever it takes.”
I blinked. “Custody, sir?”
“Yes,” Donovan Prescott snarled. “And don’t pretend you don’t know exactly what I mean by that.”
Theo walked toward me now, his fingers still flying over the sleek, black keys. He looked concerned. That concerned me.
“Colson?” the satellite phone crackled over the wind.
“Yes, sir?”
There was a pause at the other end. As if he were deciding just how much to say.
“Tell Theo she’s wearing the locket.”
Theo’s eyes flitted upward. The way his head tilted, I could tell that changed things.
“He understands, sir.”
“Good,” Donovan Prescott huffed. “Then he knows what to do, and how to track her.”
Track her. Like she were a piece of property, instead of his bride. Not his wife though, because she never uttered a single vow. Peyton, unlike the rest of us, had been smart enough not to do that.
“Bring her back Colson,” my boss reiterated, firmly. “Alive and unharmed.”
Alive. My stomach twisted into a knot. The word was so unnecessary it was jarring.
“Yes, sir.”
The satellite phone’s speaker crackled as he abruptly hung up. The only sound left was the howl of the wind, and the crash of the not-so-distant ocean. When I looked up again, Theo and Ripley were already by my side.
“She’s not going to come.”
Ripley’s words were stoic, and dripped with resentment.
“No,” I agreed, shaking my head. “Not willingly, anyway.”
Theo scratched uncertainly at the back of his head. He looked troubled, and not just by what he saw on the computer screen.
“Are you prepared for that?” Ripley demanded. “Are you ready to do what needs to be done?”
My jaw tightened as I looked to the sky. Lazily, in the distance, seagulls circled.
“Because she’s not going to stop running,” pressed Ripley. “We could drag her back here, kicking and screaming, or even sedate her if we have to. But once he has her again…”
Theo’s flustered expression said everything. If he had his hands free, he’d be covering his ears.
“He wants the locket,” I offered. “More than her.”
“Yes, but he wants her too,” countered Ripley. “She’s always been a possession to him, but now she’s a liability. And after this morning, an embarrassing one at that.”
Theo frowned. “You don’t think—”
“I don’t get paid to think,” Ripley cut him off. “I get paid to obey. To act. To retrieve.”
There was that word again. I fucking hated it.
“And so do you,” he added coldly.
Pain flared through the lower half of my face. I realized it was because I was clenching my teeth so hard, they were in danger of shattering.
“C’mon,” he urged. “We’re wasting time.”
With that, Ripley stormed back to the SUV. Theo and I watched him go, knowing full well that he’d be slamming on the horn if we weren’t quick to fall in behind him.
“W—What do we do?”
The apprehension in Theo’s voice made me nervous. I needed him sharp. On point. Focused.
“You can track her,” I pointed to the laptop. “Can’t you?”
He stared back at me for a long moment, as if deciding something. Eventually, he nodded.
“Then we do our job.”
I took off after Ripley, leaving Theo to work out his own thoughts. Whatever those thoughts might be.
I only took one step however, before he grabbed my arm.
“Did you hear it?” he asked softly.
I looked down at his hand. It was a big hand. Long fingers.
“Hear what?”
“Donovan,” he said simply. “His voice. On the call.”
My brow creased in confusion. I wasn’t sure what he was driving at, until those fingers clenched to pull me in even closer.
“I’ve never heard it before,” Theo muttered cryptically. “In all the years I’ve been working for him, this was the very first time.”
I shook my head, indicating I still didn’t understand. That’s when he leaned in, and dropped his voice even lower.
“He’s afraid.”