Chapter 33 How He Operated
HOW HE OPERATED
Ford had been on a call for two hours, then had one person after another in his office, the radios going off, and a secretary who was having a bad day and cursing every other word out of her mouth.
He needed two aspirin and a beer at the end of the night.
He pulled his phone out to see if he could pick up dinner on the way home and it hit him that Reenie hadn’t sent him a text that she was back yet.
That was odd. But she said she was shopping. His sister could shop for a full day and come home with one bag.
His brother might know. It was possible that Reenie could have returned and forgot to text him but was on the property.
He sent a text to his brother but got no response.
Another to Reenie, then called two minutes later. Crickets.
It wasn’t like her not to reply to him.
He could track her on her phone and, though he promised he wouldn’t intrude on her privacy, it called for it now.
The tingling in his limbs and churning in his belly told him something wasn’t right.
The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, his heart pounded, and while his fingers weren’t shaking yet, they damn well wanted to.
Ford wasn’t one to lose his cool, but this was the woman he loved.
He saw her location, zoomed in and didn’t like it.
Not public parking as he’d told her to use.
No stores around either.
It wasn’t busy enough in town for her to park on a side street and walk a few blocks to shops on the main drag.
He grabbed his keys and walked out of the building, not saying a word to anyone.
Every fiber of his being told him to hurry.
He sped out of the parking lot, hit the lights and was at the street that her phone was pinging at in less than five minutes.
His truck was nowhere to be found.
He swerved to the side of the road, parked, and jumped out, racing toward the spot where her phone was pinging on his app. But he couldn’t see it. Urns and potted plants lined the edge of the road. He scanned the area, and then he saw it: her purse.
Fuck!
He opened it, saw her phone and her wallet.
He didn’t want to jump the gun, but she’d disappeared like this once before. Could she do it again?
Would she do it to him?
He didn’t believe it, but he wouldn’t panic and alert his men to comb the area just yet.
He raced back to his office and pulled up the street cams near where her phone had last pinged, hoping to spot her heading in that direction. He found the closest camera, but without a clear timeline, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Someone could have taken her purse and tossed it there.
But why not take her wallet?
After twenty tense minutes of scrolling, sweat trailing down his back, his nerves a minefield, he finally spotted her. She was walking with some guy, too close, like she was being led or held. One of his hands gripped her arm. The other… was out of sight.
He zoomed in and caught sight of tears streaking Reenie’s cheeks, but the man’s face was obscured by the brim of his hat. Just before they turned the corner and disappeared from view, he saw it…his hand, low and tight, holding a knife to her side.
He put an APB out on her immediately while he tried to find any other shots of them on camera. Anything leading them to vehicles leaving that street shortly after with a glimpse of Reenie in it.
He’d rather be out looking for her himself than his men, but had to know what he was up against. Over an hour had passed since the camera last recorded her.
No cars alerted him racing or speeding off the street, none showing Reenie or the guy in the hat.
He’d have every plate run exiting from that street after, but it wasn’t the only way to leave.
When his phone rang in his pocket, he jumped, hoping it was someone with information.
It was Clay.
“What’s going on?” Clay asked. “I was in the basement with no service on my phone.”
“She’s gone,” he choked out. “Reenie is gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?” Clay asked.
“She’s been kidnapped. I found her purse stuffed between two plants and saw her on camera turning toward the street with a guy holding a knife to her side. I’ve got men on the street questioning people and I’m still going through videos for any clues of who and where she could have been taken.”
“Screw that,” Clay said. “We’ll get her back. I’ve got a tracker on her.”
“You’re tracking Reenie?” he asked. He was running out the door and back to his SUV. “When? How? Why haven’t you said anything to me before?”
“I’ll explain it when you get here. Meet me at my place.”
Clay hung up on him and he took off at dangerous speeds through the streets and out of town.
Ford called it in for backup, but he had to find out more. What they were up against. As much as he wanted to get the location and race to her, they needed a plan.
But the longer he waited to get to Reenie, the bigger risk it was to her safety.
When he pulled onto the property, he didn’t slow down and raced to Clay’s ranch, barely stopping the SUV before he unbuckled himself, opened the door, then raced inside.
“Where is she?”
Clay turned his computer around. “It looks as if she’s up in the mountains about thirty minutes from here. A rental most likely.”
“Where is the tracker on her?” he asked, looking at the property. It wouldn’t benefit them being down a long dirt road surrounded by woods.
Whoever it was would see them coming from the front and could get out the back and take off into the mountains.
“The necklace you gave her.”
“When?” he asked. “I found it and gave it to her. She hasn’t taken it off once.”
Clay turned his head and looked him in the eye. “Mom said she found it. I knew what you were feeling and put it in there under the pictures before you came to get it.”
“Thanks,” he said, his hand resting on Clay’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t have thought to do it.”
“I had hopes we wouldn’t need it.”
“I want to see what we are dealing with and who. I’m not assuming anything. I’ve got people scanning the cameras in town looking for her or the guy that’s with her for any facial recognition or vehicle tags.”
“I figured,” Clay said. “You do things your way, and I’ll do them mine.”
His brother was walking to his room, Ford on his heels. The closet door opened, clothes were pushed aside and a safe was revealed he hadn’t known existed.
The number of guns coming out didn’t shock him. He was saddened more than anything his brother felt the need to have them.
“You’re not going in there without me and without backup.”
Clay turned. “I’ll only wait so long but know if anyone can get her out, it’s me. Remember that.”
That was Clay’s former life.
Extraction.
His brother could do it alone, he was positive.
But that wasn’t how he operated.
It was not how he could or would in his job.
“We follow my lead first. You’d want to know what you were up against, right?”
“Not anyone around here can hold me back,” Clay said.
He didn’t doubt it and the look in his brother’s eyes said anyone who stood in his way might not walk away breathing.
His brother was changing into all black, boots on his feet, knife and gun on his ankles, another at his waist, the sniper rifle grabbed out.
He’d have some explaining to do if it came down to it, but he knew telling Clay not to bring any of it wouldn’t fly either.
“You’re getting a badge,” he told his brother.
“I don’t do well with rules.”
When Clay returned from the service, he made him go through the vetting process to be deputized. The skills his brother carried would always come in handy and it was how he would follow the law. He never thought there would be a day he’d need his brother’s tracking skills, but was glad to have him.
“It will cover us both,” he said.
“I’m texting you what I found on the security cameras here.”
Clay jumped in his truck without answering and followed Ford to the sheriff’s station to reconvene and get a plan in action.
“I heard.” Deputy Dugen came rushing into his office. “Tell me what you need. I know this has to do with me pulling her over.”
“Don’t blame yourself. It’s not the time. This is my brother, Clay.” He opened a drawer and grabbed a badge. “Put it on. You’re one of us today.”
Clay grabbed the badge and clipped it to his belt next to his gun.
Ford refused to think they wouldn’t get her back. He didn’t need Clay’s head nod to tell him Reenie would be in his arms soon.
The question was what condition she’d be in.