“Is Sam there?” my father asked in a tone that would frighten a bear.
“Yes,” Webb said. “We’re in the men’s barracks with Junior, and you’re on speaker.”
“Junior, call your father. I want a location on your grandmother. I don’t care what you have to do to find out. I want answers.”
“Steven,” Webb said, “Sam found out from Roman that Harriet collapsed before she was scheduled to come here to Massachusetts. That could mean they rushed her to the ER. As soon as we hang up, I’ll have Sawyer scour hospitals. We’ll start in Cleveland, since we know she’d been heading east from Chicago given that Roman’s men had taken over the chip manufacturing plant.”
“Roman said they cleared out of that plant,” I added.
“I’ll check in with Viking II,” Webb said. “They haven’t relayed that to us.”
Maybe Roman had been lying to throw us off track.
I grabbed the back of my neck. “Also, I asked Sawyer to see if he can get a location on Layla’s phone.” I’d called him on my way here. “Although I’m sure Roman threw it away.” The vampire was intelligent enough to know we would track it. However, he did like to play games. So maybe he would use it to continue to fuck with me in some way—lead me in the wrong direction.
“Sam, don’t you dare leave the base,” my father ordered. “I have fifty fucking fires to put out with human authorities, the media, and the Council of Elders over the chaos at the hospital. I don’t want either you or Hawk in public until I can ease the panic of these humans.”
One of Roman’s men had snapped Hawk’s neck while he had his fangs down, which would keep him incapacitated for a while longer. But while he was out, the entire ER waiting crowd had gathered around him, snapping pictures.
“Do you hear me, son?” my dad asked, sounding frustrated.
He knew me well. We had many things in common, and jumping into action was one of them.
“I can’t promise anything.” I wasn’t about to lie or beat around the bush. For fuck’s sake, Layla was missing.
I knew my father. He certainly wouldn’t obey orders. We were alike in many ways. He’d gone rogue several years ago when he was searching for Jo and me. That was a long story for another day.
He sighed instead of ordering me to stand down or yelling at me not to disobey. “I understand the need to find Layla and that time is critical, but we need a plan. Are we clear?”
“For now, Pops.” That was as far as I could go with my promise. “We should scour the city for Roman.” He had probably gotten the hell out of Dodge, but the conversation we had about Abbey wasn’t sitting well with me.
Webb acknowledged my suggestion with a nod.
Junior rubbed his neck. “What about Jordyn? Is she on her way back?” He sounded genuinely concerned for his cousin.
“She’s with a medic. But she’ll be fine,” my father said.
Junior lowered his shoulders as relief visibly washed over him.
“Webb, set up a meeting in the war room for two hours from now. We’ll hash out a plan from there.” Then my dad hung up.
Silence descended for a second before I shoved a hand through my dirty hair. “I need a shower.”
“Dawson,” Webb called in his commander tone.
The newbie SEAL scurried in, focusing on Webb.
“Take Junior down to the interrogation room in the command center. Set him up with a secure line for him to call his father. Under no circumstances do you leave him alone while he makes that call. Are we understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Dawson grunted out, not looking at me.
Petty Officer Dawson and I would have words at some point.
Junior rose without a snarky retort or any pushback.
Webb gave Junior a stern look. “Tread carefully.”
A crease dented the space between Junior’s eyebrows. “I’m on enemy grounds. It’s not like I can do anything.”
