Edison shakes his head. “It won't come to that, but I will make sure they know you will be grateful."
“Just do what you can to get them on it right now," I say, nearly shouting.
Edison puts his hand over mine, trying to calm me. "You got it."
Less than an hour ago, I was warm and snuggled in bed next to the man I never thought I could have for myself.
I can't imagine what’ll happen if this doesn't have a good outcome.
I refuse to even consider the possibility.
19
Thane
"Howthe fuckdo you lose them with a helicopter in the air and satellites?"
Hedy’s expression is patient but losing ground quickly. "Blake abandoned the vehicle under a section of the highway that was covered by trees. We have no idea what they're driving now or where they’re going. The best thing we can do right now is get several hours of satellite footage before this and examine it, and see if we can identify a likely couple of cars that they might be in now."
"Why does it take so long? Why don't you already have the satellite information there in front of you?”
Her jaw tightens, but I really don’t give a shit. "We’re not running the satellites, Thane. We’re accessing them. And we certainly aren't accessing them legally. So we have to be careful, or it exposes us. And we can't risk that, not even for somebody as important as Ronan."
I want to scream in frustration, but I'm illegally accessing a black ops video app while parked just off the Georgetown Square, surrounded by families enjoying the beautiful day. The team and I just tore apart the two houses on that cul-de-sac, and they revealed exactly nothing of value.
"Do you know what he did to them? To those two young women? Do you have any idea what he's putting Ronan through right now?"
Her eyes do a thing that looks…dangerous. "Yes. I do. And we're gonna help you get to him as quickly as we can.”
I bite back my words and take a breath, barely avoiding tears.
Goddammit, Ro. Where are you?
Hedy’s expression softens. “Thane, buddy. Listen to me. Even if the big guy hadn’t approved this, our tech guys were still going to go after those satellites. We protect our own, and we will pursue every lead relentlessly until we’ve found him.”
A painful ball of emotion lodges itself in my throat. “I— I just got him back, Hedy. I can’t—”
“You won’t,” she says, not allowing me to even go down that road.
“Okay,” I say, absentmindedly rubbing my chest. Fuck, I was so rude to her. “Uh…thanks, Hedy. I’m sorry—”
She holds up her hand, again cutting me off. “Nope, no apologies. But I am going to make you take care of the bodies for that. I’m in no mood to deal with the Berts today.”
The Berts? Ugh. “Fine.”
Her grin is pure evil. “I’ll send you the details. In the meantime, we’re going to keep chasing down leads. I’ll let you know as soon as we find something.”
I nod and close the app, pointing the car in the direction of Everett’s shop.
* * *
I am losing my goddamn mind.
Hedy and her team are doing everything they possibly can, but it isn’t enough. Every minute is like nails on a chalkboard. Hours pass, and guilt and shame and everything that I did wrong on that op comes flooding back to me.
I wish I’d killed that bastard the first time around.
Unable to stand being stuck in the PTN for a second longer, I get everyone’s coffee order and make my way out to the fresh air. And just like that, I’m pissed at the sky because it’s still sunny outside.
