A car pulled up beside theirs, and Day’s heart sank. Linc was there to whisk him away. Day unlocked the car door and stood, turning to greet Linc. But it wasn’t Linc. He had just enough time to process that information before lightning rocketed through him, paralyzing his muscles. He felt himself falling, but he never hit the ground. Instead, he was being dragged, his shoes bouncing along the pavement before he was forced into a trunk, leaving him semi-conscious in motor oil and gasoline soaked darkness.
Day tried to keep his eyes open, but even though his assailant no longer pressed the taser against his skin, his muscles still twitched and his brain still felt like scrambled eggs. “Jackson,” he whispered before he lost consciousness.
“Salazar,” Jackson called, using the man’s alias so as not to alarm him.
The man stood in the doorway of his apartment, a trash bag in each hand, gaze darting back and forth, like a squirrel deciding if he should run home or continue on his current mission.
Jackson held up both hands. “Listen, man. I just need to ask you a couple of questions about Dayton Daniels.”
The dark-haired man frowned. “Who?”
“Dayton Daniels. He goes by Danny on the cam sites.” Before he even finished the sentence, he knew Salazar wasn’t his guy. The man clearly didn’t recognize Day by name.
Delgado slowly lowered the trash bags, his gaze shifting to the right as he appeared to rack his brain. Jackson saw the moment the man recognized Day for who he was. “The kid whose paycheck is always getting screwed up in our system? What about him?”
Jackson shook his head. “Never mind.”
“Wait,” Delgado cried. “Did you tell security about this at my job? Is that why they wanted to see me?”
Jackson didn’t bother to answer the man. Let him sweat it out. He was halfway down the front steps of the building when he saw Linc’s SUV parked in the middle of the lot. Linc crouched beside Jackson’s open passenger door. His fingers swiping across something and rubbing it between his fingers before he wiped it on his jeans. Jackson’s gaze shot to Linc’s passenger seat, his heart skyrocketing when he saw it was empty. He started to run.
“Where is he?” Jackson shouted.
Linc stood. “I just got here,” Linc said. “He’s gone.”
Jackson shoved Linc hard, slamming him back against the car. “What the fuck do you mean he’s gone? He can’t be gone. I’ve been gone less than five fucking minutes. He’s got to be around here somewhere. Did you check to see if he tried to follow me? Maybe he’s walking around the complex. Or lost.”
It sounded ridiculous to Jackson’s own ears. Linc let Jackson grip his shirt and shake him like a rag doll before settling his hands on his shoulders. “Stop. I think somebody took him. Stop reacting and listen.”
Jackson slumped, trying to force his brain to stop with the endless loop of horrible outcomes hammering holes into his rapidly beating heart. Day was gone. Jackson had turned his back for five minutes and somebody had snatched Day right out from under his nose. No, not under his nose. If he’d just brought Day with him upstairs, or at least waited for Linc to get there, this wouldn’t have happened. Jackson gave a hoarse shout and slammed his fist through his back passenger window, pain knifing through his hand and forearm.
Linc gave him a hard stare. “You feel better now? You good? I need you to fucking focus.”
Jackson’s hand was throbbing, but he nodded. “What did you find?”
“Blood, but not enough to think he’s mortally wounded.”
Linc presented his hand to Jackson so he could see the slight remnants of Day’s blood on his fingers. Maybe it was Day’s blood. Maybe it was the stalker’s blood. Too bad that would be zero fucking help figuring out who had him. “His phone,” Jackson barked. “Is his phone in the car?”
Jackson didn’t wait for an answer, diving into the car and searching the passenger seat and underneath it before snatching his own phone and pulling up the app he’d installed on Day’s phone. His heart sank with relief when he saw the blinking green circle with Day’s smiling face inside.
“I’ve got him.”
“Where?”
“Skid row.”
Linc frowned. “What? Did he kidnap Day and take him back to his tent on the row? That doesn’t sound right. Wait, isn’t that old hotel there? The one The Night Stalker stayed at while he was killing people?” Jackson gave him a startled look. “Sorry. You know what I mean. It used to be fancy, but now, it’s like a rent by the hour or night kind of place.”
“The Cecil Hotel. It’s called something else now.”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
Jackson checked the map, zeroing in until he had an address. “Yeah, that’s where he is.”
“Why would he take Day there? How would he get him past the front desk? Even if he does, I don’t know how we’re going to find him. There’s got to be six hundred rooms in that hotel.”
“We’ll find him on the security footage. If that’s where he’s taken him, he can’t be that far ahead of us. Let’s go.”
