Once again, he pulled his phone from his pocket, pressed a few buttons on the screen and held it to his ear.
I knew by the look of relief on his face that the call had connected.
“Theo.” Ryder’s voice cracked a little. “The camp transport.”
He listened, his breathing getting sharper and sharper as he listened to what Theo said. “They took Hayden and Zoe.” Another few beats and I wanted to tell him to put the phone on speaker. “No. We’re on our way there now.”
We didn’t need the phone on speaker for what followed. Theo and everyone around him shouted at once.
“What?”
CHAPTER 27
THEO
“What?”We all shouted at once. None of us wanted to believe what Ryder just said.
I gripped the phone tighter. “Ryder, what do you mean you’re on your way there now?”
Ryder took a moment before he answered. “Well. I don’t have all the facts. But Fred phoned, and said if Maggie wanted to see Hayden again she needed to go to the old drive-in. He has Zoe too.”
“Motherfucker.” Still, I was sure I didn’t have the full story. “And no one thought to call me? Or Shiloh? Or any of the trained staff around my fucking house?”
“Well, he told Maggie to come alone.” He continued as if we were discussing how our day went. “And she decided to drag Tiffany along so she had backup. And then I threatened to call you unless they let me come with them.”
“Wait?” The more Ryder spoke, the less things made sense. “You let them leave?”
“You’ve met your woman and your sister, right?” For the first time a hint of irritation slipped into Ryder’s voice. “No oneletsthem do anything. It was all I could do to go with them. Also, your sister drives like a maniac.”
Well, that tracked. Tiffany had failed her license three times in high school and really was a menace on the road. He gave me the details of what was said, and where they would be meeting. The more I heard, the more frustrated I became.
“Ryder. Whatever happens, make sure they do not get out of that car.” If they were determined to get involved, I needed to keep them as safe as possible. “Tell them to park a block away so Fred cannot see how many people are in the car. And tell them to fucking wait.”
I hung up and looked at the men and women around me. “Drive-in on Route Nine. Let's go.”
Hunter had the SUV running before I could even open the door. Shiloh jumped in the car with Hunter and me while everyone scattered toward the other armored cars. The look on Shiloh’s face said she was as pissed as I was. “The man couldn’t take out the trash without getting kidnapped last year. Now he’s ready to take down a deranged psychopath.”
Hunter said nothing as he raced down the highway back to Marina De Ferrier. He looked at me, shook his head and looked back at the road. I switched my comms unit back on.
“I think we need to go in soft.” I didn’t want to give the man any reason to hurt my sister or my son any further. “He would’ve told her not to call me or the cops.”
“Agreed.” Nick’s voice was loud and clear. “I’m sending a map of the area now. We can have him surrounded before we leave the vehicle. Technically, we have four teams, if we count Thelma, Louise, and the fucking popstar.”
We were not counting them. I wanted all of them away from any danger. “They were five minutes out.” I turned to Hunter. “What about us?”
“Ten minutes. Maybe less.”
I shot him a look. “Make it less, dude. Way less.”
“Theo. Lock it down.” Nick was starting to irritate me. “They need you to do what I trained you to do. Besides, I messaged Oliver and Noah. They’re on their way there now.”
With that, my shoulders relaxed a fraction. Both men had been special forces when they were in the military.
My phone beeped and I turned it over in my palm. Nick had sent us the map of the drive-in and the area surrounding it.
Meanwhile, Shiloh was accessing the company database. “Tiffany’s car is less than a mile away from the drive-in. Fuck, how does that woman not have more tickets?”
“Faster, Hunter.”
