She ended the call and looked back at them.
“They seem to be taking this seriously,” she said. “They’re sending a unit to the location now.”
Hope flared—small, cautious, but real.
Andi pressed her hands together in her lap as the van sped through the dark, her heartbeat loud in her ears. The road stretched endlessly ahead, headlights carving a narrow path through the night.
Please,she prayed.Please let us not be too late.
She thought of Rupert—annoying, frantic, impossible Rupert—and swallowed hard.
We’re coming, Rupert.
And she prayed with all her might that he was still alive to be found.
The van slowed, gravel crunching too loud in the night.
Unease settled deep in Duke’s bones.
There were too many people with him. Too many to protect. Too many variables he couldn’t control. Yet he knew no one would want to stay back.
Headlights cut narrow paths through the dark, carving the desert into pieces instead of illuminating it. Beyond the beams, the night pressed in—thick, absolute. No moon. No glow from town. Just emptiness.
A single-wide trailer appeared, squatting alone in the sand.
Low scrub clung to the ground, and distant mountains hunched along the horizon like black teeth. The land stretched open in every direction, flat enough to offer nowhere to hide—and nowhere to feel safe.
If someone was inside, they would know the team had arrived. However, Duke didn’t see any vehicles outside.
Duke killed the headlights, and the van rolled to a stop.
Silence rushed in, thick and pressing.
Duke opened the door and stepped out, the night air cold and dry against his lungs. Ranger appeared beside him, and they both scanned the area.
Ben followed them also. “I’ve got your six.”
Duke didn’t argue. Ben wouldn’t have listened anyway. And truth be told, Ben moved like someone who knew what he was doing. Duke felt better having him along.
Still, Duke’s gaze flicked back to Andi.
He hated this. Hated her being this close to something that could go sideways fast. But there was no time to push her back now, no time to rearrange the board.
“Stay here,” Duke told the rest of the group. “Inside the van with the doors locked. Don’t move unless I say so.”
Andi’s jaw tightened, but she nodded.
Duke drew his weapon, the weight of it familiar in his hand. Ranger and Ben did the same.
They fanned out, slow and deliberate, boots crunching softly as they circled the trailer.
A single light glowed inside the structure—dim, yellow, unsettling.
Other than the light inside, the place looked abandoned, but Duke knew better than to trust appearances.
“Door’s shut,” Ranger murmured.
Duke nodded, eyes locked on the small front window.
