“Taken.” The word came out flat, cold. “A man took both girls. Jane says he claimed to be Maddy’s father.”
He looked at Jane, taking in her pallor, the way she was swaying slightly even sitting down. But he needed information. Needed anything that could help him find his daughter. “Can you describe him?”
Before Jane could answer, the wail of sirens cut through the air. The ambulance pulled into the parking lot, and paramedics rushed down the beach access with theirequipment.
At the same moment, Isabella appeared at the top of the stairs, Christopher right beside her. They must have seen the ambulance. Charlie and Logan were close behind them, all of them running across the sand.
Isabella took in the scene with one sweeping glance. Jane with blood on her head. The paramedics. The scattered beach toys. No sign of Maddy or Trinity anywhere. Her face drained of all color.
“Where’s Maddy?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
Gabe turned to face her, and he felt something inside him go cold and hard. Every emotion locked down behind ice and steel and deadly purpose. He became the Marine, the warrior, the man who’d led soldiers through combat zones and never lost one.
“Some lunatic took my daughter and Maddy,” Gabe said, his voice cold and controlled. More terrifying than if he’d shouted, because it promised violence and retribution.
Isabella went even paler, her hand reaching out blindly. Christopher caught her, steadied her. She looked at Jane, her mouth opening to ask something, but her phone rang.
The sound was jarring in the tense silence. Isabella pulled the phone from her pocket, her hands shaking. She looked at the screen, then at Christopher, then at Charlie.
“It’s him,” she whispered.
“Put him on speaker.” Gabe’s voice brooked no argument. Thiswasn’t a request. It was an order from a man accustomed to being obeyed in life-or-death situations.
Isabella’s hands were shaking so badly she nearly dropped the phone. She managed to hit the speaker button. “Hello?”
“Isabella.” The voice that came through was smooth, confident, with something evil underneath. “I hope you’re listening carefully.”
“Where are they?” Isabella’s voice cracked. “Where’s my daughter?”
“Safe. For now.” A pause, letting the threat sink in. “You have twenty-four hours to get me what I want, or you won’t see Maddy and her little friend again.” Another pause, deliberate and cruel. “I know plenty of families willing to pay top dollar to adopt kids. Especially cute twelve-year-old girls.”
The line went dead with a sharp click.
Silence crashed over them. Everyone stood frozen, processing the threat, processing what he’d just said. He was threatening to sell two little girls.
Gabe’s eyes met Christopher’s across the small group, and something passed between them. Understanding. Recognition. Christopher understood what needed to happen now.
“You will tell me everything there is to know about this man and why he has my daughter and Maddy,” Gabe said, his voice still that cold, controlled tone that promised violence. “Right now.”
Isabella opened her mouth, but no words came out. Christopher stepped forward, his posture stick straight. “His name is Todd Berkley. He’s Maddy’s biological father, who abandoned them twelve years ago. He signed away all parental rights in exchange for being released from child support.” His voice was clipped, professional, delivering a tactical briefing. “He’s been trying to extort Isabella into giving him money by threatening to file for custody. Yesterday, we recorded him making those threats at a meeting. Last night, he contacted Maddy directly on her phone. And now...” His voice hardened. “Now he’s escalated to kidnapping.”
Gabe’s expression didn’t change. Stayed cold and deadly. But something shifted in his eyes. Calculation. Planning. The tactical mind of a combat veteran assessing a mission.
The paramedics were working on Jane, checking her pupils, bandaging her head wound. One of them was trying to convince her to go to the hospital, but Jane was shaking her head stubbornly.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, though she clearly wasn’t. “I need to help find those girls.”
“Ma’am, you have a head injury?—”
“I said I’m fine!” Jane’s voice cracked with guilt and fear. “This is my fault. I was supposed to protect them. I should have?—”
“This isn’t your fault,” Gabe interrupted, and something in his tone made Jane look at him. “You did exactly what you should have done. You put yourself between the girls and a threat. Yougot hurt trying to protect them. That’s not failure. That’s courage.”
Jane’s eyes filled with tears, but she nodded.
Gabe turned back to the group. “Then we have twenty-four hours to get them back.” He looked at Jack. “Call the police. Tell them everything. Make sure they understand this is a kidnapping and potential child trafficking situation.”
He turned to Christopher. “You and I are going after them. I need you ready to move as soon as we have a location.”
