“What do we know right now?” Dad asks, his hand resting on my shoulder.
I hold my breath for a minute, trying to slow down the sudden dread that threatens to overtake me. His strength, his comfort, promises a safe place for me to break down. But there’s no time for that.
“Nothing. His car wouldn’t start. He called a Shuttled. According to the app, Brek canceled it at the routes 17 and 40 intersection, and the app stopped tracking him.Icontinued to track him, and he headed east on 40. Jessica and I followed when he’d already been driving in that direction for an hour. We found his phone in the woods behind a truck stop. I tracked the driver and have the two/thirds triplets picking him up for a conversation. I’m going to break into the cameras at the truck stop now to see what I can see. Jessica says their friends are asking about him. I imagine it won’t be long before they send out an alarm. I can’t deal with that right now.”
“Good. Are you thinking clearly?” Dad asks.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. That’s debatable. What he’s asking is if I’m clear-minded enough to call the shots. I’m not sure if I am. Besides Lor being kidnapped by the fucking Dranghetta family when she was a few months pregnant with Axl, I’ve never had someone close to me involved in something like this.
Discounting the time three of my brothers walked into a megachurch cult island colony unarmed. That was fun.
“Maybe,” I admit.
“May I make a suggestion?” Dad asks. I nod. “Myro and Jessica, talk to the rest of the family and Brek's friends. Tell them what we know. Try to keep them calm. We’ll bring back any updates as we have them.”
“I’m going to offer them a place in the big house,” Myro says. “Do you want to stay here with Voss and do what you can or come with me?” he asks Jessica.
She doesn’t answer right away. I’m only partially paying attention as I attack the security system of the truck stop.
“I want to stay here,” Jessica says. “Is that okay?”
“Yes,” Dad answers.
“Voss?” I glance up, meeting her eyes. “Is it okay with you?”
I look at Myro. There’s an unlikely probability that I’ll remember to curb my information output, which means she’s going to get a dose of truth about the skeletons we hide. I don’t know her well enough to know if she’s going to be able to handle that truth.
Myro inclines his head, indicating that she can handle it. My eyes meet Jessica’s again. “Yes, fine.” I turn back to the computer. Dad squeezes my shoulder.
“Do me a favor and ask your friends to meet me in the gray parlor,” Myro tells Jessica as she stretches up to give him a kiss. “I got my brothers.”
Jessica joins me at my desk again, already tapping away on her phone. “On it.” Myro leaves. Dad stays. When Jessica is finished, she sets her phone down and looks at me. “What can I do? I’m decent with computers, but not as good as you.”
I don’t answer for a minute. Dad disappears into the back room and returns with a laptop. He sits at the large table in my office and does whatever it is Dad does. Probably sending out the alarm and putting all of Van Doren on the lookout for Brek.
Once I’m in the truck stop’s system, I stand and tug her to where I was sitting. The screens are covered with almost two dozen camera images, looking at different sections of the truck stop. I show her briefly how to call up specific feeds, playback, and move forward.
“Watch for them,” I tell her. “The Shuttled is a gray sedan with Arizona plates, 87 YTF 9.”
Jessica nods. I unplug Brek’s phone and start poking around, hoping to find something else useful while we wait for the man who abducted Brek to be delivered.
24
BREK
My stressand fear have me so wrung out that I manage to sleep a little. I’m not sure if it’s for three minutes or three hours. It’s filled with nightmares, so not in the least bit relaxing.
The truck door slamming is what wakes me. I sit upright and watch the driver come around to the tailgate and pull it down.
“Out,” he says. Unlike the guy at the trailer, he doesn’t offer assistance. We shuffle along and drop from the back. My feet hitting the ground feel jarring. I’m reminded of how sore I am.
“Let’s go,” he says. His rifle looks like something out of an old mob movie. Sawed off something or other.
We follow the short trail toward the building, a short distance through the trees. It’s single story, covered in wood planks, and has barred windows as well as a steel door. Yep, that blends in if someone were to stumble upon it.
There are a couple of other men there. One with a knife. I watch as he slices off the zip tie of the man in the front. The man withthe gun opens the metal door, and the first guy is ushered inside. It’s bright inside. Light washes the ground outside the door.
“Run and I shoot you,” the man with the gun says as one of the guys nearly jerks away once his zip tie is loose.
