“Exactly,” Billy says.
“Thanks for the warning.” I wink and down my whiskey.
Pax follows my example, and then we leave.
“Fuck,” my dad says when we tell him the news. Tension is etched on every face. Brooks’s sitting next to me, but he doesn’t say a word. Who knows what’s going through his head.
“There’s a good chance Jen and Layne are there,” I say. “They know we’re hot on their heels, especially after Brooks’ little stunt, so it makes sense that they want to get rid of them as quickly as possible.”
“We have to intercept them,” Brooks mutters. He wants to get up. “Where’s the place?”
“Sit down,” Dad roars. “We’ll form teams so we can keep an eye on a large part of the harbor. We need to stay in contact so you can pass on any information. Paper,” he bellows.
Colt leans back and grabs a notepad from the desk to pass it to my father.
An hour later, I’m sitting next to Pax in the car. Dad paired Asher with Brooks, hoping that looking after his little brother will keep him in check—even though Ash is perfectly capable of looking after himself. With binoculars pressed against his face, Pax grumbles, “Pass me the coffee.”
Groaning, I grab the thermos Paxton insisted on bringing and hand it to him. “See anything yet?”
“Nothing. Why didn’t you bring binoculars?” My little brother puts the thing on the dashboard and unscrews the cap of the thermos.
Rolling my eyes, I ignore him. I intended to find a spot behind a container in the harbor. Better view. Then we wouldn’t have needed the binoculars. But both Paxton and Dad had other plans. He assigned each team a specific spot. The entire harbor’s still shrouded in relative darkness. Meaning—for a harbor—there’s not a lot of activity.
“Watch it,” suddenly crackles over the walkie-talkie, and I sit up straight. “A truck’s driving toward the entrance.” It’s Tats. He’s parked just outside the harbor entrance in his old Chevy.
I immediately want to grab the binoculars, but I miss them. When I look to the side, Pax’s already pressed them against his face. Suddenly, he points. “There. You see it?”
I squint and peer at the spot his finger is pointing at. And then taillights of some kind of delivery truck come into view. My heart starts racing.
Please, give us a break.
I grab the door handle and feel my brother’s hand on my shoulder. “Wait. Colt’s out there somewhere. Wait until they got something to say.”
“Fuck, Pax.” I release the handle. “I gotta…”
“I know, but you can’t run over there in a frenzy and cause a scene.” He puts the binoculars back to his face and peers at the harbor.
I slump back in my seat with a sigh. He’s right, but what if she’s in there? What if…
“Cut it out, man.”
“I didn’t say a thing.”
“The silence spoke volumes.” His hand drops and the binoculars return to their place on the dashboard. “I always thought you were the rational one of the two of us,” he mutters.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
My little brother tucks a stray strand of hair behind his ear. “Pax does everything without thinking. He’s a screw-up,” he says, imitating my father perfectly, and lets his hands fall to the steering wheel.
I turn to him. “You know that’s bullshit.”
“No, it’s not. It’s just that when it comes to her, I’m not the only one.” His lips curve into a sad smile.
“Layne, you mean?”
His only response is a nod.
“You can say her name.”
