“Yeah, I’m off today, playing some Call of Duty. Why, everything okay?” His voice took on the edge it always did when they were in combat, losing all trace of his easygoing humor and becoming alert and ready for call to action.
“Kelsi’s missing. Her friend Abby, the PI I told you about, is heading to where her phone is pinging. It’s somewhere in the parking lot, but she never showed. I’m sure Abby can handle herself, but I’d feel better having you looking for her too.”
“Shit, man. Yeah, of course. That’s only ten minutes from my place, so I’ll be there in no time. You said Abby’s a private investigator?”
“Yeah, I’ll send you her number in case you have trouble finding her. She can fill you in.” A little pressure eased off him knowing that he had both Abby and Kole looking out for Kelsi. It wasn’t enough though, because he had no idea where she was or if she was okay. “Thanks for doing this, man.”
“Dylan, you don’t need to thank me. I’m on my way now, and I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
They said their goodbyes, and Dylan turned, surprised to find Tom still standing behind him, eavesdropping. “Is Kelsi okay?” he asked.
Dylan could only shake his head for a few moments. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “She isn’t answering her phone. Abby’s going to look for her.”
He felt like he had aged ten years in the past ten minutes, but his military training began to kick in and the adrenaline flooded his system. It brought everything into focus, and he became more alert.
“What do you think happened to her? Is she okay?” Tom began pacing across the hallway.
“I think that asshole McGuinness has everything to do with this. Abby and my Army mate Kole are looking for her. Kole’s a police officer with the city. They’ll find her.” Dylan had noidea why he was consoling him, but explaining it rationally was helping him stay calm and focused as well.
“Okay, okay, okay. What do we do?”
“Wedon’t do anything. For now, I have to go down to courtroom six and try to get the judge to delay for as long as she’s willing. And see what McGuinness says and does. If he did have something to do with this, he’ll have some tell.”
“Okay, man.” Tom clapped him on the shoulder. “Let me know if you need anything from me, okay? You know I’ll always care about her.”
Dylan hung his head and turned back to the elevators, pressing the down button and waiting for the doors to open. All he could do now was head down to the courtrooms. He was willing to sit there until the first opportunity he had to speak to the judge, with nothing else to do but wait for Abby and Kole to send him an update.
He clenched and unclenched his fists in rapid succession, itching to do something, anything, to find Kelsi, but the only thing he could do was handle the jury and wait.
CHAPTER 42
Kelsi
2 Hours to Trial
Her head throbbedand her mouth was dry as she gradually became aware of her body and surroundings. The first thing her mind registered was the smell. It reeked of stale cigars and, underneath that, faintly like alcohol.
She swallowed hard, trying to wet her mouth as she peeled her eyes open with significant effort and looked around her. Kelsi was in a small room, four wood-paneled walls surrounding her. Both arms were bound to the chair she was seated in by zip ties. Her ankles were tied in the same way to the legs, the hard plastic biting painfully into her skin.
There was a single door to the room cracked on her right, and through it she could vaguely make out two male forms. Based on their body language, they were heatedly speaking to each other, but in low voices. Otherwise, the room was bare. No artwork or pictures on the walls. No other furniture aside from a small card table with two chairs at it. A handful of empty beer bottles and an ashtray with a cigar butt in it sat on the table.
She swallowed a few more times, still trying to get rid of the dryness in her mouth. Her head was heavy and her memoriesfoggy. It felt like waking up from a deep sleep, but her body and mind were weighed down, like she hadn’t truly rested.
There weren’t any windows aside from a giant skylight overhead on the sloped roof. She could see orange light filtering through it, and, judging by how her stomach wasn’t protesting too much yet, hazarded a guess that she hadn’t been there for too long.
What had happened to her? Last thing she remembered she was at the bakery, then she was parking at the courthouse, and then ...
Her head throbbed as she struggled to pull the memories forward.
Kelsi turned toward the door again, where the two men were still arguing. One had his finger pressed into the other man’s chest, jabbing in angry motions. As much as she strained to hear, she could only grasp snippets of their conversation.
“Not what I signed up for.”
“Nobody was supposed to get hurt.”
“Well, what did you expect when you kidnapped someone?”
She needed to get closer to hear what they were saying. Kelsi tried to scoot her chair forward, but with hands and feet bound, it was impossible to make any actual progress. She did, however, manage to get the chair to let out an impressive screech as it drug across the concrete floor an inch.
