Shane held up April’s purse. “Her phone’s in here.”
“Shit. She fell and twisted her ankle but there was a firefighter with her. I thought maybe he’d taken her to an ambulance to get checked out, but she wasn’t there. I asked all the firefighters if they’d seen her but no joy, so I thought maybe she wasn’t hurt and was just in the crowd with you.”
“No.” Shane fought back panic that threatened to blot out his senses. April didn’t need that. He took a deep breath and fell back on his training and got himself under control. “Have you seen Romano? I don’t want?—”
“Vasquez!” Romano’s lawyer was wading through the crowd toward them. “Don’t suppose you’ve seen my client, have you?”
“No,” Gabriela answered. “But if he’s off harassing mine right now, he’s going to have problems.”
That started an argument whose ending Shane would never know because he was already heading for Charlie.
“Where’s Romano’s car?”
She didn’t say a word, just turned and led him down the street.
“Still there.” She pointed to an older Honda Accord sitting in front of a meter. Shane had expected a flashier car, but if Romano wanted to stay unnoticed, Accords blended into traffic better.
“Shit. Is he still here, or did he take off with her in a different car?”
“No idea.” Charlie looked lost.
“Shane! Charlie!” Gina came running toward them.
Oh fuck. Gina running was never a good sign.
“I got Elissa to hack into the cameras around here. It took a minute but she got in. There was too much smoke in the hall behind the chambers, but she caught footage from a gas station across the street of a firefighter carrying April over his shoulder. She looked unconscious.”
Shane’s world collapsed. “Where?”
Gina held up her hand. “I’m sorry. They disappeared after that. But.” Gina closed her eyes. “We have a positive ID on the guy’s face.”
“Romano?”
“No. Worse. Much, much worse.”
The rain picked up. Shane's jaw clenched. "Who?"
"Not here." Gina's eyes swept the crowd—reporters, lawyers, civilians with phones out recording everything. "This is delicate. We can't involve the authorities."
"Gina—"
"We may even have to bribe Romano's lawyer later to keep him quiet, but first things first. We need to get back to Watchdog. ASAP. I need to absolutely make sure I'm correctabout this. I texted everyone. I’ll see you there." Then she was gone.
Shane wanted to grab her, shake the answer out of her. But he'd worked with Gina long enough to know when she was operating on instinct versus certainty. And right now, he needed her to be certain.
The rain picked up again—steady, cold, the kind that soaked through clothes in minutes. Shane barely felt it. He clutched April's purse against his chest as he ran for his truck, Charlie keeping pace beside him.
“Are you all right to drive?” she asked when he got to his truck.
“Yeah, King, just go.”
Charlie didn’t hesitate. She dashed toward her black Watchdog SUV.
A lineof SUVs caravanned back to Watchdog. Shane’s windshield wipers beat a frantic rhythm that matched his heartbeat. April was gone. Taken. By professionals who knew exactly what they were doing.
His phone rang. It was a call from a private number.
Shane answered on speaker. "Vince," he guessed.
