One of the agents shot him a sympathetic look. “You’re probably right. Though none of the prisoners are cooperating, Brooke Aspen isn’t a happy camper.” They were upping the pressure on her in the interrogation chamber, trying to get her to talk.
Owen paced the hallway, trying not to succumb to terror. “Looks like James House broke ranks with his comrades.” He’d done it to abduct Halle. Would Owen ever see her again?
Rock limped his way. “I can only imagine what’s going through your mind right now, but we need to focus on the one positive takeaway.”
Owen glowered at him, unable to see anything positive in what had happened.
“She’s alive,” Rock reminded him firmly. “We have every reason to believe it.”
“And now we wait,” the sheriff said grimly. He had his deputies set up some computers in the kitchen withrecording equipment, which they synced with Owen’s phone.
While they worked, one of the two federal agents took off. Owen drew Pastor Joe aside and urged him to do the same. He could tell the guy was dead on his feet, and there was nothing more he could do. He’d already gone above and beyond the role of officiating the wedding.
“Go home and get some rest.” Owen knew the guy had a church to run and other people to minister to. “We’ll keep you posted. Just keep praying for Halle’s safe return.”
“You know I will.” Pastor Joe reluctantly turned to leave.
Owen walked him to the door, trying to hide how discouraged and defeated he felt. Everything the police were doing felt like a textbook response to a kidnapping. They were waiting for the phone to ring with a ransom request that wasn’t coming. Not this time. James House already had what he wanted.
My wife.
He returned to the kitchen and slumped onto a chair at the table, dropping his head into his hands. His wife’s abduction made little sense to him as an investigator. It didn’t “fit” into the overall smuggling operation. He had to be missing something.Think, Owen! Think!
He mentally reviewed and dissected everything he knew about Halle and her family. A couple of years ago, her parents had flown too close to the landing strip at Aspen Ranch and had paid for the mistake with their lives. Rex had flown into the same problem zone and had nearly met the same fate. The smugglers had an established pattern of eliminating witnesses, which meant the deadly drone attack was supposed to have eliminated the wedding party. If it had gone unchecked, the subsequent fire would’ve consumed theevidence—the bodies of the victims and the surrounding buildings, including Rex’s stakeout equipment. No survivors meant no witnesses, and no witnesses would make it a lot harder for the Feds to build a case against the smugglers.
Owen raised his head and stretched his arms out in front of him, scowling at the mass of cuts and bruises on them. His injuries were mostly superficial, which made one piece of the puzzle click into place for him. The robots had only been a distraction—like an advance party. The drones had served as the major offensive attack. He was sure of it. It wasn’t a complete breakthrough in the case, but it was worth mentioning.
He searched the room for the sheriff and found him seated at the head of the table. “Yo!” He waved two fingers in the air to get his attention. “It’s possible the smugglers think we’re dead. Maybe that’s why they’re not cooperating with the investigation.” They assumed there were no witnesses.
Luke addressed the federal agent seated next to him. “Your thoughts?”
The agent shook his head, looking mildly shamefaced. “I’m afraid that’s not the only reason. They managed to get their cargo plane off the ground right before our sting operation began.”
“How’s that possible?” Owen leaped to his feet so fast that he knocked over his chair. He left it where it had fallen.
The agent ducked his head, drumming his fingers on the table. “They had some high-level GPS jammers at work that immobilized our equipment. We were dead in the water until our tech team could shut down the jammers.” He was a weedy guy with a washed-out complexion—about as nondescript as a person could get. Owen couldn’t recall his name.
He also couldn’t believe the drivel the guy was spewing. The Feds had known about the jammers in advance, so why hadn’t they been better prepared? Something felt off about the guy’s story.
Owen whirled his way, snarling, “Are you telling us you havenothing?” Without the cargo, the allegations against the detainees might not stick.
“They won’t get far,” the agent retorted cryptically, leaning down to scratch his leg.
Owen wanted to believe him, but his confidence in the sting operation was swiftly waning. His thoughts returned to James House, who obviously still harbored feelings for Halle. Why else would he have broken ranks with the other smugglers? Like them, he’d known Owen and his family were about to be eliminated, which was why he’d come after Halle. He still cared enough about her to keep her alive. She was his weakness. They needed to find him and exploit that weakness.
Sadly, Owen had no idea where James House had taken Halle, and sitting around waiting for a phone call that wasn’t coming wouldn’t bring her back. Maybe it was time to start hunting for that needle in a haystack. Anything was better than sitting around and doing nothing.
He strode determinedly across the kitchen, silently daring anyone to stop him.
“Whoa there, cowboy!” The federal agent leaped to his feet and zipped around Owen to block his exit from the room. “As difficult as this is for you, the best thing you can do right now is to stay by the phone. You need to be here when your wife’s kidnapper calls. We’ll handle the rest.”
“Oh, really?” Owen jutted his chin at the guy, stepping toe to toe with him. “If that’s shorthand for admitting your team botched the operation today, we already knew that.”
The agent gave an ugly laugh and balled his fists.
“Or we could all take a step back.” Rock limped their way and placed the tip of his cane between Owen and the agent. “It’s been a long afternoon. Everyone’s exhausted.”
“Whatever!” The agent glared darkly at Rock. “I’m gonna get some air.” He stomped out of the kitchen.
