“Let me go first,” Heath said, his face grim.
Denver almost let him. “No.” There was no way Noni or Talia had been killed. They were alive. There was no other option. He had to believe that or he’d lose his mind. He swept in, his footsteps silent on the smooth concrete. He scouted the area. Nothing. Giving a hand signal, he moved toward the office in the back.
The second he got close, he could smell her. Wild orchids. “Noni!” he yelled, bursting inside.
Then he stopped cold, unable to process what he was seeing. Cut zip ties were still on a chair, but it was empty. He swung around, his heart pounding. “Noni?” he whispered. “Talia?” He could still smell Noni. How long had she been gone?
Ryker looked around, his gaze hard. “There’s no clue here. Why would Madison want us here?”
Heath shook his head, keeping his gaze outside the room. “Doesn’t make sense unless she’s just messing with us.”
Denver looked at the floor, trying to focus. “Okay. Think.” Normal office stuff was on the desk in the room. Tape dispenser, file folders, flight maps. No computer, though.
He leaned down, and something silver on the floor caught his eye. He grunted and grabbed a letter opener. Standing, he looked from the sharp metal object to the ripped zip ties. “Wait a minute.” What if? He turned and started running for the doors, yelling for Noni, with Ryker and Heath following him. She wouldn’t have just taken Talia out into the storm, would she?
Maybe. If she thought she was escaping Madison.
“They weren’t at the main building,” he said tersely, looking around frantically. Where would she go?
Ryker ducked his head and squinted into the swirling snow.
Denver followed his gaze past the plowed runway to a second one blanketed in snow. Was there a figure? He started to run, his boots slipping on the ice, his arms pumping. He leaped over a snowbank and then another one, finally focusing on a person farther down, barely discernible through the storm. “Noni,” he yelled. Was it her?
He ducked his head and kept running, his brothers covering his back.
“Noni!” he yelled.
She turned, and her hair fanned out. Then she stopped moving, just stood in the snow.
He made it to her in seconds, grasping her up. She was wearing only a T-shirt, which was already wet. The woman felt like an icicle. “Noni?” he leaned back, his instincts flaring to the point of pain.
She blinked up at him, snow landing on her face. “Denver?” Her voice was low. Confused.
He looked around crazily. “Where’s the baby? Where’s Talia?”
“Huh?” Noni wavered, looking around. “What?”
He shook her and then stopped himself. “Noni. Sweetheart.” He pulled her in, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. “Where’s the baby, honey?” If the baby was out in the snow, he was too late. He’d never find her.
Noni swayed and clutched his vest. “Talia.” She shook her head. “They, ah, took her. In a plane.” Noni turned her head and looked up at the sky. “Gone.”
“You’re sure?” He was already picking Noni up and running back toward the vehicle, stretching his new stitches. He didn’t care. If he didn’t get her warm, she’d die of pneumonia. Or frostbite. Her damn feet were bare. What if he was too late? “The baby is in the plane?”
Noni dropped her head against his chest. “Yes. In the plane.” She still sounded lost and bewildered.
He fought the storm to get around the building, and Ryker was already there, opening the Suburban door. Heath jumped in on the other side. Zara handed up a nonbloody blanket from the back as Ryker started the engine, and heat began pumping.
Denver held Noni on his lap, tugged off her shirt, and wrapped her in the blanket. “Baby? Talk to me.”
Her head fell back, and she looked at him through hooded lids.
“Holy shit.” Heath leaned over and lifted her eyelid. “What the hell did they give her?”
She was drugged. Denver took a deep breath and checked her pulse. “Slow, too slow, but steady.” Whatever it was, the crap was working its way out of her system. The warmth started to permeate, because her teeth began to chatter. “Let’s get out of here, Ryker.” Denver let Heath help him out of his vest so he could hold her closer and let his body warm hers.
The heaters beat heavily as Ryker drove away from the airport.
She rested her head on his shoulder. “I couldn’t find her, Denver.” Tears clogged her voice. “Talia. I looked everywhere, and she was gone.” A sob escaped her. Then her body went limp, and she dropped into a drug-induced sleep.
