“Hello,” the guy with black hair said.
“You’re trespassing,” the other guy said, not bothering with the niceties.
Similar bone structure and same stubborn jaw. Brothers? Hunter nodded at the abandoned Chevy. “We’re tracking my brother, who was taken by his teacher across state lines. I’m Hunter, and this is Raider.”
“Dage,” said the darker-haired guy, “and my brother, Talen.” He tilted his head and focused on theSUV. “You are?”
“Faye Smith.” Faye gingerly moved closer to Hunter, and he angled his body to keep her behind him. If the woman didn’t see these guys as a threat, she needed some serious training in how to heedher instincts.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Dage said, his lips tipping in a smile.
Faye may have twittered. Seriously? Hunter widened his stance.
Talen lifted a phone from his back pocket. “North quadrant is secured. We have an abandoned vehicle. Check the plates.” Leaning, he snapped a photowith his phone.
Two seconds later, a hoarse voice came through the speaker. “Stolen Chevy out of Butte, Montana. Owner is oneDixie Johnson.”
Wow. Impressive contacts. Hunter tilted his head. “Any chance you saw the other vehicle that camethrough here?”
Talen typed into his phone and waited, then read the screen, flipping the page a couple of times. He slowly lowered the phone. “Red Ford truck, license plate “GoTeam.” Stolen out of Wallace, Idaho, about four hours ago. Traffic cams show the driver as a young man aged fifteen to eighteen. Driver of the white Chevy a woman with dark hair, approximately age forty. Identified as Louise Stockley and Jackson Holt, wanted for several crimes, starting in Kentucky and ending inIdaho so far.”
Jesus. Who were these guys?
Raider looked around at the innocuous trees. “Is this some sort of military facility?”
“No,” Dage said smoothly. “Our middle brother is always inventing new surveillance equipment. Our cameras are often superior to others.” He gave Talen a nod, who typed something elseinto his phone.
Talen read the screen and then looked up. “The red truck is in Washington state. Drove into a parking garage in Spokane about two hours ago. It’ll take time to figure out what vehicle they stolethere, if any.”
All right. Those weren’t simple cameras. Hunter cutRaider a look.
Dage smiled, all charm. “My brother might be able to hack into other cameras if the mood so strikes him. We don’t like teachers kidnappingkids, either.”
“Now it’s time for you to go.” Talen slipped his phone back into his pocket, his jaw rock hard. “We will send the information we have to the FBI, which is pursuing this case, according to my source. We’ll also take care of this Chevy and make sure it is delivered to the authorities.”
Dage smiled again. “Good luck finding your brother. As an eldest brother myself, I can understand the difficulty of keeping family safe.”
Talen sighed, obviously the less friendly of thetwo. “Goodbye.”
Well. That was a dismissal, and this time it was said with a rather threatening undertone. “Thanks for your help.” Hunter returned to the vehicle and waited until Raider and Faye had shut their doors before slowly backingdown the road.
“What the heck?” Faye asked, craning her neck for one last look at the brothers.
Hunter shrugged. “Heck if I know. But we were trespassing, so I guess it’ll have to remain a mystery.” Maybe the family was connected to the government or something. At this point, who knew?
He had bigger thingsto worry about.
Chapter Thirteen
Faye wore one of Hunter’s engulfing shirts to bed while he and Raider talked in the other room, scouting different lakes in Washington and trying to figure out which one Jackson was headed toward. They’d gotten a suite in a nice hotel this time, one with two bedrooms. Would Hunter join her or crash on the sofa in the living area?
He’d been distant all day, but he’d been worried about Jackson. She could tell that meeting up with those two soldier-type guys in Idaho had thrown him a little, too. She got into bed, her head hurting, her chest tight.
When he came in an hour later, she was still awake.
She sat up. “Yousleeping here?”
“Yeah.” He ditched his clothes and slipped into bed, wearing only his boxer briefs. “We’ve narrowed down the area where they might be. Maybe?”
