Knowing Lambert was in on the whole scheme raised the stakes, and put Rose in greater dangerif he knew that she’d been working undercover.
“Can’t this help us narrow down possible locations for where he’s keeping Rose? This sitting around is killing me. We need to find her ASAP.”
Assuming Lambert had her at all. And that he hadn’t killed her already.Fuck. Kurt would definitely not be sharingthatthought.
“Valerie is looking at Lambert’s contacts and trying to track his location.Anything you know that we don’t might help.” Without some solid piece of intel to act upon, there wasn’t much they could do. Short of driving around the island randomly hoping to spot her… Talk about impossible. “I understand how you’re feeling, but we need something to point us in the right direction, otherwise we’re useless. We can’t go off half-cocked with nothing.”
She let out a heavy sigh.And rubbed her forehead. “I know. I know. I’m just frustrated. And worried.”
“I get it.” He sat on his hands so he wouldn’t do something stupid.
A message from Tara popped up.Check your work email.
He navigated to the portal for his official email, which Tara regularly skimmed, cleaning things up and pointing out important correspondence, just as she did with the snail mail. The third messagefrom the top was from a sender he didn’t recognize, but more importantly the subject was ROSE.
We have Rose. Will trade her for Caitlyn Brevard and Kurt Steele. No police. No backup.
More details after response.
“She’s still alive,” Caitlyn said on a relieved breath.
The attached image showed Rose standing in front of a clock tower at a cruise ship terminal, holding today’s newspaper. Theshadows were long and the clock showed four-thirty. The message had been sent a few minutes after five o’clock.
“That’s the port in Sancoins,” Caitlyn said.
“I’m replying ‘yes,’” Kurt said. “I’ll see if Valerie can trace that email.” That might even be what Lambert was attempting to do in reverse. He looked to her, realizing he’d gone into boss mode. “I assume that’s what you want.”
“Of course.”
He sent the reply and stared at the screen. The clock on the kitchen wall ticked loudly, suddenly the most obnoxious thing Kurt had ever heard, and he hadn’t even noticed it until now. Caitlyn seemed to be holding her breath as she paced the living room. Everything in him screamed to go to her, but he wouldn’t make that mistake twice.
They waited in silence, unable to do anything. Which was stupid.It could take hours, hell, even overnight, for them to hear—
A new message popped into his Inbox.
