Finn’s voice interrupted that thought.“She’s heading down toward the International Boardwalk.”
“That’s a tiny, mostly commercial marina at the base of the pier, below street level, adjacent to the main harbor,” Jason said, addressing Ford.“There’s a skatepark and a boarded-up arcade on the ocean side.On the shore side are a bunch of little bars, shops, and restaurants, but they’re all closed now.
“Most of the boats docked in there run tours, commercial fishing, or sailing lessons, but there are a few private slips, one or two live-aboards.According to Michael, it’s well lit, and there’re just enough people around that my teams don’t seem out of place.”
“Okay, thanks.”Ford appreciated the intel, even if he couldn’t do anything with it himself.He needed the distraction, and maybe Jason got that.He’d been through some harrowing situations with Emma recently.Maybe he recognized the brand of fear in Ford’s eyes.
“Shit,” a woman’s voice—presumably Reina’s—huffed into his earpiece, and the back of his neck went cold.“She’s not going all the way down.She just opened the whale tour gate, and she’s heading toward a speedboat docked at the bottom of the ramp.Maybe a twenty, twenty-five-footer.”
“Fuck,” Ford and Jason said in unison as Ford stood so fast he bumped the table.Tea sloshed over the rim of his mug.“Fuck.”
“Leave it,” Emma said, jumping up to grab a towel.
Ford’s hands shook with the need to do something.
As Emma mopped up his mess, she caught his gaze.“She’s strong and clever, and most people—especially men—underestimate her.”
He swallowed hard and nodded.Emma was right, but it wouldn’t matter if Natalie was Wonder Woman, he’d still feel better if he could be out there with her.
Another man’s voice cut into his thoughts.“Looks like two guys in the boat.One at the helm.The other’s stepping off.”
Ford’s chest tightened, his face turned hot.If something went wrong, no one on Jason’s team was close enough to make a difference.She was on her own, and Ford had to resist the urge to break something.
He held his breath and waited.
“He’s patting her down,” Jason’s man said in his ear.
Ford clenched his fists.This was fucking torture.
A few seconds later the voice said, “Used a device checker on her and seems satisfied.She’s boarding the boat.”
Belatedly, Ford remembered the computer.Right now, there was one thing he could do to help, and raging at his sense of impotence wasn’t it.
He slid back into the chair and started taking notes.
“We’re running out of boardwalk,” Reina said.“Gonna go up top and circle back, but after that we’ll be too obvious if we stick around.”
Jason pressed a hand to his ear.“Roger that.”Letting go, he looked up.“I have another couple slowly motoring out of the harbor.We have coverage.”
Ford nodded, frankly impressed that the other man had been able to pull together so many people on such short notice.But they couldn’t account for every contingency, and so far Natalie hadn’t activated the tracking bean.
Refocusing on the reports coming in through the earpiece, he wrote down every excruciating detail.The type of boat she boarded—something called a bowrider—approximate size, distinguishing marks, and the part of the name that was visible: UAKE Newport, CA.
“Valerie?”Jason’s voice interrupted in stereo.“Can you trace the boat?”
“On it,” an unfamiliar woman’s voice said.
“AJ, where are you?”Jason asked.
“Passing the sea lion float,” a man said amid a cacophony of deep barking.“It fucking stinks.”
“Stay sharp and keep your head down.”
“Copy that, boss.”
Gratitude made Ford’s eyes ache.So many people had come together to support Natalie.She’d be livid if they intervened before she found her brother, but she wasn’t opposed to backup, and Jason’s team had already overdelivered.Unfortunately, nothing could ease the hot anxiety pumping through Ford’s veins.
He dutifully took notes and tried like hell to pretend it wasn’t Natalie out there, willingly motoring off in the middle of the night to meet with a man who’d happily throw her overboard if she didn’t give him what he wanted.
