Cool, salty air numbed his face as he sat at the front of Jason’s small special ops-style inflatable motorboat and stared out over the water.The bright spots of lamplight bounced along the shoreline with the immense glow of Los Angeles hovering over the city like a fog.
He could live here again.For Nat, he could live anywhere.If she’d have him—and she wanted to stay in LA—he’d return to the States and find a way to look his parents in the eyes.
Sure, he’d always feel some degree of responsibility for Connor’s death, but the rational part of him knew Natalie was right.Ford hadn’t killed him.And he sure as hell couldn’t have controlled him.He’d fucking tried.Connor’s injuries had been preventable, but only if his brother had been willing to take precautions.His fall was the perfect storm of bad decisions and bad luck.
Ford needed to figure out how to forgive himself and become a full member of his family again.Maybe invite Nat to join him.Jointhem.His heartthunkedhard in his chest.
He wanted all of that, but first, he had to find her.
As soon as he and Jason had picked up the signal from the tracking bean, they’d started following it on land.Emma had stayed back with Reina and Michael to go the other direction if necessary.
Ford and Jason had mirrored the tracker’s path in Jason’s truck for almost half an hour, until the signal indicator had stopped moving about a quarter mile offshore.Unfortunately, it had almost immediately turned faint and then disappeared.Ford had been trying not to catastrophize about what that meant.
Maybe it had simply run out of battery.Or, been damaged…somehow.
He gripped the handle on the hull of the boat, grateful for the life vest Jason had provided to strap on over his borrowed hoodie.Water sprayed over the sides as they loudly motored south-southwest toward fog-shrouded Catalina Island and—please God—Natalie.
Perched at the back, Jason steered while Ford gestured directions from the GPS device that showed where her tracker had last been active.Every minute felt like an hour, but eventually they exited a wide cove and reached the spot where the signal had died.And found…nothing.No boat, no debris.No sign of Natalie.
Jason shone a heavy-duty LED flashlight down into the water.Looking over the side, Ford held his breath and scanned the murky sea, hoping like hell they wouldn’t find her in the kelp forest.Jason slowly circled the area, and then took another few passes, following the current.
“This is good news,” he said.
Is it?Ford silently begged the universe for it to be true.
A man’s voice came through his earpiece.“This is Dallas, over.”
If Ford remembered correctly, this was the computer guy who worked for Natalie’s team.He’d been tasked with digging into the holdings of everyone they’d exposed, with a special emphasis on Harrison Wallace.
Jason brought the boat to a stop, letting the motor idle.He pressed his earpiece and raised his voice to be heard over the noise.“Whatcha got?”
“The speed boat is buried under a series of shell companies that I’ve got our finance whiz working on, but I tried to connect anyone else on the potential enemies list with a boat.Guess whose wife has a sweet sixty-five-footer made by Princess Yachts, normally berthed in San Diego?”
Ford’s pulse picked up.
Jason whistled.“Our main suspect?”
“Bingo.I’m texting you a photo of one from the company’s website.”Dallas added, “Just in case you didn’t know this guy was a complete asshole, he named itThe Side Effect.”
Jason shook his head.“Seriously?”
Given Wallace’s deadly history with clinical trials, the yacht’s name was more than a bad pun, it was disturbing.
“Yep.I’ll figure out if there’s any way to locate it—”
Ford pressed his earpiece.“With a boat that size, he might have an AIS, a transponder.”The Automatic Identification System was designed to allow for better communication between ships and prevent collisions on the water, but it could be misused.
One of his clients had been attacked on his yacht—before hiring B&A—when he forgot to instruct the crew to shut off the device.His enemies traced him to a mooring off Mallorca and sent a crew of mercenaries to board in the dead of night.He’d only escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to shore.“Check one of the maritime tracking websites.You can search by name and port.”
“Brilliant.Hang tight.”
He didn’t feel brilliant.He felt helpless.Ford stared at the lights from shore twinkling off the water’s surface and the silver path cast by the moon.Did Natalie have a similar view right now?Any view?God, he needed to find her, bring her back safely.He couldn’t bear the thought of anything else.
He forced himself to take a slow breath while they waited for word.He suddenly understood her need to stay in motion, to distract from the tension in any way possible.He’d welcome one of her shocking statements right about now.
Really, he just wanted her.
“Okay.”Dallas’s voice spoke into his ear instead.“According to several of the websites,The Side Effectrecently pinged a little further down the coast from you.”
