Finn’s jaw clenched. “We need more eyes on the site. Infrared sensors. Backup feeds. Laser trip alarms. Whatever it takes,” he said. “I want to know the second someone so much as sneezes.”
Dex was already typing. “I’ll install thermal cameras around the perimeter and set up a secondary service that backs up the feed in real time tonight. Even if they jam the signal again, we’ll have shadow data.”
“Good.” Finn turned toward the door. “Let me know when. I promised Lainey I’d stop by. Call me if anything changes.”
“Will do.”
Finn glanced at his watch. Lainey should be back home now after dropping Luke off at school. He had a couple of things to go over with her, then he fully intended to keep her occupied in a very good way for most of the morning.
He was halfway out the door, already smiling, when his thoughts of making love to Lainey were interrupted by his phone ringing.
Meadowbrook Elementary.
His gut dropped.
Why would the school be calling him?
“Hello?”
“Hey, Mr. Ryder, this is Mrs. Moore from the office,” said a chipper voice. “Just checking on Luke Harper. He wasn’t signed in today, and we didn’t receive a call. Everything okay?”
Luke? Lainey?
Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Uh … yeah,” Finn said, forcing his voice steady. “Sorry about that. I should have called. Luke is sick today.”
“Okay. Thanks, we’ll mark him as absent.”
After they hung up, Finn dialed Lainey’s cell phone. It went straight to voicemail.
No.
He closed his eyes, willing his pulse to slow down.
Luke wasn’t sick. Lainey would have told him. They were gone.
Finn turned on a dime and charged back to the control room. Dex was still working on the security.
“Ping Lainey’s cell, will you?”
Dex looked up. “What’s up?”
“Luke wasn’t in school today. Lainey’s cell is going straight to voicemail. They’re in trouble.”
“Could be nothing. Maybe car trouble. Have you thought of that?”
“Ping it now.” Finn voice was tight. He couldn’t handle the maybes or the what-ifs. He knew in his gut something bad had happened.
“On it.” Dex pulled up the tracking software. “If her phone’s still on, I can ping her last known location from the nearest towers.”
He paused, scanning data. “Got a signal.”
A red dot blinked on the screen. “There,” Dex said, pointing to the screen. “It looks like her phone pinged on old Lake Road about forty-five minutes ago.”
Finn’s blood ran cold. “Lainey told me she loves that back road when they’re not in a rush to get Luke to school. There are lots of cows to look at. Can you pull up the feed from anywhere close to it?”
Dex shook his head. “It’s a dead zone. No traffic cams.”
