From justice.
From the truth about their father.
From the corruption that had killed Ruiz and destroyed families and poisoned this town for twenty years.
"Gabe." Cara's voice was tight. Scared. "What do we do?"
He stared at his brother's face. At the newspaper proving this was real. Recent. True.
At the terror barely masked behind David's exhausted eyes.
Twenty-four hours.
His career ending in less than that.
His brother's life hanging in the balance.
And the woman beside him threatened just to hurt him more.
The countdown had started.
33
The emergency lightsfaded as the fire trucks pulled away from The Rusty Anchor's parking lot. The burned-out husk of Levinger's truck sat smoking in the gravel. Cara stood beside Gabe's rental SUV, watching him stare at his phone with an expression that mixed desperate relief with crushing fear. The photo of David glowed in the darkness.
Across the parking lot, Levinger stood with his two goons near the smoking wreckage, gesturing angrily at the fire chief.
Gabe's eyes tracked to him. Cara watched the calculation happening.
"Don't," Wade said, reading Gabe's thoughts. "Bad play."
"He knows something," Gabe said, not looking away from Levinger.
"He's middle management, at best,” Wade countered. "The people holding your brother sent those texts. That's top of the food chain, not tavern muscle." "
We could make him talk."
"Could we?" Wade's tone carried skepticism. "No jurisdiction. No warrant. Fire department's still here. Chief Hale'sprobably on his way. You grab Levinger now, you're the one going to jail."
Gabe's jaw worked, but he didn't move.
"And the second Levinger doesn't check in," Wade continued, driving the point home, "whoever's holding David knows something went wrong. They panic. Your brother's dead before we get any intel worth having."
The logic cut through Gabe's desperate need for action. "He's not going anywhere," Cara added softly. "The Rusty Anchor's been here for years. Levinger's not running. We can find him later if we need to."
Gabe's hands clenched into fists, but he nodded once. Accepting the reasoning even though every instinct probably screamed to act.
"We need to move," Wade reminded them quietly.
“And then?” Cara couldn’t help asking.
"We go back to Haven Cove," Gabe said, pocketing his phone. "Get Tom's tech support. Bring the team together. We have to find out where they're holding David before they start making more demands we can’t meet."
Wade's eyes shifted to Cara. The temperature dropped again. "That was some stupid stunt back there." Wade's voice was flat. Controlled in the way that suggested significant emotion being held in check. He shook his head, disappointment wafting off him. "Walking into a bar full of armed criminals to run a con."
Cara forced herself to meet his eyes. "I had to."
One dark eyebrow rose.
