If Tess had been grabbed at the end of her shift, Diego knew exactly what he was doing. Crypto didn’t close. There were no business hours, no overnight pause, and no safety net. That was the point. He’d picked something that could be done day or night and couldn’t be quietly undone later.
Brian handed Andy his phone back. “I need you to do something for me, okay? Two things, actually.”
Andy swallowed. “Okay.”
“First, you’re going to forward both of those unknown numbers to me. And any texts Diego sends from this point on. Don’t reply to anything without me telling you what to say. Not one word. I want him to think you’re sitting here scared and obedient and ready to jump when he says jump.”
“I—I don’t have the old stuff. From the IP thing. I deleted it. Blocked the number. Shit! I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”
If they really needed it, they could contact Tess’s phone provider, but they would need a warrant to do so. “All right. No worries. We’ll deal with that later. For now, send those two unknown numbers to me.” He rattled off his own phone number.
Andy’s fingers moved at lightning speed across his screen.
“Second,” Brian continued, “after I make a couple of calls, you’re going to walk me through everything you remember about that first job. The one with the IP. What he asked for, what you did, and when you did it. Dates, times—anything that sticks.”
The teen’s hands stilled. “Am I... am I in trouble for that?”
He didn’t hesitate. “No. What you did then was a gray area. Dumb, yeah—but not something anyone will arrest you over. They took Tess to get to you. That makes you the target right now, not the problem. And you’re also a witness.”
A hard swallow worked its way down Andy’s throat as his gaze dropped. His shoulders hitched once. “Okay. I’ll tell you everything.”
“Good.”
Brian’s instincts screamed at him to call it in. To light up every channel he had and start pulling resources. But Diego had made his expectationspainfully clear, and Brian didn’t yet know how tight the leash was—or how closely Andy was being watched.
The gang held all the cards at the moment. Even if Brian knew where Tess was, charging in blind could get her killed. But doing nothing could do the same. He needed to walk a narrow path through the middle.
“I’m stepping outside to make those calls.” He cocked his head toward the door. “I’m not calling 9-1-1. Not yet. But I am calling my partner and my brother. I can’t do this alone and need their help to get to the bottom of this mess and find your sister.”
Andy looked up, hope and fear knotted together in his expression. “That’s not... the same thing? You said your brother’s an FBI agent. That’s gotta be worse than the police.”
“It’s not. There’s no alert, no patrol cars swarming in. I’m making two calls to people I trust, and that’s it—unless Diego does something stupid. Well, even more stupid than taking Tess. All right?”
He received a slow nod in response.
“Stay inside,” he ordered. “Keep your phone on you. If Diego calls or texts, I need to know immediately. You answer like nothing’s changed. Tell him you’re still trying to figure out how to do whatever it is without getting caught—in other words, stall. You got it?”
“Yeah,” Andy whispered. “Brian? I’m so sorry. Please save Tess.”
He pulled the kid in for a hug that went unopposed. “I will. I promise.”
After releasing him, Brian held his gaze until some of the panic on his face eased—not gone, but manageable. Then he turned and headed for the back door.
Outside, the light had softened, the sky fading into a deeper blue but still holding daylight. Waves rolled in beyond the dunes, steady and indifferent, as they had for centuries.
He stepped onto the deck and pulled the door nearly closed behind him, leaving it cracked just enough to hear if Andy called out. Then he pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial set to Rafe’s number. As it rang, Brian stared out over the water, his jaw tightened as a hard, cold focus settled into his mind.
Diego had made a serious mistake taking Tess—and he would pay for it.
Chapter 29
The phone felt heavier than it should have in Brian’s hand.
He stood on the back deck for a moment longer than necessary after ending the call to his brother. Tension rolled off him as his mind raced through what Andy had told him and what they needed to learn and do to rescue Tess. And in the space between those thoughts, something else nagged.
You should’ve done more.
The guilt landed hard and unwelcome—over the SUV she’d mentioned, the follow-up he’d meant to make, and the way his caseload had swallowed the hours before he could. He shoved it down. There would be time for that later.
