Emma relaxed in Cap’s arms, her body melting into his. Her soft lips pressed against his and moved with his. Considering the conversation they’d held earlier about her feelings for him and her concerns, he knew he needed to keep things light until she made the move to go further. He would wait for her to set the tone; that’s how strongly he felt for her. But his body begged for more.
When her lips parted, he slowly dipped his tongue into her warm, inviting mouth. Still, he moved slowly.
Her hands moved over his shoulders, touching the back of his neck, then to the sides of his face, where they stilled. She eased her mouth away from his. The depths of her dark eyes filled with desire. There was no hiding it. Then, she leaned in, gave him a light peck on the lips, rose, and returned to her seat to finish eating.
Dammit. After having shared what they had, he wanted more than kisses, but he understood all too well her dilemma. He’d once let his emotions and feelings get the best of him, and that didn’t turn out so well. Taking a breather to figure out what was real was the smart thing for both of them to do, he supposed.
Cap pulled his burner phone from his pocket. “I’m going to check with Chief Mertz to see if anything is going on.”
Emma nodded, stood, grabbed both of their plates, and stepped into the kitchen area.
“Hi, Chief, it’s Cap.”
“I’m glad you called. We’ve had a development.”
“Good or bad?”
“Both.”
“We figured out how the Colombians found you. It was Deputy Vanderwood’s radio.”
Cap’s adrenaline spiked. “What? Is she okay?”
“She will be. She’s at the hospital. She said the Colombians have drones, and they followed deputies. They hit on her squad, followed her home, and kidnapped her. They heard every radio communication, even the ones on the secure line. When you guys escaped, the one with her, Dario, tried to beat your location out of her. She thinks he’s the last one remaining from the team that was deployed here; the others are dead. As you know, she didn’t have any information about your location to give him. And I can tell you right now, if she had known, she wouldn’t have divulged it. She’s tough as nails.”
“Son of a bitch.”
The second the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could have sucked them back in due to the horrified look on Emma’s face.
“What? What happened?” Emma asked excitedly.
Cap held his hand in the air with his pointer finger extended and mouthed, “One second.”
“You sure she’ll be okay?” Cap asked the Chief.
“Yes.”
“Well, that explains a lot. How did she get away?”
“The guy holding her captive in an abandoned barn left her unattended to go to the hospital to kill Jonathan. While alone, she yelled enough to catch the attention of a guy walking his dog along the road. Pure dumb luck, but we’ll take it. Dispatch got the call right after you left the hospital, so I’m glad you called so I could give you this information.”
“So, the Sheriff’s department got to her before the asshole got back to her,” Cap stated the obvious.
“Yes, but we don’t know if he is aware yet. He still has her radio, but we’ve gone silent. We may try to draw him out via radio communication. We’ve got eyes on the barn and his stolen license plate loaded into the plate reader system. If that vehicle goes past any of those cameras, we’ll get him, unless he swaps out the plates.”
“With the heat on this, I can’t believe he’d hang around town. If he cut his losses now, he might still be able to get away.”
“That’s what I keep thinking. I can’t believe he hasn’t already. Something more is going on. The lost drugs, and the drugs in Jonathan’s truck, while worth a lot of money, just doesn’t seem like enough incentive to stay in the game. Not with this much heat on the situation.”
“That’s all I know right now. You guys need to stay tucked away, but keep in touch so I can keep you posted.”
“You bet,” Cap said and disconnected the call.
“What? What’s happened?” Emma asked impatiently.
She’d heard enough of the one-sided conversation to know enough to be alarmed.
Cap filled her in on the details.
