“Take it easy,” William mutters, grounding me back into the truck. “You can’t ride in and save your girl if your horse is wrapped around a goddamn tree.”
The display on my car suddenly comes to life as it finds a signal, and hope surges through me. Glancing at the screen, I note the missed calls from Green Hay, and my excitement fizzles.
“She kept ignoring him,” Carlson informs me, seeing the look of fear on my face.
Clever girl. Jonathan would have become more incensed and focused on tormenting her, desperate to get her to obey, rather than torturing my sister. I yank the wheel, pulling the truck over on the verge, and take out my phone, bringing up the tracking app. It blinks, sending off a signal to locate Eleanor. Seconds stretch, and I panic it won’t work. Could Jonathan have found it? What does that mean for Eleanor?It zooms out, then starts moving. Fast. Too fast. What kind of car are they in? William stretches to look over Carlson, noticing the same thing I do.
“They aren’t on land. They can’t be at that speed,” he observes, and the vice around my chest tightens.
Adrenaline surges through my veins, making me lightheaded.Focus, Hunter.I scroll through my phonebook and dial Green Hay, and Hannah, the head nurse, picks up after the first ring. I need to check Stephanie is okay, then I’ll hunt the fucker down and lay waste to his world for daring to come anywhere near the women I love.
“It’s Hunter, is?—”
A whimper echoes in the truck, making my heart sink. “He took them.”
“Them?”
“Your girl and your sister.”
I hammer my fist on the steering wheel, making C jump, the computer nearly toppling off his lap. I force myself to take deep breaths, fighting off the darkness threatening to take over my vision.
“Hunter?”
“Still here. Any other information?”
“I think he took them in a helicopter.” I’ll never catch up to them now. “Hunter? You bring that girl back to us safe, you hear me?” There’s more steel in her voice now, helping to center me.
“I hear you.”
“Stay safe. And your girl? She’s a keeper.” I’m very fucking aware. A smile I can’t control lifts some of the darkness away, and I end the call.
“That makes sense with where he is taking her,” Carlson says.
I whip around and glare at him. “What do you mean?”
“I tried telling you.”
William shoots me a warning glare. “Try again.”
Carlson opens his laptop screen and points to a familiar display of information. How does he have Eleanor’s data on Jonathan? My heart skips a beat. She must have given it to him. That is the only thing that makes sense. While I am raging that she ran off without me, going against everything she promised, Eleanor did more than I ever expected. All the access she left isn’t the actions of a woman on a vengeance mission. She analyzed everything and made the best call, given the resources she had.She went because Steph was being threatened, but left me with all the pieces I need to find her, hoping I can put the picture together quickly enough to save them both.
My heart thrashes in my chest. I am dangerous like this and likely to make mistakes. I suck in a sharp breath through my teeth. I need to fall back on my training, hyper focused on the cold, hard facts. I empty my lungs completely, the fog in my brain lifting. Emotions will get us all killed.
Carlson squints at my phone, cocking his head as his brain moves faster than anyone can keep up with. Besides Eleanor. She can keep up with him. “Can I make a mirror of your phone so I can see the tracker info?”
“Yes.” There it is. The ice. The armor. The brutality hidden beneath the surface.
Two minutes later, the little dot speeding across the country is on his laptop. He nods, pushing up his glasses with a smile. “Like I thought.”
“C, spit it out. Time is of the essence here,” William tells him, his voice hard but his face open.
“She had all the information, but she limited herself to land.”
“That is the norm, since we’re land dwellers,” I grumble under my breath.
“Think about it. A floating warehouse of humans with no escape and no authorities. It’s impenetrable. It’s secure. It’s perfect.”
I swipe a hand down my face as everything clicks into place. “They are on a ship.”
