He really didn’t like the sound of his own thoughts. If she were in trouble, had escaped, and been caught, there would be consequences. That didn’t bode well for her. The factions who would kidnap a woman in that part of the world weren’t exactly the please-and-thank-you kinda people. He snorted in his head.
They are more the cut-your-throat-for-looking-at-them-sideways kind.
He braced his hands on the desk. “What word did she say?”
“‘Momma.’” Theo drummed his fingers on the desk next to the phone, telling Rowan that he was itching to start digging through the back channels and dark spaces on the web for any hint he could find about what happened next. “Then her mother said she heard Enya scream.”
A cold, focused stillness slid through Rowan’s chest, and he quirked up an eyebrow. “Scream?”
Dude, don’t make me shake the intel out of you.
Theo clearly saw Rowan was starting to get irritated with how slowly he was getting the information, as he changed tactics and launched into debriefing mode. “Yeah. Her mom says she sounded panicked or scared. She says it sounded like there was more than one person screaming, though.”
That’s not good.
“Was that why you called me to come up from the barn?”
Theo shook his head, “No. I found a bunch of intel that sorta matches another case in New Jersey, and I wanted you to look at it.” He nodded to the phone, “You want to talk to the father? I’ve had him on hold for a bit.”
“Put him on speaker.” As soon as Theo hit the button, Rowan spoke. “Mr. Moore, it’s Rowan. Tell me what happened.”
Camden Moore’s voice shook with emotion. It sounded like he was trying to swallow down tears and wasn’t quite managing it. “She screamed for her mother, and then… and then the line went dead.”
Rowan walked around the desk and sat in Gael’s chair. Out of habit, he lifted the lever and lowered the chair to its lowest setting. Even when he was focused on the job, annoying hisbrother was second nature. “Mr. Moore, listen to me. Your daughter survived long enough to escape, most likely when they were transporting her. She ran. She found a phone. She called home. That takes guts most folks don’t have.” He decided it was better not to mention how much worse her situation would be if she’d been caught. There was no point in upsetting the Moores further.
A harsh, shuddering breath rattled over the line. “But they caught her.”
Unlike him, Theo didn’t soften the truth. “Yes, sir, from what you said, it sounds like they did. You said the call didn’t end because she hung up, but because someone pulled her away, and that you heard a man yelling in Spanish before the line cut off. That’s what you said before Rowan came in. Is that what happened?”
A woman’s soft sob filtered through the phone. It sounded like Camden’s wife was barely holding herself together. “She screamed my name. I heard her.”
Rowan closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again with resolve carved deep under his voice. “She called because she believed you’d answer. That means she was still fighting.”
Camden’s breath came unevenly. “Where is she now? Do you know where they took her?”
Theo tapped the map again. “No, sir. It’s possible that Chiquimula was their final destination, but it’s just as likely that it could have been a rest stop on the way to where they are going. They could have been switching vehicles or drivers, getting food. There’s a whole host of reasons they could have stopped there.But we know where she was when she called, and…” He tailed off when Rowan cut across him.
“That’s enough to give us a place to start tracking her.” His decision was made; hell, he wasn’t afraid to admit to himself that his decision had been made the second they’d determined that the Moore family was part of their horse family.
Camden’s sharp inhale was audible through the phone, and his voice filled with hope. “You’re… you’re going after her?”
“Yes,” If there was shit hitting the fan because of it, then he’d figure out how to clean it off later. “Stronghold is taking the mission.”
A muffled sound, half sob and half prayer, came through the line. “Thank you. Please, please bring her home.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to promise that he’d bring Enya home, but he gritted his teeth and forced the words, “I’ll do my best,” to be his promise to her parents instead.
“We appreciate it more than you know.”
The second the Moores hung up, Theo turned the laptop around and flipped the screens to a media player. “I managed to find some footage of the barns at the fairground when Enya went missing.”
“There’s a reason I keep your shifty ass around,” Rowan drawled, “your skills on that,” he pointed to the laptop, “is right at the top of the list.”
“You’ll want to give me a pay rise when you see this.” Theo hit play, and the grainy footage began to roll.
Rowan leaned forward to peer at the screen. “This is shit quality, can you clean it up?” He could barely make out shapes, never mind what was happening on screen.
“That is it cleaned up.” Theo leaned over and hit some button on the keypad that enlarged the screen. “But if you put it on full screen, even your old man eyes might be able to see what I see.”
