Gracie’s face filled with alarm. She started to argue again, but Nate held up a hand to cut her off.
“Just listen a minute. I can call him on our secure phones. The ones we take with us when we go on an op.”
She still looked unconvinced, so he asked, “You trust me. You must, otherwise you wouldn’t have come to me, yeah?”
Gracie nodded slowly in agreement.
“Good. Then, I need you to trust me on this, too, okay? These phones are highly encrypted. No one’s going to be listening to them. You have my word.”
“Okay,” she whispered softly.
She may have agreed, but Nate could still hear the trepidation in her voice. Could see the fear reflected in those beautiful, golden eyes.
Putting the phone on speaker, Nate dialed Kole’s number. Sounding groggy, as if he’d been sleeping, Kole answered on the third ring.
“Nate? Why the hell are you calling on this line?”
“I found her.”
“What?” Kole instantly sounded alert and fully awake. “You found Gracie? Where is she?”
“Well, actually…” Nate gave Gracie a tiny smile. “She found me. She’s here, at my place.” With a tilt of his chin, he motioned for Gracie to say something.
“H-hey, Kole. I’m here. I’m okay.”
“Gracie? Oh, thank God.”
“Where have you been?” Sarah’s voice came through next. “We’ve been looking all over for you!”
It sounded like she was crying, but at least this time, they were tears of joy.
“I’ll explain everything when I can. For now, please just know I’m okay. And I’m sorry I worried you.” Her eyes found Nate’s as she added, “I just didn’t know what else to do.”
When Kole began to bombard Gracie with his rapid questioning again, Nate could tell she was feeling overwhelmed and wasn’t sure what to say. Taking the phone off speaker, he gave her a wink before putting it to his ear.
“Hey, Kole, it’s me. Listen, I think Gracie needs a minute to regroup.”
“Regroup? She vanished for six fucking days. She doesn’t need toregroup. She needs to tell us what the hell happened.”
“And she will. Look. Let me talk to her first. I’ll get the whole story, and then I’ll call you back with the details.”
“I’m coming over.”
Gracie must have heard Kole’s voice through the phone, because she began to adamantly shake her head.
Understanding her concern, Nate told Kole, “No. Don’t come here.”
“The fuck you mean? Of course I’m coming there.”
“Kole, listen to me a minute, okay? Whoever broke into Gracie’s apartment knows her. She overheard him mentioning her name to someone on the phone and saying he’d be back. I’m assuming that’s why she didn’t go to Sarah in the first place. She didn’t want to risk the guy following her there.”
Gracie bobbed her head, letting him know his assumption was spot on.
“Now, I know you both love Gracie, and you’re worried about her,” Nate continued. “I also know you don’t want anything to happen to Sarah. Especially not after what went down with Prescott.”
Ian Prescott used to be a lawyer at the firm where Sarah worked. The guy became obsessed with Sarah and began stalking her. He even went so far as to break into her and Kole’s apartment and assault her.
Luckily, Nate and Kole showed up before the maniac could cause her any serious harm.
