Alex’s hands fisted at his side, He’d never come so close to punching out his boss as he did in that moment.
“I’m going to Saganashkee,” he told Murphy. “With or without the team.”
“And what if you don’t find her?” His boss challenged back. “Or worse, what if you do, and she’s already dead?”
Then my life will be over.
He couldn’t think about that now. “Eden’s still alive, but she won’t be if we keep standing around, arguing about our next move. I can’t take that chance. Not with her.”
Alex’s voice broke to the point he had to clear his throat before finishing his thought.
“I can’t explain it, but something in my gut is telling me that’s where she is, and if we don’t go now, we may never catch this guy.”
“I think he’s right, Boss.”
All eyes turned to the doorway where Garrett stood holding several pieces of paper.
“You find something?” Murphy motioned
Alex’s partner nodded. “Check this out.”
Garrett rushed to the table and quickly arranged the papers so they made a map of the land surrounding Saganashkee Slough.
“Kat said there was a body of water running along the south side of the woods she saw. That made me think of this area here.” He ran his index finger along the northern side of the lake. “I did a search and found records for three abandoned root cellars dating back to the late eighteen-hundreds. All three are located in this wooded section here.” Garrett made an invisible circle around the large portion of the trees surrounded by The Out & Back bike trail.
“That’s about, what…fifty acres?”
“Give or take.” His partner shrugged.
Alex exhaled a frustrated puff of air. “Eden doesn’t have that kind of time, man. An area that large would take us all night to search.”
The other man grinned. “Guess it’s a good thing I already know where all three cellars are located. There’s one here, here, and here.” He used a marker to put an ‘X’ on each spot.
“What’s there?” Dan pointed to what looked to be a large, open section sitting northeast of the tree line.
Garrett lifted a shoulder. “Just grass, as far as I know.”
Alex looked past his partner to Dan. “Why? What are you thinking?”
Dark eyes met his. “I’m thinking a helicopter would get us there a lot faster than your Jeep.”
“Hell yeah, it would,” Garrett nodded excitedly. He looked to Murphy. “How long would it take to procure a department chopper?”
Sergeant Murphy thought a moment. “Thirty minutes. Maybe a little more.”
Shit.Alex ran a hand over his already-mussed hair. “We could almost drive there in that time.”
He was trying like hell not to give up hope, but fuck. It was getting harder and harder with every second that passed.
“I can have us in the air in about ten,” Dan offered. When Alex gave him a look, the former Marine simply shrugged and said, “I know a guy.”
Despite the situation, Alex snorted. “Of course, you do.”
Raising a cocky eyebrow, Dan pulled out his phone and made the call.
After breaking land-speed records to get them there, Alex, Dan, Garrett, and Sergeant Murphy buckled themselves into an expensive-as-shit helicopter as it lifted off the ground.
Both Kat and Mia volunteered to hang back in case the guys needed something done at the station.
