“There’s no reason to get all defensive, Trev. I’m just sayin’ that...”
“I know exactly what you’re trying to say. And I’m saying, I don’t give a shit how long we’ve been together. I know Lexi better than any other woman I’ve ever been with, and I’m telling you, this doesn’t make any sense.”
“It does if it isn’t aboutLexi’spast.”
All eyes moved to Mac. With her elbows on her knees, the adorable-but-deadly-blonde was scooted to the edge of the recliner cushion. Her blue eyes looked directly into Trevor’s. “This could be about you. Someone could be using Lexi to get to you.”
Mac’s words hit him like a ton of bricks. The thought of Lexi being used to extract revenge on him was almost unbearable.
“She’s right,” Grant’s deep voice cut through the tense air. “There’s always a risk getting involved with guys like us.”
“Orgirls.”Mac gave Grant the stink-eye. To Trevor, she asked, “Why else would this guy take her and then send you that pic and the message?”
Coop added his thoughts. “Could be he’s been watching them. Sees them together, finds out who Trevor is and what he does. Hell, you just have to look at where he lives to know he’s got money, so this guy could follow you home once and know he’d probably make some quick cash by taking your girl.”
Grant countered that with, “That’s not what this is about.”
“How can you be so sure?” Trevor asked.
“If all this guy wanted was money, he would’ve asked for it by now. Not send some cryptic-as-fuck message about sins of the past and all that shit.”
“Okay, so let’s try to think,” Jake spoke up in that down to business, leadership tone he had. “What cases have we taken on lately that would garner such a violent act of revenge?”
“Ah, hell. Take your pick, boss,” Derek said casually, his southern drawl becoming more prominent as the night went on. “We’re always pissin’ off somebody somewhere.”
Trevor looked down at Lexi’s picture on the computer screen again. “If this has happened to her because of me...” his voice broke and he couldn’t even bring himself to finish the sentence.
“We don’t know that’s it, for sure,” Jake attempted to reassure him. “Let’s just take this one step at a time. Derek, keep doing whatever you can to find this sonofabitch. Hill, get on the phone with Ryker. See if he can do anything to help. Mac, you and Coop go back to the diner and see if Derek’s brother’s found out anything useful.”
“Guys,” Derek tried to interrupt, but with Jake dishing out orders and Grant already talking on the phone to Jason Ryker, their Homeland Security handler, no one heard him.
“What can I do?” Trevor asked, feeling more helpless than he ever had in his life.
Jake pulled his keys from his pocket and said, “You and I are going to the office. We’re going to pull every file on every case until we figure out who the hell took Lexi.”
He and Trevor headed for the door. Derek raised his voice, repeating more loudly this time, “Guys!”
Everyone froze, then turned to the man still sitting on the couch. To Jake, Derek said, “I don’t think that’s going to be necessary.”
“What do you mean?”
“Trevor just got another email. It didn’t ding this time because his email thread was already open.” He looked at Trevor, the regret in his eyes like a torch to his soul. “I know why Lexi was taken.”
Trevor took one, large step back toward their teammate. “Tell me.”
“I think it’s better if I just show you.”
Like before, Derek spun the computer monitor around. A woman’s smiling face filled the entire screen. A woman who died over nine years ago.Lisa.
Trevor and the rest were still trying to process what they were seeing when the picture began to fade and another one took its place. It was another picture of Lisa, only this time she was tied to a chair. She’d been beaten...just like Lexi.
Below that picture, a new message appeared. This time, it was Derek who read it aloud.
“They gave her six days. Your girlfriend has six hours.”
“Oh, God.”
The words weren’t much more than a whisper, but Trevor felt them to his core. His knees damn near gave out, and he wasn’t even sure how he made it back to the couch without falling on his ass.
