But before she could even unlock her phone, Falcon had already beaten her to the punch.
“Hey, Ash, it’s Garrett.” Falcon held his own phone out, putting the call on speaker for them all to hear.
“Hey, Garrett,” Ashley greeted him with her usual, friendly charm. “What’s up?”
Shadow frowned at the other woman’s casual tone.
What’s up?Seriously?
They weren’t calling to have a chat about the freaking weather. This was her father they were talking about. And as of right now, the man was MIA.
“We’re at Atrium Mercy,” Falcon responded in a rush. “We left the safe house to come straight here right after you called Shadow, but they’re saying Owens isn’t here.”
“Mercy?” Ashley sounded genuinely confused. “What are you talking about?”
Shadow quickly inserted herself into the confusing conversation. “When you called me, you said the ambulance took Rafe to Atrium Mercy. But we’re here, and they’re telling us he’s not?—”
“I never called you, Shadow.” The other woman’s tone did a full one-eighty, going from friendly to serious in the blink of an eye. “I’m not sure what’s happening, but you and I haven’t spoken today, and Mr. Owens is in the conference room right now, meeting with a client.”
“You’re sure he’s there?” Bones asked, his face twisted with the same look of confusion Shadow knew matched her own.
“I took him and the other gentleman a fresh carafe of coffee two minutes before you called, so…yeah. I’m pretty sure.”
A wave of relief left Shadow’s knees feeling weak, but then the reality of what had happened fully sank in. “Someone cloned Ashely’s voice.” Her eyes flew to the man standing to her immediate right. “Whoever it was got access to my phone number, and then they disguised their voice to make it sound exactly like Ashley’s. And they know…” Her throat worked a painful swallow before she cleared it and tried again. “They know I’m Owens’ daughter.”
“Stanton,” Digger rumbled the name as if it were a curse. “It has to be him.”
“But why?”
“To force you out of hiding,” Bones answered somberly. He started looking around, as if he expected the murdering son of a bitch to appear right there, in the middle of the emergency room lobby.
“He’s right.” Digger put a protective hand to her lower back and began guiding her toward the exit. “We need to get you the hell out of here. Now.”
“And go where?” Shadow’s steps quickened to keep up. “If they accessed my phone, then they probably know where the cabin is.”
“Good point.” He didn’t miss a beat as he grabbed the device still clutched in her hand.
The second they stepped through the automatic doors, he dropped it onto the concrete below. And then, he stomped his booted heel down hard in the center of its screen.
A spiderweb of cracks appeared as the glass broke beneath the weight of his foot. Digger bent down, scooped up the phone, and then he used both hands to nearly break the thing fully in half.
He tossed the destroyed device in the trash. “I’ll buy you a new one,” he offered with a low, angry mutter. Slade took her hand in his and began leading her to his car.
All three men kept their heads moving in constant swivels as they walked. Shadow, too, because the threat could come at them from anywhere at any time.
And because she hadn’t questioned the validity of what she now assumed was an AI-generated call, they’d walked themselves right into a killer’s trap.
Their cars were parked next to the no-parking curb about twenty yards from the emergency room entrance. As they marched down the long sidewalk toward the two vehicles, Digger used his free hand to retrieve his keys from his pocket.
“So what’s the plan?” Bones asked from a few steps back.
“I’m taking her to the office,” he announced curtly. “We’ll talk with Owens and decide our next steps from there.”
“Sounds good,” Falcon agreed. “We’ll be right behind you.”
Shadow remained quiet, her thoughts running in twelve different directions. She was relieved beyond words to know her father was okay. But on the flip side of that, she was positivelylividknowing she’d fallen for Stanton’s obvious trick to bring her back out into his sights.
Her steps quickened even more, and soon she was inching her way into the lead. Keeping a protective hold on her hand, Digger lifted his other to point the fob toward the spot where he’d parked. He pressed the button to remotely start the vehicle’s engine, and then?—
