“Imagine that, the whole team together again.” Joel chuckled before looking at him. “How’s Maggie doing?”
That familiar tightness wrapped around his chest. “She’s burying her head in the sand and pretending this stalker shit isn’t as serious as it is. I did a full search on her colleagues and friends in LA. As far as I can tell, they’re all still there and no one followed her here.”
“What about the person commenting on her socials?” Joel asked.
“Tried that. She blocked them, then they deleted their account.”
“Damn,” Connor cursed.
“Who the hell takes bodywash and toothpaste?” Joel asked.
“Who showers and lights a candle in another person’s home while she’s away?” Connor added.
Ethan’s jaw clenched. He looked at Joel, needing a change in subject. “You and Polly getting along a bit better?”
Joel grinned. “This morning, she told me she was visualizing duct tape over my mouth because I said her ass looked good in her work pants. Then she gave me my coffee and told me to go play in traffic.”
Connor laughed. “I always get sad when I miss these little chats between you two.”
“It’s entertaining, even for me. There must be something deeply annoying about me.”
Ethan shook his head. “It’s not only you. Her mother has had a string of unhealthy relationships with men for Polly’s entire life, and it’s made her defensive and untrusting where guys are concerned.”
“Guess I’ll have to prove to her that I’m not one of those guys. It shouldn’t be hard. Women love me and my witty sense of humor.”
Ethan was tempted to tell his friend that stable relationships weren’t exactly what he was known for, but the SAR phone rang. It was Friday night, and he was on call this weekend.
They all straightened.
Ethan put the call on speaker so the guys could hear. “Search and Rescue emergency line. This is Ethan Moore. What’s your location and nature of the emergency?”
“I need help,” a woman whispered, her voice trembling.
“Where are you?”
“I…I don’t know. I was driving down the highway. I’d almost hit Grapple Road when someone jumped in front of my car. I swerved and hit a tree. They…they had a knife. They dragged me out of the car, but I managed to get away. Please, I need help now.” She started to cry.
All three of them were on their feet, the guys with their phones out, no doubt contacting Ryan and Zac.
“Can you tell me your name?” Ethan raced through the house, grabbing his keys, his teammates doing the same.
“Priya. Priya Tan.”
“Okay, Priya, I need you to open your maps app, tap your location, and hit ‘share.’ Send it to this number.”
“Um…okay. The signal’s really weak though. It took me a while to find a spot to make this call.” On cue, the line crackled.
Shit.
“Wait…” Priya paused. “I think I did it.”
Ethan dropped behind the wheel of his truck. The call connected to Bluetooth and he sent Priya’s location to the other four guys. “That was good, Priya. I’m coming, and so is the rest of the team. I need you to stay on the line with me, okay?”
“O-okay.”
The line crackled again.
“What if it cuts out?” Priya whispered, her words running into each other. “I don’t want to be alone.”
