The truck raced away and he searched for plates. They didn’t have lights around them and it was too dark and smoky to make out the details.
He could run after the truck, but what good would that do? He would never catch up. Nor could he dispatch someone from the compound in time to trail the vehicle.
No. Dev had to face it. Their suspect was gone. Dev had failed.
He slammed a fist into his other palm. Why hadn’t he considered waking up one of the other team members and having them at the ready in a vehicle to go after this guy?
Tactical error on his part. A big one.
Now he had to go back to the others—to Kinsley—and tell them he’d failed. He could just see the disappointment in their eyes. Especially Kinsley’s eyes, and he didn’t want to go.
So what? He had no choice.
He turned to leave. Spotted Bandit sitting and staring up at him.
“Come here, boy,” Dev called out as he squatted.
The little dog trotted forward and pawed Dev’s knee, then tried to lick his face. Dev scooped him up. “That kick was something else, wasn’t it? But you’re not acting like you’re injured. Let’s get you back to where you belong, and your family can take you to the vet to be checked out.”
Dev started through the woods, this time not trying to hide, but still avoiding the narrow service road to preserve any potential evidence that the suspect might’ve left behind. He would make sure one of them recovered the controller tonight to secure it and get Sierra out here to recover anything that could lead them to the operator and also have her check out the drone. This being an outdoor scene, it would take priority over Kinsley’s apartment. Unless Sierra had enough staff to do both. He would ask.
What’s the worst thing that could happen? She would say no. And he had to do everything as fast as he could. The shooter could know Kinsley was here and find a way onto the property or take long sniper shots from a distance.
He got out his phone and tapped Reid’s number as he crossed the main road.
“Hello.” His sleepy tone almost left Dev feeling bad for waking him up instead of keeping the dog with him overnight.
But the last thing he needed was to take care of a dog on top of everything else. “I found Bandit wandering in the woods and scooped him up. I’m near the lodge and can drop him off.”
“In the woods?” Reid paused. “He’s right here in his…oh, man. The little bugger got his crate open and must’ve made a run for it out the doggie door. Thank goodness you found him or Jessie would’ve freaked.”
“I’m glad to spare your daughter any heartache,” Dev said, and meant it.
“Is he all right?”
“He seems to be fine, but you might want to have him checked out by a vet.” Dev described the rough treatment by the operator.
Reid muttered something Dev couldn’t make out. “You catch the guy?”
“Sadly, no.”
“So what are you going to do about it?”
“I hope to get Sierra out here to process the scene, and hopefully Nick will also check out the drone. I plan to look at it too, but an electronics expert like Nick probably would see something in the device that I don’t see.”
“But what about Kinsley’s apartment? I thought you had Sierra going there first thing in the morning.”
Dev explained his reasoning regarding the unstable nature of the outdoor scene.
“Good thinking,” Reid said. “Sounds like a solid plan. Let me know if you need anything from me. I’ll wait on the porch for you to deliver Bandit.”
Dev used his passcode to get through the security gate, making sure it latched solidly behind him. He marched down the compound’s driveway. Took three minutes of crunching over gravel and sustaining copious licks from Bandit to reach the big lodge. Reid and his brothers had grown up in this house. Now life had come full circle, and Reid, along with his wife Megan, were raising his nine-year-old daughter and Megan’s seven-year-old daughter, Ella. They seemed to be the perfectly blended family. Dev had to admit to being jealous at times of their close family unit.
Despite always backing away from his feelings for Kinsley, he wanted to get married. He wanted kids. Hence his big mistake with Hailey. He’d given up on a future with Kinsley and had gotten engaged, but Hailey suspected he was holding back. She ignored her gut feelings, but when the big day came, she couldn’t walk down the aisle until she had it out with him. She pressured him until he told her that he still had feelings for Kinsley and he doubted they would ever go away. But he loved Hailey and tried to convince her of that. She didn’t believe him and left him at the altar.
He deserved it. He could love and commit to another woman, but not in the way he loved Kinsley. Any woman deserved more than that from him. He had no business getting engaged and cheating her out of what she deserved. But Hailey bailing on him as he stood waiting at the altar still stung and was almost as difficult as not being able to explain it to his family. He couldn’t. Not without making Jada feel bad for eliciting the promise from him. So despite his mother hounding him for months, he kept silent and simply took the blame so they didn’t think badly of his fiancée.
After connecting with Kinsley again, he knew he wanted her more than anything, but that changed nothing. He couldn’t have her.
