He wished he could take the time to do that, but Reese needed to fill Z in on what had happened. He knew for a fact that Cindy Tavoularis would not just walk out of a restaurant and leave Hugh in the lurch.
“I’ll call you back,” he repeated, then disconnected the call as he rapped his knuckles on Z’s closed office door.
“Come in.”
The door swung inward, and Reese moved inside, doing his best to remain calm so he could relay what had happened to his brother. As soon as he did, Z shot up from his chair, sending it rolling backward into the wall of windows.
Reese heard footsteps behind him, so he glanced back. Brantley was heading toward him with RT at his side. Behind them, Evan, Slade, Deck, and Baz were pulling up the rear.
“What’s goin’ on?” RT asked, glancing between Reese and Z.
“I think Toby might’ve gotten in touch with my mother,” Reese relayed, trying not to jump to the worst possible conclusion.
“He took her,” Z blurted.
RT frowned. “What?”
“My mother disappeared from the restaurant,” Reese informed him, then looked at Z. “You need to call the guys you had watchin’ her.”
Z’s expression fell, and a surge of anger shot through him.
“You didn’t.” Reese threw his hands up in exasperation. “Fuck, Z. What’s the point of keepin’ an eye on her if you’re just gonna call ’em off when she might need ’em the most?”
“She asked me to, all right? Just for a few hours,” Z said, eyes wide, face pale. He clearly understood the ramifications of that. “She didn’t want Hugh to freak out until she could tell him what’s goin’ on.”
“Well, I think he gets the gist of it now,” RT mumbled softly.
“What’s the team have?” Z insisted. “Where’s Toby?”
“We don’t know.”
“Actually,” a female voice sounded behind them, “we might.”
JJ.
Reese turned as the others parted in the hall, allowing her to move through.
“I just got a ping on a burner phone I was tracking.” Her eyes bounced between him and Z. “I think I know where he is right this minute.”
“Where?” Z insisted.
JJ met Reese’s gaze, ignoring his brother. “But that’s the good news.”
Reese did not like the sound of that.
“And the bad?” Brantley prompted, coming to stand behind Reese.
JJ swallowed as a sympathetic gleam glittered in her eyes. “I don’t think Toby Land’s as innocent as everyone wants to believe he is.”
Reese stared at her, willing her to hurry the fuck up before he lost his shit.
“Reese,” she said softly. “I think Toby Land is…” She swallowed again. “I thinkhe’sPatrick O’Brien.”
***
Well, this certainly wasn’t how Cindy Tavoularisthought her day would go. When Hugh had sprung an impromptu late lunch on her, she’d been giddy to spend some time with him. Never in a million years would she have thought Tobias Land would come along and ruin that for her.
Considering the trouble she’d heard he was in, she should’ve known. Trouble was this man’s middle name. Wherever he was, it seemed he found it, or it found him.
