“We’ve got some details,” Charlie said.
“Get more.Dig deeper.”
“I can definitely do that,” Becs said, her expression reflecting the same trepidation Reese was feeling.
Evan cleared his throat.“I’m gonna focus on—”
His words were cut off when Reese’s cell phone rang.He wasn’t sure why the entire room went silent, but it did.He pulled the phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen.When he looked up, he noticed Brantley watching him intently.
“It’s Z,” he said because it seemed they were all waiting for him.He tapped the screen and put the phone to his ear.“Hey.”
“Well, I’ve got news.”
Reese couldn’t tell by his brother’s tone whether that news was good or bad.“And?”
“The lab was able to make an identification.”
Grinding his teeth was all Reese could do to keep from demanding his brother get on with it.
“The blood you found belongs to Kylie Walker.”
Reese’s breath lodged in his throat, his gaze snapping to Brantley’s.He nodded.
“Were they able to determine how old the sample was?”he asked Z.
“The only thing they could tell me was that it was less than a year old.They couldn’t pinpoint more than that.It does confirm your theory that her death was faked.”
Yes.Yes, it did.
“Thanks, Z.I need to…” Reese wasn’t sure what he needed to do.At the moment, breathing seemed to be his main focus.
“Go tell her husbands.They’ll want to know,” Z said.“I’ll call you later.”
“Yeah.”Reese ended the call and shoved the phone in his pocket.
He glanced at the members of his team, noticing the hope that sparkled in nearly every pair of eyes staring back at him.
“They confirmed the blood belongs to Kylie.It’s less than a year old.”
“She’s alive?”Holly asked, her voice thick with emotion.
“We don’t know that for sure,” Brantley interjected.“We do know she didn’t die when we thought she did.And we’ll continue to work under the assumption she’s alive.Which means right now, our one and only objective is to find her.Once we do that, we can worry about Martin Calloway and Censorious.We’ll take them down, I assure you.But they go on the back burner.Everyone’s focus is on findin’ Kylie.”
“Understood,” Atticus said.“We’ll work on gettin’ that drone, then we’ll get boots on the ground in Blanco and Johnson City.”
Brantley nodded.“Good.In the meantime, Reese and I are gonna give Travis and Gage the news.”
Reese wasn’t sure that was a great idea.At least not until they had confirmation that she was still alive.But he understood Brantley’s reasoning.Travis and Gage deserved to have all the information they had.
“Come on, Tesha,” Reese said.“Let’s go for a ride.”
She was at the door waiting for them when Reese made his way across the room.He felt as though he was walking through a dream.He had a destination, even if the path to get there was fuzzy and distorted.
“You good?”Brantley whispered as he pushed the door open.
Reese nodded.He wasn’t sure that was true, but it was all he could offer.
Archer sat at his desk, staring athis computer screen.
