Page 53 of Wounded Hearts

Jack tapped his pen against the desk. “He must’ve had help.”

“No shit, genius.” Astrid rolled her eyes at Jack, who glared at her before turning away and dismissing her.

“We know he has ties to people in government but did he back then?” Zack asked.

“The key is the husband. We know Winslow’s husband was older and very wealthy, but we don’t know his identity. Winslow may not even be his name and their marriage certificate is buried deep. If we find him, I think we’ll find the missing link.”

“You keep working that, Will. Lucy, are you up to helping him?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Good. Now we need a plan to get Mara back. Drew, can you tell us exactly what the message said?”

Drew repeated it word for word, knowing it would be a long time before he forgot what it said.

“So, we think she took her to Wells. Dane and Kanan are still watching the house but haven’t reported any movement. Is there anywhere else she could be?”

“The plans.” Roz jumped up and ran from the room, returning a minute later with the rolled-up plans. She laid them out of the large table. “Mara helped me go over the blueprints for the house, to make sure that if we had to go in there would be no surprises. These show no exits or entrances on the property but if you look at what’s logged with the building control, it shows an entrance here.” Roz pointed to spot near a small cottage. “What’s the bet that’s where they’ve got her.”

Drew felt his heart kick up then. “That’s how he’s managing to move around without being spotted.”

Reid stepped forward. The tall, lean muscular man with more tattoos than Will was an ex-hostage Rescue Team leader from the FBI. “Y’all need to make them think Drew is going through with this.”

“No fucking way are Lizzie, Megan, and Lucy going within a hundred miles of this fucker,” Smithy spat, his hatred for the woman who’d almost ruined him stark on his face.

Reid held up a hand. “Calm down, dude. I have an idea for that.”

An hour later they had the beginnings of a solid plan.