Page 82 of Honor ’N’ Duty

“Thanks. It’s a start, but I honestly don’t know if there’s a way to find her,” Kade said in a choked voice. “I’m calling Deck, Brett, and Evan. They’re on shift right now, but if they can be here, they will be.”

Laia couldn’t believe the words she’d just overheard. She flung open the door and bore down on Kade. “What do you mean, you don’t know if there’s a way to find her? There is a way, but you won’t do it. I’ve been patient, but you just keep going in circles around your precious ‘book.’ Every minute my daughter is out there, she’s in even more danger. Tell me you’ll keep your promise. Tell me you will get my daughter back. Promise me!”

Kade ground his jaw but remained silent, telling her all she needed to know. He wasn’t answering her because he couldn’t make promises that he felt he could no longer keep.

The ugly truth crashed over her. The Sampson brothers had been the best and the worst things to ever happen to her. She’d relied too much on both of them. Again, she fled to the powder room, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Laia,” a deep voice—Kade’s—came from the other side of the door. “Are you all right?”

Am I all right? Until she had Rosa back in her arms, she’d never be all right.

“Just leave me alone,” she called out. Taking a deep breath, she stared once more at her reflection. No longer was she the same person she’d been six years ago. This woman was strong, independent. This woman didn’t need the Sampson brothers.

A plan materialized in her head, and she knew what she had to do.

Laia picked up her phone, the only connection she had left to her daughter. She stuffed it in the pocket of her sundress, then opened the door. Kade was no longer there. She was about to leave the powder room when the doorbell rang, and Sergeant Malloy started walking through the living room, heading toward her.

Gently, trying not to call attention to herself, Laia pulled the powder room door closed, leaving it open just enough to see into the hallway. She heard the front door open. Voices and more footsteps filtered through as people came into the house. She didn’t know if it was more police, forensic technicians, or the FBI. Half a dozen people, some wearing suits and carrying black plastic cases, walked past the powder room.

With her heart racing, she slipped out, then tiptoed quietly and quickly to the front door. Her purse sat on the small table in the hallway, and she threw it over her shoulder. A moment later, she was outside and down the steps.

As she speed-walked to the road, she glanced at the many police cars and dark sedans lining Second Avenue. Trying not to look suspicious, she nodded to one officer who stood by her patrol car, a cell phone pressed to her ear.

Her plan might not work, but she couldn’t sit around on her ass and wait around a minute longer. If she died trying to get her daughter back, so be it. At least she’d die trying.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“She’s gone.”Sergeant Malloy was the last one to check in.

Kade swallowed every colorful expletive on the tip of his tongue, which meant he was about to choke on them.

They’d searched the entire house, garage, and adjacent beach, and no one could find Laia. She wasn’t thinking clearly. Her daughter had been kidnapped, and he’d messed this whole thing up as royally as any human being possibly could have by driving her away. Now he worried for her just as much as for Rosa. In her irrational, grieved state, who knew what Laia would do.

Knowing she’d taken her phone with her, he tried calling her for the third time. When it went to voicemail, he left another message. After stuffing his phone back in his pocket, he let loose with some of those expletives he’d been holding in check.

The only thing keeping him grounded was Smoke, who’d sidled up to him and pressed his big head against his thigh, forcing him to reach down and pet his dog’s head. The second his fingers touched the long, soft fur, an eerie calm settled around him.

Jamie came through the front door, watching and waiting, Kade knew, for whatever plan he came up with. No sense wasting time over what he didn’t know, namely Rosa’s location, so he focused on what he did know.

The long-distance video footage from the camera facing the beach showed two men walking with Rosa toward the dunes. Laia didn’t have the ledger or the money, nor did she have any way of getting them. The ledger was secure in the evidence locker, along with the safe deposit box key. What she did have was her phone. Colon’s goons would call her again, and when they did, Kade needed to be there to make sure she didn’t do something stupid. Like go after Rosa alone.

To Malloy, he ordered, “Put out an APB on Laia Velez. If anyone finds her, take her into protective custody. She’ll fight you. Do it anyway, then call me.” To Jamie, he said, “Let’s roll.”

Kade and Smoke hopped into Kade’s SUV, while Jamie followed in his black Interceptor. As soon as they hit the main drag in town, Kade punched it, heading north to Asbury Park and Laia’s house. If she was even there. The way she’d snuck out of the shack told him she didn’t want to be found. Not by him. He had no idea what he’d say to her at this point. What if he couldn’t get Rosa back?

Don’t even think it.

Words from one of his instructors at West Point came to mind.

Failure is nothing but the non-existence of success. Fiasco, on the other hand, is a failure of huge proportions.

By arresting Josh, perhaps he’d failed his brother as a human being and with the direst of consequences. No way would he make that mistake again.

He zigzagged through traffic, not bothering to check behind him to verify Jamie was there. His friend was a natural phenomenon behind the wheel. If Jamie had gone the NASCAR route, he’d have broken every record in the books.

Kade grabbed his phone and cued up Manny Dominguez, whom he’d called earlier to let him know about Rosa’s kidnapping and to request the AUSA get them a search warrant for Colon’s mother’s house.

“I’ve got bad news,” Manny began. “The AUSA says no dice. Unless you’ve got rock-solid proof that Fernando Colon had something to do with the girl’s kidnapping, the U.S. Attorney won’t authorize any warrants. They don’t want to go up against Colon and his lawyers again without incontrovertible evidence.”