Page 83 of Honor ’N’ Duty

“You’re kidding.” Kade pressed his lips together. He’d been sure that where a missing child was involved, the U.S. Attorney’s Office would relax their standard of proof enough to get them a warrant.

“Wish I was, man. But hey, we should have the warrant for that bank box by mid-morning tomorrow.”

Well, that was something. Kade only hoped it wouldn’t be too little too late.

Smoke stuck his head through the kennel window, whining as he landed a few licks on the side of Kade’s face. His dog didn’t have to understand English to know Kade was royally pissed.

“Call every one of your informants. Tell them there’s a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the safe return of Rosa Velez.”

“I need to get that kind of cash approved, first.”

“The money’s coming from my pocket, so just do it!” A little girl’s life was at stake, and every prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office was too scared of Colon and his army of lawyers to do what had to be done. “While you’re at it, run a FinCen check on Laia. Find out what credit cards she’s got, then track them. If she makes any new purchases, call me with the location.”

“You got it.”

Kade ended the call as he came to a screeching stop in front of Laia’s house. Since her Ford Escape was still locked in his garage in North Plainfield, she had no mode of transportation of her own. Chances were, she’d gotten an Uber or a Lift the second she’d slipped out of the shack. If she wasn’t here, he’d initiate a track on her phone.

As Kade and Smoke charged up the walkway to Laia’s side of the duplex, Jamie fell in step behind them. He tried the knob, but the door was locked. He didn’t really think she was inside, but he pounded on the door anyway. “Laia! Open up.”

“She’s not there.”

He whipped his head around to find Alvita standing just inside the duplex’s other door. “Do you know where she is?”

Alvita shook her head. “No, but you just missed her. She asked to borrow my minivan for a day or two, then took off. I’m on vacation for the rest of the week, so I said ‘sure.’”

Kade narrowed his eyes on the other woman. Why would Laia come back to the house only to leave again? “Do you know what she did inside the house? Did she take anything from inside?”

“She changed clothes,” Alvita said, looking confused. “And she had a small suitcase with her when she left.”

Then wherever she was going, she didn’t plan on coming back soon. “Do you know where she went?”

“No. She looked upset, and when I asked her what was wrong, all she said was that she had a family emergency.”

Kade tugged his creds from his back pocket, then pulled out a business card and handed it to her. “If you see or hear from her, call me right away.”

She took the card, and a look of worry filled her eyes. “Is she in trouble? Is Rosa okay?”

“What’s your license plate?”

She recited the tag. Before he’d even finished jotting the number onto another business card, he, Smoke, and Jamie were already halfway down the steps. “Just let me know if you hear from her,” he threw over his shoulder. “It’s important.”

Great. Now Laia had wheels and could be anywhere.

He handed the business card with Alvita’s tag written on it to Jamie. “Get Sergeant Malloy to add this to the APB out on Laia. And follow me.”

“Where to next?”

Kade jerked open the door. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do—bust through a thick wall of DHS protocol without authorization. “Fernando Colon’s. We need to have a little chat.”

…

Laia pushed through the heavy glass door at the Regional Bank & Trust, pulling the rolling suitcase she’d retrieved at her house behind her. She cast a wary glance at all the security cameras angled toward the door. What she was about to do was beyond illegal.

And she didn’t give a crap.

Luckily, Li-Mei was in today. Laia could see her friend sitting at her usual desk. At her approach, the other woman looked up and smiled.

“Laia! It’s good to see you again. Are you here to get into your box?”