“Did you find the car?”
“Yes, this afternoon.”
“Well, that’s great.” A pause. “I mean, it’s terrible for Piper and her family, but at least they’ll know what happened to her. How long until the sheriff can get it out of the water?”
“We’re working on the logistics at the moment.”
“Should I stop at the grocery store?”
“Actually, we might just fill up on snacks. Do you think Harriet would let you stay with her tonight?”
“Probably—you really think you’ll be that late?”
“The special election is in less than three days.”
Muffled voices sounded, then Beth came back. “Harriet says it’s fine to borrow her guest room. Just call if you need me for anything?”
What Alaric needed was to hold Beth in his arms, then bury himself inside her, but he kept those thoughts to himself. And even though he hadn’t told her any outright lies about what he was doing, he hated keeping her in the dark.
“I will. Enjoy your evening, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Nick chuckled as Alaric hung up. “Nicely done.”
Asshole. “You told your wife you were watching a football game tonight.”
“Because I didn’t want to worry her, and Lara’s my girlfriend, not my wife. Although I’m planning to pop the question. Do you know anything about rings? Rule of thumb says to spend a month’s salary, right? But I’m not sure Lara would want to wear a boulder on her finger.”
Alaric really wasn’t the best person to ask. The one time he’d bought a ring, it had been a three-carat purple sapphire. A diamond hadn’t seemed appropriate since that was Black’s pet name for Emmy. But what did it matter? Shit happened, so he’d never given it to her.
“Can we focus on the task at hand?”
“This magical mystery tour? Sure. Wanna make a bet on where we’re going? My money’s on the cabin.”
Blackwood’s research team had been busier than they’d previously let on, and they’d come up with three possible destinations so far. Ridley had once been stationed at the Naval base in Norfolk, and Black recalled he’d owned a cabin in the area. Chances were he’d held onto it. Heading north on the map past Fredericksburg, the Devane family had a country retreat near Lorton. Kyla’s father and his father before him had used it as a base for the commute to DC. And heading south, an old newspaper article showed that Ridley’s grandparents used to live near Greensboro, North Carolina. They’d both passed away, but so far, nobody had found a record of their property being sold. The team would know more when the convoy reached Beckley—Ridley’s men would most probably turn onto I-77 if they were going to Greensboro.
“I’m going with the Devane estate,” Alaric said. “High walls, plenty of privacy. Remember Ridley’s doing this to protect Kyla.”
Like Nick, Alaric didn’t believe the timing was a coincidence—the enemy had snatched Emmy just before he found the submerged car. Ridley knew exactly where Piper’s body was because Kyla had told him. The pair were closer than anyone had initially suspected.
The radio crackled. “Ana, drop back. Nick, you take over.”
Alaric recognised some of the names spoken over the radio. Ana was Emmy’s half-sister. Xavier was another ex-boyfriend, former Israeli special forces if Alaric’s sources were to be trusted. Dan was along for the ride too, the little traitor, plus Carmen, Nate’s wife. The big mystery? Where the hell was Black? He was using his wife as bait for a psycho, yet he wasn’t in any of the chase cars. Neither was Nate, and the pair of them had been joined at the hip since their Navy SEAL days.
They were up to something.
Nick increased his speed a touch, passing Ana and her shadowy passenger in their battered Volkswagen. The car might have looked one ride away from a junkyard, but Alaric didn’t doubt that it was a different story under the hood. That engine was no clunker.
The Pontiac came into view, silver in colour, two years old with no dings, dents, or scratches. Nondescript. If Alaric had needed to select a vehicle for transporting a kidnap victim, he’d have chosen something similar. Following the pattern set by Blackwood, he and Nick would stay in sight for twenty minutes or so, then swap again.
“We’re approaching Beckley,” Nick told everyone.
The unnamed controller took over. “Carmen, you go west on I-64. Isaiah, take I-77.”
Carmen and Isaiah were in front of the Pontiac at the moment. Whichever route it didn’t take, that driver would turn around and join the back of the tail. In the FBI, Alaric had been involved in many surveillance operations, but budgetary constraints rarely allowed them more than three cars to rotate. Blackwood Security had thrown a lot of resources at today’s proceedings, which made Black’s absence all the more notable.
The screen built into the dash showed the red dots of Carmen and Isaiah peeling off left and right. Where would the Pontiac go? Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
“Looks like we’re sticking on I-64,” Nick said for the benefit of the others.
Virginia it was. Which meant at least four more hours of worry.
Still, they got the chance for a bathroom break. They were fourth in the procession when the Pontiac pulled into a gas station, and the controller told Dan and Cade to carry on past. Nick slotted the Tahoe into a dark corner of the lot, which doubled as Big Al’s Discount Cars, while the Pontiac pulled up at the farthest gas pump. Ana arrived soon after, taking the spot closest to the kiosk.
“We could get Emmy back right now,” Alaric muttered. “That would be the sensible thing to do.”
“Wouldn’t go down too well with the big man.”
“He’s not even here.”
“A hundred bucks says he’s not far away.”
“Aren’t you worried Emmy might get hurt?”
Alaric was fucking terrified. Judging by Emmy’s steady pulse rate and lack of communication, Ridley’s men had given her a long-lasting sedative. She was in no state to fight back.
“Always, but I’ve worked with Black for long enough to
