A spurt of amusement shot through her. “Anything carbonated is fine.” How did he know so much about vending machine coffee?
“I’ll be back in a minute.”
After he left, Rowan resumed her pacing. Adrenaline, huh? She felt as though she had enough energy to power her house for a month. The question was, how would she feel after the adrenaline left her system? She’d probably crash with a vengeance. Hopefully, Heather would be out of surgery and assigned a room before that happened.
A minute later, Brent returned with two bottles of soft drinks. “Here.” He handed her the green bottle. “Sugar to combat the shock and no caffeine.”
“Thanks.” She broke the seal and guzzled a quarter of the liquid. “You aren’t having problems with adrenaline?”
He shook his head. “Compared to what I experienced in the military, this is nothing.”
Rowan thought about his statement while she paced. She eyed him as he lounged back in a hard plastic seat, looking comfortable in this utilitarian environment and not the least bothered by the circumstances. Of course, it wasn’t his relative who was even now in surgery. “You didn’t serve on a Navy ship, did you?”
“Why do you say that?”
“I can’t see you as a sailor. And after watching you in action this evening, I’d say you’re a Navy SEAL. Am I right?”
His lips curved. “Good guess.”
Nice. Really nice. She’d seen documentaries on the training of the SEALs and concluded those guys were modern-day supermen. “How long did you serve?”
“Fifteen years.”
“A long time for dangerous work.”
“I felt a million years old by the time I resigned my commission.” His cell phone signaled an incoming message. Brent glanced at the readout and placed a call. He touched the speaker function. “What do you have, Z?”
“Video feed. Have your laptop nearby?”
“In the SUV. I’m at the hospital with Rowan. Give me the abbreviated version.”
“Got footage of a dark-colored van with a racing stripe in the drive of the Maxwell place. Two guys dressed in black with masks got out of the vehicle and kicked in the front door. A different man races out the back and is chased down by one of the masked men. A couple minutes later, they leave the house, this time carrying a child.”
“Was she fighting them?” Rowan asked.
A pause, then, “How are you holding up, sugar?”
“I’m okay. What about Alexa?”
“She didn’t move a muscle that I could see.”
“Drugged?” Brent asked.
“That’s my guess. I don’t know much about kids, boss, but I’ve never seen one that still, especially if they’re being taken some place they don’t want to go.”
Rowan’s hands clenched. These guys drugged her niece? She was only six. How did they know the right amount of the drug to use on Alexa to knock her out but not hurt her? Hearing Zane’s conclusions made her even more frantic to find her niece and check for herself that the girl was unharmed.
“Did you get a shot of the license plate?”
“Yep. Not going to help much.”
“Let me guess. The van is hot?”
“Bingo. Reported stolen this afternoon.”
“What does that mean?” Rowan asked. Nothing good, she was sure.
“The van’s a dead end.”
“Have you been able to track the van once it left the Maxwell home?” Brent asked.
“Working on that as we speak.”
“Stay on it. I want to know where that van goes. By the way, the racing stripes are red.”
“Copy that.”
Brent slid the phone in his pocket and eyed Rowan. “You okay?”
She shook her head, blinking back the sudden tears flooding her eyes. “Alexa hates needles,” she whispered.
“We don’t know that they injected her. Too much trouble and too dangerous. A better alternative is chloroform.”
“I hope you’re right. Thinking about her suffering kills me.”
Footsteps approached the waiting room. Seconds later, a white-coated man walk into the room. “Maxwell family?”
“That’s me. I’m Rowan Scott, her sister. How is she?”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Scott. We did everything we could, but Ms. Maxwell’s injury was too severe. She’s gone.”
Stunned by the news, she barely felt the muscled arms wrapped around her. The doctor said something else, but Rowan couldn’t understand the words just as she couldn’t make out Brent’s response.
After the doctor left, Brent turned her in his arms so her head rested over his heart and simply held her. For long minutes, Rowan tried to wrap her mind around the fact that her sister was gone. Now she had no one except Alexa. Rowan’s parents were long dead and so was the grandmother who had stepped in to raise her and her sister.
How was she going to tell Alexa? A wave of grief swept over her. Her precious niece wouldn’t remember much about her own mother. Rowan would make sure Alexa knew how much Heather had loved her. She’d show pictures and tell her stories about when Rowan and Heather were growing up. Heather had been a trouble magnet. The stories she could tell about the funny and sweet things that happened in Heather’s life.
Finally, Rowan’s brain started to function again. She realized Brent had been stroking her hair for some time, not saying anything. Rowan circled his waist with her arms.
“Are you okay?” he murmured.
She shook her head. “How will I tell Alexa?”
“One thing at a time, baby. Let’s find her first. We’ll deal with her questions after we bring her home. She needs to know you love her and will be there for her even though her mother can’t be.” He pressed a light kiss to her temple. “Do you know where your sister’s will is, Rowan?”
“I have a copy in my files at home. Heather made me Alexa’s legal guardian if anything happened to her and Jay.”
“You need to have a copy with you at all times. The last thing we want after all this is for Alexa to be dumped into foster care.”
She nodded and edged closer to him. Brent tightened his grip. “I don’t know what to do now,” she whispered. “I have to find Alexa, but I need to take care of the arrangements for Heather.”
“What about Jay?
