I sank down to the floor and closed my eyes. I tried not to think about all the things that could go wrong but in the back of my mind I knew I could very possibly starve to death in here or worse drown if I was hit with a big wave that capsized whatever this container was sitting on. I tried to refocus to think about something else. I concentrated on Ethan. I thought about his smile. How he was so gentle, and kind yet was a no-nonsense, take no shit kind of guy at the same time. I began to cry. I prayed Ethan would find me in time. I prayed that I hadn’t survived being blown up in the Middle East to come home and find Ethan all over again just to die before we ever really got to spend any time together. I started to examine my life. What had I accomplished? Not much. Sure, I took a few photos and shared the real story about war and its effect on soldiers and marines. I took over my family’s company, but I hadn’t been there long enough to do the things I wanted to do. My thoughts circled back around to my situation and I screamed for my own end, my own death and unfinished life.
Ethan
“Where are we?” I demanded walking into the bullpen.
All eyes lifted from computers, print outs and reports to stare at me. I know my voice had been harsh, but I was getting desperate. We had absolutely nothing to tell us where Kay may have been taken and by whom.
“I’ve been looking into InDesign with some help from Mac.” Stephanie started. “The man who made the offer to Port City and met with Michael and Kay was Todd Bannister.”
“Is he the head of the company?”
“More or less, yes. He’s the face of the company. InDesign itself is operated by a board, but as best I can tell, the names of the other board member are fake. InDesign seems to be a shell for something or someone else. I haven’t gotten that far into them yet.”
“What about closer to home, do they have anything like this linked to them in the past?”
Logan spoke up next. “Nothing that can be tied directly to them. They are smart and they cover their tracks very well. Four years ago, they tried to buy out another company and at first the company resisted but, before the deal could be settled either way, the owner of the company died in a car crash.”
“Now that is interesting.” I felt hopeful.
“Yeah, there were no witnesses and the physical evidence led to a rental car, which was rented with a stolen credit card.” Logan looked just as frustrated as I was.
“Anything else?” I began to pace the room.
“A few years before that, they bought a company after the CEO died of a heart attack.” Logan looked down at his notes. “Nothing suspicious about the death according the coroner’s report and the local police. The company was poised to go public and it was predicted their stocks would skyrocket. InDesign bought them the next day and promoted the second in command and the company rebounded nicely. InDesign sold the company a year later and made a huge profit.”
“Convenient.” I said.
“Yes, but nothing to prove that it was anything more than a lucky break for InDesign.”
“Was Todd Bannister with the firm then?”
“Yes, he was.”
“Okay, so if they follow the same MO, then they aren’t going to outright kill Kay, they are going to make it look like an accident of some kind. So, we need to be on the lookout for any Jane Doe’s that show up at hospitals or morgues and trace this guy Todd Bannister for the last seventy-two hours. Who has he talked to? Where did he eat, where did he sleep?”
“We aren’t going to be able to get any warrants based on the information Logan just gave us.” Jared pointed out.
“That’s true, but you don’t need a warrant to find him and follow him on traffic cameras.” I stated what I felt was the obvious. Jared nodded and got to work. “Also, ping his cell phone see if we can tell where he is or was. No phone records, just location.”
Mac and I were debating the merits of trying to get IRS records on InDesign or Todd Bannister himself when Jared called out.
“Boss, got something!”
“Bannister was at one of the industrial parks along the water.”
“What was he doing?”
“I don’t know yet but it’s in our time window.”
“Okay, you stay here keep digging, Mac, Logan.” I said heading for the door.
My heart raced. It was the closest thing I had to a lead and we were working against the clock. It had already been twenty-four hours since Kay went missing and we were no closer to finding her than when we started.
“Boss, you want me to drive?” Logan asked.
“No.” I needed the distraction and to concentrate on
