And teach the girls to use them. Perhaps he should find an RV or something. Take it west; if anyone asked, he could state that he was taking his girls to learn about the country while he worked over the internet. To distract them from the death of his wife. Perhaps she had died from cancer. Or a car accident.
Something tragic that people wouldn’t expect him—or the girls—to discuss easily. He’d need to dye his hair, too. Cover the birthmark on his neck so it wasn’t so easily identified. He would have to think of some way to make an income. Two young girls would cost a fortune to raise appropriately. In spite of what had happened to their mother, he owed them a proper future.
Maybe, in a few months, he would search out another mother for them. One with some funds of her own. He could sell insurance, or even real estate. He knew how to get into the right places to build himself an identity. There, he’d find a woman with the right background.
Perhaps he would be fortunate and she would be a redhead this time. One who looked much like Jaclyn.
It would just take time. And planning.
But first, he had to get his daughters well again. And avoid being caught.
He could not go to prison. That would just leave his daughters out there in the world alone. He had seen what that had done to his son.
Bentley would always be his greatest failure. One for which he would never forgive himself. His son was all alone out there now, among wolves larger and stronger and meaner than he could ever hope to be.
He had had no idea how to fix that, to get Bentley out of that place.
Until he’d learned that was the means by which Lytel and the others were planning to control him if he’d failed.
And there was nothing he could do to fix it.
He would not let his daughters suffer the same fate.
85
Jac knew the instant each team checked in that this was going to be another wasted endeavor. Max’s team was the first to check in. They’d gone to the most likely place.
Nothing.
She looked at Dani next to her. “We need to regroup, reevaluate. What if he wouldn’t stay close to here? What if he’d cut his losses, take his wads of cash, and run?”
“What about the girls? Would he take them with him?”
Jac thought for a moment. Thought about every movement he’d made in front of her, every word she had heard him say. How controlling he had been with Rachel and his daughters, how he had seemed to want approval from the most popular fathers at Max’s house that day. “I think he would. He visited Bentley weekly, according to social services records. He wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t felt some connection to his son. He has been a reasonably active father in the girls’ lives. Maybe he’s taking them and running.”
“But once again…the magic question is, where would Philip/Paul go?”
“He feels threatened. He has to know people are hunting him. Maybe Rachel was accidental—though I’m leaning premeditated, considering his past history—and now he has two small girls with him. Children are harder to hide at times than adults. Harder to keep secret. He’ll need a vehicle. We have him connected to two SUVs in the Sturvin name and a rental. Miranda and her new buddy confirmed that earlier.”
Jac and Dani went over everything again and again, looking for some small key, some small detail to tell them where and how to find Paul. They kept at it until Max and the rest of the teams made it back to the conference room.
Frustration was almost palpable. Max’s face was tight, and his shoulders tensed.
And he was the most relaxed of the group.
“No signs of Sturvin or anyone at any of those three places,” Max said, coming up behind her. Jac watched him over her shoulder. “We miscalculated.”
“We need to get more people going over Sturvin’s online searches,” Jac said, feeling sick at the idea they had to start back at the beginning. “He’s fleeing. He’s going to go where he feels comfortable.”
“Maybe. Or is he smart enough to know that’s exactly how we’ll track him?” Max asked. He X-ed off the three cabins that had been searched. He turned to the man who’d entered behind him. “Lytel, we have two more cabins here. Can you send teams to clear each one?”
“Not going yourself?” Barnes asked. “Why?”
“Time. If the other cabins are abandoned as well, we would lose hours.”
“Hours we can’t afford to lose”,” Jac added. “We’re approaching the forty-eight-hour window now. Once we hit that, our chances are finding the girls safely are cut drastically.”
“We’ll do. Barnes? Want to ride along? See how it’s done by the experts?” Lytel asked.
Barnes actually paled. But he nodded. “Let’s go.”
86
The last thing Todd wanted to be doing right now was a ride-along with Eugene Lytel. The man made his skin crawl.
“Who all is going with us?” Todd asked quietly. There were four men in full tactical gear walking ahead of them. Todd didn’t know who they were; he assumed they were just members of Lytel’s auxiliary team.
He was damned sure he was walking into enemy territory now.
His only comfort was that Lytel thought Todd was on his side.
“People I can trust.” Lytel looked right at him. It felt like he was peering right into Todd’s soul, seeing the guilt for the text he’d sent hours ago. Todd forced himself to act cool. To not do anything too stupid. “If we get the opportunity tonight, Sturvin’s to be taken out. The man knows just too much.”
The men in front of him had heard Lytel. And hadn’t reacted. They were probably as dirty as Lytel was.
Todd’s stomach clenched. He
