“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jimmy said and placed the card in his back pocket.
Dash returned to where we were standing. “You ready to get out of here?”
“Hell yes,” I said, causing them all to laugh.
I followed them out the door and to the only other vehicle in the parking lot. “Whose is this?” I asked.
“It’s a rental,” Dash explained. “Shaker flew us here. While we were in the air, Luke arranged to have a rental ready and waiting for us at the airport.”
“I was wondering how you got here so fast.”
The moment we were all inside the car with the doors closed, Dad demanded to know what happened.
“I’m not sure. I think I might have been drugged because there’s a large chunk of time I can’t account for.”
“That’s okay. Just tell us what you can.”
“I was at home getting ready to go to work. I remember walking out to my truck to leave. Then, I woke up tied to a chair in someone’s basement.”
“Whose basement?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. No one was there when I woke up. Once I got myself free, I didn’t hang around to investigate. I got the hell out of there as fast as I could.”
“Good. That was the right thing to do. Do you have any idea where you were?”
I shook my head. “It was dark when I made it out. I walked through the woods for hours until I found a creek to follow, and I didn’t stop walking until about thirty minutes before I called Luke. I have no idea how far I walked or what direction I was traveling in. I’m not even sure I could find my way back to Jimmy’s cabin.”
“I’ll call Byte and have him start digging. He should be able to find Jimmy’s cabin. Then, we can search the surrounding area until we find what we’re looking for. Do you have any idea who took you?”
“No. Do you?”
“Hold that thought,” Shaker interrupted. “We’re here.”
I waited until we were in the air to revisit my unanswered question. “Do you know who’s behind this?”
Dad shifted in his seat to face me while he spoke into his headset. “No, not for sure, but we have an idea.”
“Who?” I asked, wondering why he was holding back.
“Pamela Perry.”
“Aspen’s mother?” I asked in disbelief. “I know she’s a piece of shit, but what would she want with me?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
“Have you talked to Aspen? What does she think about it?”
Dad’s eyes closed, and he inhaled deeply. Then, he placed one hand on my shoulder and gently squeezed.
“No one has seen or heard from Aspen since she left work yesterday.”
“What?” I whispered, hoping I hadn’t heard him correctly even though I knew I had.
“We’re doing everything we can to find her. The clubs, the police, the FBI. Everyone is searching for her. And that’s exactly what we’ll be doing as soon as we land in Devil Springs.”
Suddenly, Luke’s odd hesitation on the phone made sense. He already knew Aspen was missing, and after my call, he knew she wasn’t with me.
“It’ll be okay, son. We found you, and we’re going to find her.”