“The place is nothing but trees.” Lucky flipped the tablet in his hands around so they could see the satellite image of the area.
“If she did escape, those trees would’ve been her best chance at losing Taylor,” Van added. “It’s where I would’ve gone if I were her.”
“Tell your people to start searching those fucking treesnow!”Chase ordered Knox despite having no authority over the man. “We’re on our way!” He and the others headed for the door to leave.
While they made their way across the apartment’s wood floor, Knox added a rushed “But…”
Chase opened the door, freezing when heard the ominous word. “But what?” he practically shouted into Logan’s phone.
The damn thing was silent several seconds before he heard the detective say, “It’s a big area, Boyer. And there’s only so much manpower available at a moment’s notice, by both county and city. I just think you need to prepare yourself for a less than favorable outcome.”
Meaning the chances of the authorities finding Scottie alive weren’t good.
“Fuck that,” he growled back. To his team, he added a sharp, “Let’s go.”
Knox’s people may not be able to find her, but I sure as fuck will.
“I’ll pull up real-time satellite images on the drive there,” Lucky offered as he and the others exited the apartment behind him. “Any luck, we’ll catch some movement and be able to pinpoint her location.”
“You can hack into a satellite?” Logan questioned the man’s claim.
“Done it before.” Lucky shrugged.
“Youhave?” Both Archer’s and Logan’s surprised voices filled the elevator as the men of Eagle’s Nest rushed to squeeze themselves inside the metal cart.
“When?” Archer sent an incredulous look in Lucky’s direction.
The computer genius slapped the button to take them to the building’s first floor. “You see, I’d tell you, but then I’d have to…well. You know.”
The conversation continued, but Chase’s frantic thoughts turned to Scottie. Was she okay? Had she been injured in the crash? Had that bastard, Taylor, hurt her?
His hands curled into a pair of white-knuckled fists at his sides as his heart ached to the point of physical pain. The woman he loved—the mother of the child they had created out of love—was somewhere out there in those fucking trees. Scared. Alone.
And she had no way of knowing he and his team were on their way to find her.
Please hang in there, sugar. I’m coming for you!
The group of five made it to their unmarked, full-sized SUV in record time. Van drove, while Chase took the front passenger seat. Archer, Lucky, and Logan all piled into the middle bench seat to save time.
They headed north, and Van pushed the vehicle as fast as it could safely go. Chase’s head pounded like a motherfucker, but his overwhelming worry for the woman he loved made him feel as though he was losing his mind.
Needing to focus on something other than the very real possibility of losing both her and their unborn child, he forced himself to return to the team’s earlier conversation.
“You said Levi Taylor was in the system as a kid?” Chase looked back at Lucky from over his shoulder.
“From the time he was four until he aged out, yeah,” he confirmed.
Keping his head down, the man focused on the tablet clutched tightly in his fists. With a tap of the glass, the image changed to split-screen.
One half still showed the aerial view of the trees near where the van was found. The other became filled with a slew of digital information.
“Says here, our guy bounced from home to home until he was twelve. Juvie records show an early indication of possible psychosis. Hurting and killing small animals. That sort of thing.”
“Christ.” Chase covered his rugged jaw with his hand and momentarily squeezed his eyes shut.
Thatwas the kind of man they were dealing with?Thatwas the kind of monster who had Scottie within his grasp?
“Tell me about it,” Lucky shared his despair. “Whoa, wait. That’s weird…” The man frowned. “All the trouble young Levi got himself into suddenly stopped shortly after he turned twelve.”