Emmett paced the length of his office trying to figure out the next step. It had been over an hour, and they were no closer to finding Janie than when they’d left the hospital.
Boone was on a much-needed coffee run at a small shop down the block that was open twenty-four-seven. Blake was at his computer, using his tech knowledge and skills to hopefully find somethingthat would lead them to Janie.
While he did that, Gwen was in her office, scouring Janie’s phone for any possible clues. In the meantime, Lucas and Draven were in the conference room with their laptops, both men going back through CCTV footage.
The hope was they’d catch a break and get a glimpse of the van or the man from the hospital. Anything that might help, they were willing to try, no matter how bad the odds.
It hadn’t been said, but Emmett was pretty sure histeam knew Janie was more than just a client. But even if she wasn’t, Emmett and the others would be putting forth the same, unwavering effort.
The reason was simple. They were Echo Team. As he’d recently told Janie, this was what they did.
Rescue, Intel, Security, and Capture.
It was the very core of every R.I.S.C. team.
Emmett’s desk phone rang, and he went over to answer it. Pushing a button, he placed the call on speaker.
“Yeah?”
“Hey. So I backtracked the file’s origin, but as I suspected, all it shows is it was originally downloaded onto the flash drive from a server within the White House. No surprise, since Amy worked there.”
His chest grew tight. “What about Janie?”
Please, God. Please let us find her before it’s too late.
Blake’s tone softened with regret. “Nothing yet, but I think I might be onto something. I’ll call you the second I know.”
Emmett pushed the button again and raked a hand through his hair. The waiting was absolute torture, but until they either got lucky or Blake’s genius finally paid off, he had no choice but to wait in his own personal hell.
He stood in that same spot for an indeterminant amount of time. His mind remained filled with worry and his heart hurt for a woman he didn’t want to live without.
Emmett’s desk phone rang again, snapping him out of the punishing trance.
“Yeah?” he answered the same way as before.
Blake’s voice held a touch of excitement that wasn’t there before. “Meet me in the conference room,” he said in a rush. “I think I’ve got something.”
There were no questions asked before Emmett dropped the phone’s receiver back into its cradle and rushed out of his office. In the conference room, he immediately found Blake, who was sitting across the table from Draven and Lucas.
Gwen came in half a beat after him.
“What’s going on?” The woman asked as soon as she came into the room.
But Emmett derailed her question with one of his own. “Were you able to trace the file’s origin?”
Blake turned his head their way. “Aside from knowing the download to the flash drive came from somewhere within the White House, no. I’m still running a few different programs, each one using a different algorithm to cross-reference signals found by?—”
“In English,” Gwen cut the man off as she took the seat next to his.
With a roll of his eyes, the frustrated man relented and tried again.
“Anyway those programs are currently working in the background to find the areas of the city with the highest mathematical probability of being a kidnapper’s haven. In the meantime, I went back to the conversation you and I had earlier.” Blake’s attention was on Emmett. “Remember when you called from the hospital the first time, you asked me to look for info on Devon’s means of travel?”
“I remember.” Emmett made his way closer to thetable but didn’t sit. “Boone and I were trying to figure out when and how she got to D.C. because Capitol Police didn’t find her car or any rental registered in her name. And, as he put it, it wasn’t exactly the kind of neighborhood frequented by tourists, so it’s assumed whoever took her, drove her to that location for the sole purpose of doing a dump and run.”
At the mention of the assault on Janie’s friend, Blake’s features grew hard as stone. A muscle twitched at the side of his jaw. But then he blinked, and just like that, the intriguing look was gone.
“Okay, so I started with commercial flight passenger logs,” the tech genius continued,” but she wasn’t listed on any flights coming in or going out of D.C. in the last week. I expanded that search, on the off chance she was somehow connected to the jerks behind the treasonous file.”