Jaxon’s hand tightened around the phone until the plastic creaked. “I don’t know yet, but Tazzy’s missing. Tell Reid I’m headed to Graceview.”
He hung up without waiting for a reply.
Georgia stepped forward, voice shaking. “Jaxon?—”
“Not now,” he cut in. Already moving toward the door, he called back to Hutch. “Make sure none of the other Littles leave. Nobody enters. Nobody leaves, and call Ezra and report a kidnapping.”
Jaxon didn’t wait for Hutch’s reply as he headed out the door. If anything happened to Tazzy, the General was a dead man.
He shoved the door open and strode out into the parking lot. It only took a moment to fire up his Harley. Graceville estate was the place to start. Every mile of the wind whipping his face felt like torture without Tazzy riding behind him.
He leaned low over the handlebars. Where the hell was Ghost in all of this? It had been three fucking days with no word. Was he on the General’s payroll? Maybe there’d be a double funeral.
The instincts he’d sharpened in prison told him something was coming and that his time was limited to save Tazzy. Right now, those instincts were screaming that he needed to talk with Ghost.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he thumbed the call button. Ghost answered on the third ring.
“What the fuck is going on?” Jaxon demanded without a greeting. “Tazzy’s been taken, where the hell have you been?”
Ghost’s voice came back tight and low. “Look, man. I’ve been trying to figure out what the hell is happening. Thorne and the General had a huge blowout last night. Word is, the General fired him. Said he would represent himself from now on. Thorne was hot as shit. He stormed out of the compound sayin’ the General would ‘rue the day you crossed Phillip Thorne.’”
Jaxon’s grip tightened on the throttle. “Why the fuck didn’t you call me then?”
“At first, I thought it was a good thing, and not that important. Second, it’s not like I can yank out my phone and call from anywhere. There are guards all over the place on the lookout for spies. Listen, that’s not the important part,” Ghost snapped back. “The General called the monitoring company early this morning. No idea why, but I’m thinkin’ it can’t be good.”
Fuck. Jaxon was going to kill this idiot, but first, he needed to hear what he had to say.
“He hasn’t been seen since the monitoring guy left. I checked with one of the girls who services the General. She said the General didn’t take his breakfast tray or his lunch tray. They left them outside his door like always. She said there was a note on the door saying not to disturb him today for any reason. But I’m thinking something is off. You’d think he’d at least eat, but according to this girl, she picked up his breakfast tray untouched when she left his lunch.”
Jaxon’s blood ran cold. “Get eyes on him. Now. I don’t care what you have to do, just do it.”
Ghost cursed under his breath. “Fuck! Fine. I’ll call you back.”
“Like hell you will. You hang up, and it’ll be the last thing you do.”
“Stay on the line then, asshole. I’m going in.”
Jaxon could hear the muffled sound of Ghost’s boots on the concrete as he moved through the compound. Jaxon listened to another door opening, alerting him that Ghost was in a building. Ghost must have met someone because Jaxon could hear a woman’s voice talking to him.
“No, he still hasn’t taken the lunch tray,” the woman said. “And no, I don’t have the key. The General has the only one. Besides, the note said not to disturb him, there’s no—hey! What are you doing?”
The sound of a heavy kick cracked through the phone. Wood splintered. A door slammed open.
The woman must have panicked. “Stop, you can’t do that! I’m getting security!” she said, as the thump of running footsteps slowly faded.
“Oh shit.” Ghost was back on the phone and scared.
Jaxon’s stomach dropped. “What do you see?”
“There’s a man in here. He’s gagged and bound to a chair, and he’s wearing a monitoring service uniform.”
Jaxon’s voice went flat. “Get the gag off him.”
Ghost’s footsteps thudded over the phone. “Hold on, man. I got you. Let me get the gag off you.”
Jaxon heard movement, then a man’s panicked voice came through the line, hoarse and terrified. “He made me remove the monitor. The crazy fucker held a gun on me and said he’d blow my fucking head offif I didn’t do what he said. He had me transfer the monitor to my own leg, gagged me, and tied me up. I’ve been in here for hours. Thank God you came in.”
Jaxon hung up and called Sawyer.