Silas made good on his promise and called in everyone we know. Men from the volunteer SWAT team and colleagues on their days off flooded into the station. The Powells—Lee, Jack, Jude, Corjan, and Aiden—along with their women, descended upon my house within minutes of Silas’s call. Everyone is dropping their lives in an instant to help.
On my next pass, I make a sharp right down the stairs and into my bedroom. It’s quiet down here, but the noise in my head remains too loud. An insistent stream of guilt. Alice’s face swims in my consciousness. Her mischievous brown eyes. Her radiant, teasing smile. The things that make her every bit of the firecracker that I love.
I close my eyes, sinking deep into the dark, undeniable truth—I’ve fallen in love with her. And I might never get the chance to tell her.
My phone alerts in my hand. The notification burns through me like acid.
Alice’s CGM app loudly alerts me to her blood sugar.
264.
Red and climbing with straight vertical arrows.
Fuck.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
I stare at the screen as if I can see her through it. This is a lifeline. A literal lifeline. Even if this date isn’t transmitting in real time, it’s proof that she’s still alive. At the time of this reading, she was still alive.
And if it’s transmitting, it might be back online. Silas said they couldn’t ping her phone. Her last location keeps showing at the park, but this might be what they need to get through.
In an instant, I regain my feet and fly up the stairs three at a time. In the kitchen, I find the reusable tote Alice bought for my groceries and start filling it. An ice pack and insulin goes into her insulated carrying case, and I toss that in. A fresh CGM and pod because I have no fucking clue if hers are working correctly. The spare glucometer and test strips.
I move to her recovery cupboard next, throwing in juice and gummy bears and starbursts—yellow only, her favorite flavor. I realize these are not the things she needs to treat a high, but who knows how long it’ll be before I can get to her? What if the sensor is malfunctioning and she’s crashing instead? I need to be prepared for every scenario. Best case, worst case, and everything in between.
“Sutton.” Lee puts his hand on my shoulder. “We’re going to find her.”
“She’s still alive.” I fight against the waver in my voice. “I’ve got to get to her.”
“Did you hear something?” His voice is sharp and alert.
I hold out the phone still clutched in my fist, showing him the screen. “I don’t know where she is. I don’t know what condition she’s in. But as of this time stamp, she was alive. There has to be a way to get her location off this.”
An intensity settles in Lee’s expression. One I haven’t seen for a long time. “I’ll drive you.”
I nod and hand him the bag. “You can organize a local volunteer search. Grab Spencer. Grab anyone who’s available, but leave a couple of guys here in case anyone comes looking for trouble.”
Urgency screams in my gut, demanding I leave right this instant, but I tell myself to hold it together. Silas hasn’t called, which means nothing has changed.
There’s one important thing I need to take care of before I can go.
Nellie stares at me with a pale face from her place secure in Whitney’s arms as if she knows exactly what I need to do. It took an hour for her sobs to subside, and I can only pray this won’t start more because I need to have the strength to walk out that door.
I kneel in front of them and take her tiny hands into mine. “I have to leave, Buttercup.”
The sobs ignite immediately, and her nails dig into the backs of my hands. Tiny half-moon slivers bite into my skin. I don’t stop her from expressing her fear. I need the pain. It keeps me grounded.
“Please don’t leave me, Daddy.” Her tears have long since run dry, leaving her with nothing more but swollen vocal cords and raspy hiccups.
“I don’t want to, but I have to. I need you to listen to me very carefully.”
Swollen red eyes, the blue irises like shards of ice, don’t waver from mine.
“I need you to be brave, because I have to go get Alice and bring her home to us, okay?”
“Because she was taken by bad guys?”
I nod. “Because she was taken by bad guys, and it’s my job to arrest bad guys. It’s also because I love her, and she belongs here with us.”