“Shit.”
“What?”
“Dammit. She’s through to the next room but I’m caught behind a group of old ladies.”
“Get in there!” Stone cursed under his breath, spun around to charge inside—
And came face-to-face with his boss.
What the fuck was he doing here?
“Stone.” Ford tipped his chin.
He cleared his throat. “Ford.”
“Where’s our client?”
“Inside. Jack’s on her.”
“I hear you are too.”
Crap. Stone didn’t know how to answer that. He’d thought about what he’d say to Ford when he and Soph returned to Australia, but he hadn’t nailed down the words yet.
“We’ll talk about that later. Right now, fill me in,” his boss demanded, all business, the subject of Stone and Soph off the table for the moment.
“Hagar showed his face yesterday. We’re attempting to draw him out today. Soph is here with the woman who runs the Rise and Shine. Jack’s within reach while I’m backup.”
“Do we have a sighting today?”
“No.”
Ford frowned. “So we’re still running blind?”
Stone hated to admit they didn’t have a clue where Hagar was or where he’d been holed up, but the situation called for nothing except the truth. “Blind as a bat.”
Ford nodded. “Chip and Aiden are mingling. We’ll have more luck with the increase in eyes.”
“Stone! She’s gone. I can’t find her. I’ve got Karen. She doesn’t know where Sophie is.”
“What?” Stone pressed a hand to his ear. “Are you shitting me? How could she not know? They were together!”
“We’re coming out the exit. Meet me there.”
Stone was already heading around the building, Ford at his back, barking orders into his phone.
“What the fuck happened, Jack?” Stone growled as he quickened his stride, his eyes glued to the door Jack should be coming through.
“Don’t know. When I got through to the next room, Karen was calling out to Sophie. We’re coming out now.”
Stone spotted Jack and Karen the second they cleared the doorway and jogged to meet them.
“I don’t understand, she was right there, then she was gone,” Karen was saying to Jack.
“Karen. Did you hear her scream or call out?” Stone demanded as he stopped in front of them.
The older woman looked at him. “No. There was so much noise in there but she never uttered a word. We were laughing one second and she was gone the next.”
“We need to shut down the house. Start the search here,” Ford barked behind him. “I’m bringing in the local law on this. Screw what her manager wants. My gut tells me this isn’t a woman lost in a haunted house. This is a snatch.”