“I think he means that she probably ran into the woods for cover,” Blake said.
Garrett sighed and swallowed hard. “She doesn’t have her phone with her, so she has no way to call for help or figureout where she is, and this damn cursor hasn’t moved the entire drive.”
“I don’t have any bars,” Blake said, staring at his phone.
“Me either,” Luke said from the backseat.
No one said a word for a long moment until Garrett’s radio came to life. “Garrett, it’s Caden, are you there?”
Garrett had never been happier to hear his friend’s voice than he was right now. He let out a breath and picked up the receiver. “Caden, what did you find on my cameras?”
“Absolutely nothing. However she was taken, it wasn’t from your property.”
Garrett bit out a curse word. “She was there, Caden. The last time I talked to her, she was at my house. Probably sitting on my dock watching the fireflies like she does almost every night.” His voice cracked at the thought of what might have happened to Reese, but he had to stay alert and focused. She needed the Texas Ranger in him right now, not the guy who was falling for her. “Listen, our phones have no reception out here. Let me give you our location. Tell me if there are any businesses, homes, or other roads nearby. This place looks like it’s literally in the middle of nowhere and these woods cover over a hundred square miles.”
“Go ahead,” Caden said.
Garrett gave him their coordinates, then waited impatiently, listening to the silence of the radio.
Luke put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
“Damn right we will,” Blake added. “We don’t lose our own.”
His friends’ reassurances felt good, but he needed to lay eyes on the woman who’d opened up to him and made him want more than just the status quo for the first time in a long time. “I wanted her to meet you guys. To meet the women. I’d finally convinced her to let me have a barbeque this weekend so y’all could meet her.”
“Good,” Luke said. “I’ve been craving your steaks for days now.”
“She’s a survivor,” Blake added. “Orly connected with her, remember?”
Garrett nodded. How could he forget? “I know. I just wish I could’ve done more to prevent this from ever happening.”
“Wait, you said she likes to sit on the dock almost every night?” Luke asked.
“Yeah, why?” And then it hit him. “You think she was taken from the dock? By water?”
“Makes sense,” Luke said.
“Hey, Caden, you there?” Garrett asked into the receiver.
“Still working on it,” Caden answered.
“We have a theory on how she might’ve been taken.”
“Go ahead.”
“By water. She likes to sit on the dock every night. If someone was watching her, waiting for the perfect moment to snatch her, they might have figured out that would be the perfect way, and they’d never have to step foot on my property. Wouldn’t make much noise either, and no one would see them, especially after dark.”
“Alright, I’ll go knock on doors and ask Garrett’s neighbors if they’ve seen anything. They had to surface eventually. I doubt they planned on swimming to their final destination. Now, based on the location you gave me, I have a road that’s about six miles to the east, and there’s a dive bar about two miles north of your location on that road. If Reese went into those woods, I’m guessing that’s where she’ll end up. Unless she’s moving west, in which case she’ll be in the woods for over twelve miles before she hits a road that doesn’t have much on it for over ten miles, and then it looks like there’s just a bunch of farmland and an old gas station.”
“Shit,” Garrett ground out. “Of all the places…”
“I say we split up,” Blake said. “You can wait for her at the dive bar, while Luke and I head west and see if she turns up there.”
“No,” Garrett said. “Split up, yes, but I’m going on foot. If she’s out there, I doubt she’s moving fast and she’s probably hurt. I’m not sitting around waiting for her to travel six miles or more with some asshole probably on her tail.” He killed the engine and tossed his keys to Blake. “Take my truck, see what you can find, but I’m going to get my woman.” He was well aware of how he’d just called Reesehis, and somehow, it didn’t bother him in the least. They’d had a connection, and he’d more than felt the chemistry between them.
“You can’t go out there alone,” Luke said. “I’ll go with you.”
A black and white pulled up behind them. “We have company,” Blake said with a smirk.