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DeLuca accompanied us, arms bound behind his back with metal cuffs. Skylar, Izzie, and the teenage girl stood with Mason, keeping guard, protecting them in case Angelo tried anything stupid.
“There’s no one down here. I’m telling you, the girls are gone,” DeLuca said.
He didn’t appear the least bit apologetic or contrite.
“How about we see for ourselves?” I led the way, gun drawn, making sure there were no more men brandishing weapons.
“Help!” Harper’s voice carried from down in the basement.
“Harper?” Lincoln hurried past me for the prison cell, as I made sure there were no other guards hidden in the basement lockup.
The hallway twisted and turned.
The overhead fluorescent bulbs flickered and sizzled.
I glanced past the empty prison cells and reached the end before turning around to come back and join them.
Lincoln grabbed a pair of keys that hung on the opposite wall and unlocked the metal door. He helped Hazel to her feet, examining her with a quick gaze. “Here, let me help you up.” He offered her his hand.
“I told you they left,” DeLuca said. “They’re not coming back to the facility. At least the girls aren’t.” He quirked a sly grin.
My stomach flopped, and I lurched forward, yanking him by his hair, my gun poised at his chin, pointed upward.
“Where did you send them?”
Ariella and Hazel were still out there and by now could be anywhere.
I tapped my earpiece, connecting me to Declan and Aiden that were back at the office.
“I need eyes in the sky. We’ve got Harper, Skylar, and Izzie but Hazel and Ariella have been taken off the property.”
I cocked the safety off on my gun. “You’ll tell me where you’re taking the girls.”
“We came into the compound in a white van,” Skylar said.
“We’re looking for a white van,” I reiterated to Aiden and Declan.
Aiden was a guru with computers, satellite surveillance, and hacking anything and everything, including top-secret government servers. I trusted that he could get us eyes on the van.
“Any idea what direction they headed?” Declan asked.
“Lincoln, take the girls outside. Call in for an ambulance if Harper needs to get checked out,” I said.
I didn’t want Izzie or the others to witness what I was willing to do to find Ariella.
“Jaxson.” Lincoln’s voice held a hint of warning. “We’ve got DeLuca. Why don’t we hand him over to the authorities? We could use their assistance in tracking the other girls down.”
Of course Lincoln would want to contact the local sheriff’s department, now that we had Harper and she was safe.
I couldn’t risk their interference and ruining our operation. We trained for this type of situation and had far more experience than the local Breckenridge sheriff’s department.
“Not an option,” I said gruffly. “We’re doing this on our own.”
“What about DeLuca?” Lincoln asked, glancing at him.
“I’ll get the information out of him.”
While there were some lines I wasn’t willing to cross, when it involved my family and my friends, I’d do whatever it takes to save them.