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Hamilton gestured to a nearby four-wheeler, and she followed the men, climbing into the passenger seat in front.
Hamilton raised an eyebrow, but Ranger got in behind her.
She buckled in. “What’s the status on the search?”
Hamilton motored away from the beach, toward the side streets, clearly already aware of a route up the mountain. She couldn’t bear the sight of the destroyed homes, but couldn’t tear her gaze away either.
How could Ethan have caused all of this?
“We were able to obtain a TRIS unit, and it’s mapping the mountain?—”
“A TRIS unit?”
He glanced at her, then back to where his lights carved out the road that led up to Hope House. “It’s a thermal and acoustic imaging scanner that uses AI to map hot spots and match them with the acoustic signature of humans. Ethan Pine was able to integrate data from satellite observations to enhance the scanning abilities. We’ve been able to adjust it to detect recent environmental changes?—”
“Like a landslide.”
“And cave-ins.”
Right.
Wait—“Ethan is helping?”
“He was the first to contact Declan, who called us and asked us to retrieve the device. We arrived a couple hours ago.”
“We?”
“The Jones, Inc. Aid team, along with the Red Cross team we partner with sometimes.”
The monastery came into view, and she saw more four-wheelers and the flatbed Ford sitting outside the entrance.
A man—she recognized him as North from the security team—stood watching.
He nodded as they drove up.
She unbuckled and slid out of the vehicle, followed Hamilton and Ranger into the compound.
They headed straight for the dining hall. The room had been converted to a staging area of sorts, with a handful of men along with Austen Kingston studying a topographical map spread out over two tables pushed together. A tablet lay on the table, and Tia caught sight of Ethan Pine bending over it, moving an image around the display with two fingers. The smells of coffee and baking bread drifted from the nearby kitchen, the patter of rain on the roof, a chill embedding the stone wall and floor.
And, perhaps, her heart. Because as her gaze ran over the group... Doyle wasn’t to be found.
The conversation stopped as the door closed behind her, and Declan looked up. “Tia. What are you doing here?”
Her eyebrow rose. “Seriously?”
He came over to her, glanced at the team. “Right. Sorry. Are you okay?”
She shrugged away his hands reaching for her and headed to the table, moving in beside Ethan. “I thought you were in the mountain.”
He drew in a breath. “I already told Doyle that no, I had nothing to do with this.”
Doyle?
Ethan’s mouth tightened. Clearly something had gone down between them.
“There’s not a chance my machine would cause this to happen,” he added. “This was... much bigger... could be even seismic, although satellite data has ruled out any shifts in the tectonic plates.”
“Then what happened?”