Page 17

“You’re keeping an eye on her?”
Vaughn pauses for a moment, then answers, “Uh, Christian is making sure she gets to and from work safely.”
I turn my head to look back for the other security team, but I don’t see Jim or the car.
“Where’s Jim and Cecil?” I ask out loud, expecting an answer from whichever of them can tell me.
“They had to take a break. They were both wiped. But they’re not too far behind us.”
“I don’t pay them to take breaks. My pregnant fiancee is missing!”
I pound my fist against the dashboard to emphasize my point.
“Whatever we find when we get to Arizona, the two of us can handle until they get there,” Lars says assuredly. “We’ve done it before.”
“Stay strong, Hunt,” Vaughn says through the speaker on the phone, almost forgetting he was on the line. “You’re going to find her.”
“She’s in trouble, Vaughn. I can feel it.”
I reflect back on the pieces of my nightmare that I can remember. At first, I took it literally and thought it was her signaling me from her grave, but maybe it was just a vibration of her distress she was transmitting.
“Is the tracker still transmitting from the same location?” Lars asks out loud so Vaughn can hear.
“Still there. And based on your location, you’re only ten minutes away!”
“He could have dumped the car, remembering there’s a tracker,” I say, praying for the opposite to be true but preparing myself for the worst.
“We’ll find out in five minutes, my friend,” Lars says with determination, pushing his foot heavier on the gas pedal to get us there faster.
I take a deep breath and visualize Megan’s sweet face in my mind’s eye. The way her face looks at peace when she’s sleeping. The secret kisses I gave her abdomen, hoping that the baby growing inside of her would feel my presence.
In five minutes I’m going to know more than I did five minutes ago, baby, and then I’m going to find you.
Don’t give up on me.
I’m coming.
A sense of relief washes over me when Lars and I see the blue sign for the upcoming rest stop. We’re moving at an ungodly speed over the entrance ramp and into the parking lot. I remind myself to make a mental note to upgrade our tracker system. If I had the more advanced model, I’d be able to pinpoint the exact location of my car in an application on my phone. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.
“I’ll go in the building and check the restaurants and the bathroom,” I say checking to make sure my gun is locked and loaded. “You look for the car.”
Lars stares disapprovingly as I place my gun in the waistband of my slacks.
“What?” I snap at him.
“Be careful and keep a low profile. The goal is to get information. We don’t know what happened yet.”
I don’t have time to get into a war of words with Lars. While I understand that he feels some sort of responsibility for Parker because he’s the one on my team who spends the most time with him, I don’t give a shit about any of that.
All I want is Megan back.
And with all of my years of experience in the Los Angeles underworld, my gut is telling me that Parker is not running towards something but running away.
I move with stealthiness through the small rest area scanning the open space from left to right. It reminds me of my days when I was new to the organization, and it was my job to do the grunt work.
Parker has a distinctive walk, and I’d know it anywhere, but I don’t see anyone with his same gait. I approach a woman withaged skin and long silver hair who’s crouched in a small spot in between two stores selling a variety of Native American pottery. I notice that she’s watching everyone coming and going in a very deliberate way.
“Excuse me, but I’m looking for this man. Have you seen him in here today?”