Page 22

Chapter Twenty-One

I shoved down my irritation as I saw Trenda’s name pop up on Simon’s truck display. We didn’t have time for wifey shit.

He pressed the connect button so she could be heard through his car speakers.

“Hi Trenda. How?—”

“I got a text from Maddie.”

I sat up straight. “That’s not possible. We have her purse, and her phone was in it,” I said.

“No, it wasn’t from her phone number. It was from a phone with an Indiana area code. I looked it up.”

“Then how can?—”

Simon cut me off. “Trenda, what did the text say?”

“It said. It’s Mads. Been kidnapped. No joke. Don’t text back. At a house with 1972 Champ Bronc Rider, Memphis, Tenn. It was the abbreviation for Tennessee, four letters, T.E.N.N. I don’t know if that makes a difference. Then the text said to tell Simon. Everybody else has been texting and calling me.”

“What do you mean, everybody else?” Simon asked.

“All the girls. It was a group text for all five of us. So, it’s real, Simon. Maddie is alive!”

I was trying to keep up. “All five of who?” I asked.

“Me, Evie, the twins, and Piper. I’m betting ours are the only phone numbers she has memorized.” I could hear that she was laughing and sobbing at the same time.

“Not Drake?” I asked.

Simon glanced over at me, giving me a look that said I was stupid. He was right, I needed to focus on finding Maddie now. It was a stupid question.

“After Drake left, we had to learn how to take care of one another,” Trenda answered my question. “So, it was us girls against the world. She wouldn’t have thought to include Drake on the text.”

“Honey, you did good,” Simon said. He looked over at me. “Did you get the info?”

I nodded.

“Trenda, can you text Roan with the phone number the text came from, and what the text said?”

“I’ll do it as soon as I hang up,” she promised.

“Love you,” Simon said as he pressed disconnect.

He kept his eyes on the highway but spoke to me. “What’s your take?”

“Sounds like Maddie wasn’t in a position to get any names or addresses of where she was currently being held, but somehow she found out that whoever the owner was, he was a Bronc Riding Champ.”

“That’s my take,” Simon nodded.

Roan’s name popped up on the display, and Simon took it. Before Simon could say anything, Roan was already talking.

“The phone belongs to Lana Fletcher. She’s in the system. Drugs and prostitution. Last known address was in Chicago, but according to her parole officer, she’s no longer there.”

“Do you know anything about the Bronc Rider Champion?” I asked.

“I have Clint’s wife Lydia doing a search. It’s kind of odd, don’t you think?” Roan asked. “I mean, where would Maddie have come up with that?”

I started to get mad. “What does it matter? She thought it was pertinent, and she sure as hell wouldn’t have wasted her time texting that information if it wasn’t critical.” I kept my voice low, but I was fucking pissed that Roan had even asked the question.

“Calm down, Beau. We’re following up as fast as possible.”

I looked down at my watch. Kai and Jase should have landed by now. “Have Kai and Jase talk to the parole officer. Maybe he or she didn’t do a real search on Lana. They must have a huge caseload.”

“Good call,” Simon agreed.

“Will do,” Roan said. “I’ll call back as soon as I have info on the Bronc Rider. I see you’re in Kentucky. It looks like you’re making good time.”

“I didn’t realize that SEALs had lead feet,” I said with a semblance of a grin.

“When necessary,” Simon nodded. “Push Lydia, Roan. We need this information as fast as we can get it.”

“She knows,” Roan assured Simon. “You might want to call your wife back. She’s really worried.”

“She’ll be busy keeping her sisters calm. I’ll call her when I know something. Thanks, Roan. Call me when you have something.”

The call disconnected. I flexed my fingers that I’d balled into tight fists.

Simon glanced sideways at me. “Your girl is smart.”

“Yeah.”

“We’re going to find her. We’re going to bring her home.”

“Yeah.”

It was the only way I could think. If I thought any other way, I’d go insane.

* * *

It was dark. It made things more ominous. We’d stopped in Louisville, Kentucky. It was an hour after we’d heard from Trenda. We figured that Jase and Kai had boots on the ground in Chicago. Therefore we should stop on the halfway mark between Chicago and Jasper Creek.

Since Maddie had texted from Lana’s cell phone, it seemed logical that Grizz and Bishop had stopped some place, so staying midway between Jasper Creek and Chicago made sense.

But now I was pissed that Simon and I hadn’t taken two vehicles, because then he could have been in Indianapolis, while I was in Louisville.

Fuck!

This was taking way too long.

As if Roan had heard me, his name popped up on Simon’s dash.

“What?” Simon answered.

“Got the name of the man who won the Bronc Riding Championship in Memphis back in ’72. It was Roy Fletcher. Wanna guess who his granddaughter is?”

Roan sounded cocky, which was pissing me off. We didn’t have time for cocky.

“Got it. His granddaughter is Lana. Now tell me where he’s located.” I demanded.

“Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Seventy-eight miles southeast of where you’re located. Lydia still can’t get a lock on Lana’s phone, so we don’t know if that’s the location where the text came from or not.”

“It’s the best we have, and Maddie wouldn’t have given us this info, if it wasn’t pertinent,” I ground out.

“I hope you’re right,” Roan said.

“Of course, I’m right,” I practically yelled. “She wouldn’t have said it if it didn’t matter,” I muttered.

“Easy,” Simon said soothingly. “I know Maddie. She’s an Avery. You’re right, Beau.” Simon was pulling out of the Wal-Mart parking lot. “Text us the address, Roan, and see if there are any blueprints on the house.”

“Lydia is already on it, and I’ve already sent you the address.”

“Thanks.”

Simon disconnected, and I saw the text come in on the dash. I pulled it up and logged the address into Simon’s navigation system. It was going to take us an hour and thirteen minutes to get there.

“Wanna call in the cops?” I asked.

Simon shook his head. “We don’t know if we’re right, and I’ve been on a couple of ops since starting Onyx where things went wrong. In the back, I have everything we need. Comm system, night vision, weapons. We’re covered.”

I used my phone to check Google Earth to see what I could make out for the property now that we had an address. It was a bust. There were too many trees surrounding the house. I told Simon.

“It was a good thought,” he muttered.

We were forty-five minutes into the drive when Roan called back.

“Yeah?” Simon answered.

“There are no plans on the house. The property was a farm back in nineteen-forty-nine, and it was parceled out into four sixty-acre lots. Chances are that’s when the houses were built. But Lydia found a permit for a new stable back in nineteen-eighty. Building plans were submitted with the permits. She has those, and I e-mailed them to you.”

“Tell Lydia, good work.”

“Already did.”

Simon disconnected the call. He handed me his cell phone and told me his passcode. I went to his e-mail and downloaded what Roan had sent. I pulled up the attachment.

Excitement roared through me as I looked it over. “We scored, Simon. With the stable, it also shows where the house is in relation to it, as well as the paddock, the fencing, and the road.”

“Hot damn.” He sounded as jazzed as I felt. I looked. We’d left Jasper Creek at four-thirty. We were going to get to the house at nine-thirty. Not the best time for an assault, but it was fine for reconnaissance.

I looked down at what I was wearing. Not ideal. Looking at Simon’s grey T-shirt, I realized his wasn’t any better.

“You got a change-out kit back there?” I pointed my thumb toward the back of his truck. “We’re gonna need blacks, comms, paint, everything.”

“I’ve got you covered every which way to Sunday.”

I nodded, trying to get my head around anything else we might need. “Med-kit?”

“Yep.” He nodded. “But Beau, there wasn’t that much blood. It’s probably all superficial.”

Rage hit hard. “You can’t know that!” I sucked in a deep breath. “Neither of us can know that,” I said in a lower tone of voice.

“She was doing well enough to send that text. Your woman is strong. She’s an Avery,” he said again.

The amount of pride in his voice went a tiny way toward placating me. “I can accept that.”

I looked at my watch, then looked at the time the navigation system was showing until we got to the Fletcher place. Twenty-one minutes. I needed to do something to occupy my mind besides counting down the minutes and thinking about the blood I’d seen on the carpet at Simon’s house.

“I’ve met all the sisters except for Piper and Chloe. Can you tell me about them? Well, of course I’ve met them, just not since they’ve become adults.”

“Chloe’s going through a real rough patch,” Simon said. “Has Maddie told you?”

“Yeah. She mentioned that she just suffered a second miscarriage. She moved into an apartment in Gatlinburg?”

“Yeah. Her husband Zarek is wrecked. He wanted her to stay at their house in Jasper Creek, but she said she needed to leave to clear her head. He offered to buy a new house. Anything.” He glanced over at me. “I can’t imagine if Trenda had miscarried when she was pregnant with Drake. It would have killed. But it would be a hundred times, no, a thousand times worse if she shut me out. If I couldn’t hold her when her heart was broken. Zarek is going through hell.”

“Is she seeing someone?” I heard how that sounded and winced. “I mean, is she getting professional help?”

“I know she was. Trenda’s not sure right now. All the sisters are broken up. Except for Piper. She’s out in California, and I know everyone is trying to shield her from this. I think that’s a mistake, but that’s the girls’ decision.”

“How do you think it’s going to turn out for Zarek and Chloe?”

“I really don’t know, Beau. It doesn’t look good.”

I thought about that for a few miles. Even when you thought you had the world by the tail, it could still fall to shit. I shivered and looked at the navigation system. Eight more minutes.

“Where do you think we should park?” Simon asked.

“We’ll take a left onto the road to the property. From what I can determine on the permits, it looks to be about four miles from the highway to the property. We’ll kill the lights at the highway turnoff, gear up just off the road. Then roll slow for two miles and go the rest on foot. Then we can do the recon.”

“Sounds good.”