Page 45 of Protecting Lainey (Broterhood Alliance #7)

Finn stood behind Dex in the Brotherhood control room, arms crossed, eyes locked on the screen. Dex was hunched over the workstation, fingers tapping rapidly as he scrolled through the south perimeter camera footage.

“Do you see who breached the perimeter?” Finn asked.

Dex rewound the feed, eyes narrowing. “There,” he muttered. “Camera glitched right before the alert hit. Look. Two frames missing.”

He froze the footage and went through it slowly.

A figure appeared in dark clothing, hood up and face mask pulled high. They moved fast and low like they knew the layout. One second they were between the buildings, the next, gone.

“Probably used a signal jammer,” said Dex. “Or they already knew where the cameras were blind.”

“I thought we covered every angle,” said Finn. “So how?”

Dex didn’t look away from the screen. “Whoever it is, they’re either trained, or someone on the inside is feeding them intel.”

Finn’s jaw clenched. “We need more eyes on the site. Infrared sensors. Backup feeds. Laser trip alarms. Whatever it takes,” he said. “I want to know the second someone so much as sneezes.”

Dex was already typing. “I’ll install thermal cameras around the perimeter and set up a secondary service that backs up the feed in real time tonight. Even if they jam the signal again, we’ll have shadow data.”

“Good.” Finn turned toward the door. “Let me know when. I promised Lainey I’d stop by. Call me if anything changes.”

“Will do.”

Finn glanced at his watch. Lainey should be back home now after dropping Luke off at school. He had a couple of things to go over with her, then he fully intended to keep her occupied in a very good way for most of the morning.

He was halfway out the door, already smiling, when his thoughts of making love to Lainey were interrupted by his phone ringing.

Meadowbrook Elementary.

His gut dropped.

Why would the school be calling him?

“Hello?”

“Hey, Mr. Ryder, this is Mrs. Moore from the office,” said a chipper voice. “Just checking on Luke Harper. He wasn’t signed in today, and we didn’t receive a call. Everything okay?”

Luke? Lainey?

Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Uh … yeah,” Finn said, forcing his voice steady. “Sorry about that. I should have called. Luke is sick today.”

“Okay. Thanks, we’ll mark him as absent.”

After they hung up, Finn dialed Lainey’s cell phone. It went straight to voicemail.

No.

He closed his eyes, willing his pulse to slow down.

Luke wasn’t sick. Lainey would have told him. They were gone.

Finn turned on a dime and charged back to the control room. Dex was still working on the security.

“Ping Lainey’s cell, will you?”

Dex looked up. “What’s up?”

“Luke wasn’t in school today. Lainey’s cell is going straight to voicemail. They’re in trouble.”

“Could be nothing. Maybe car trouble. Have you thought of that?”

“Ping it now.” Finn voice was tight. He couldn’t handle the maybes or the what-ifs. He knew in his gut something bad had happened.

“On it.” Dex pulled up the tracking software. “If her phone’s still on, I can ping her last known location from the nearest towers.”

He paused, scanning data. “Got a signal.”

A red dot blinked on the screen. “There,” Dex said, pointing to the screen. “It looks like her phone pinged on old Lake Road about forty-five minutes ago.”

Finn’s blood ran cold. “Lainey told me she loves that back road when they’re not in a rush to get Luke to school. There are lots of cows to look at. Can you pull up the feed from anywhere close to it?”

Dex shook his head. “It’s a dead zone. No traffic cams.”

Finn was already moving. “I’m heading out.”

“I’m right behind you,” said Dex. “I’ve already texted Caleb the coordinates. He’ll follow us.”

Lainey stared straight ahead, arms crossed tightly around her middle. The seat belt cut across her chest, but she barely felt it. Her skin was clammy. Her stomach clenched so tight it hurt. The air in the cab was too warm and stale. Travis smoked, but she sure wasn’t saying anything.

Travis hadn’t said a word since they left the road, driving like he had all the time in the world, his hands loose on the wheel.

One elbow rested on the door like this was some lazy Sunday drive with the wife.

Like this wasn’t a kidnapping. Like she hadn’t just watched her son vanish into the woods.

She prayed with everything in her that he was all right.

She could still see the confusion and fear in his eyes.

The truck rumbled beneath her, jarring her spine over every bump. They were on an auxiliary road, one that wasn’t paved. One she’d never been on.

But she wasn’t just sitting there. She was memorizing everything. Noting every curve and landmark on the road. Because if she made it out, she’d use it all. No way was she giving up without a fight.

She didn’t know where he was taking her. Or why. But her gut told her it wasn’t anywhere good.

Still, she knew one thing for sure.

Finn was coming.

And whoever was behind this just made the biggest mistake of their life.