Page 31

THIRTY-ONE

P enny rushed toward the hotel entrance, Tony behind her. Sirens screamed as emergency vehicles pulled into the parking lot. Firefighters already on scene scrambled to set up hoses. Police officers tried to move people away from the danger. But nowhere in the crowd was the governor or any of his staff.

And they couldn’t push through the raging stream of people pouring out of the building.

“Back entrance!” Penny yelled over to Tony.

They turned and ran around the other side of the hotel—the side that wasn’t engulfed in flames. More people trickled out of the exits, but not as many as at the front of the building. Penny slipped through the doorway. Water showered down from the sprinkler system, immediately dousing them. Alarms blared. Emergency lighting was limited to dim red glows from the exit signs and small lights on the ceiling.

Penny grabbed the first police officer she saw, a cut on his chin bleeding. “Did you see the governor?”

He shook his head as he held the door and ushered people out. “This way! Carefully!” He tried to contain the crowd of people rushing toward the door. Penny and Tony fought against the flow and made it to the banquet hall. The chandelier in the middle of the room had crashed to the floor. Tables and chairs were toppled. People were everywhere. Still no Governor Noble.

“Where is he?” She searched the people as they streamed toward the exit in the corner of the room. “I don’t see his closest security team either.”

“He would’ve been on his way out. What exit would he have used?” Tony yelled over the alarms and panicked cries around them.

“The one closest to the meeting room.”

They ran for the hallway. Broken sections of ceiling and a collapsed wall blocked the way to the lobby, but they could pick their way around rubble in the other direction, going deeper into the building. Tony offered a hand and helped her climb over a chunk of plaster and wood. “Almost there.”

They reached what had been the meeting room. The door had fallen away completely, the chairs knocked over. Reba and one of the security guards were sprawled on the floor against the wall. Penny ran and checked their pulses. Both began to rouse.

“Over here! I found Noble!” Tony called from the other side of the table. “We need help.”

Jude appeared in the doorway, dirt or soot smeared across his face. Another man Penny recognized as one of the FBI agents stood behind him.

“We need to move quickly and get him out of here. This building is unstable.” Jude moved to help Tony. Together the men pulled the governor out from under the broken table and wall that had caved in.

Reba and the security guard woke. Penny and the FBI agent helped them up. They were all able to walk out and follow Tony and Jude, who had the governor propped between them.

Once they moved far away enough from the building, Tony and Jude set the governor down in the parking lot. Tony’s radio immediately went off, and he stepped away to listen.

“Where’s my family?” The governor’s voice was scratchy and raw.

“Why don’t you tell us what you know first.” Jude stood above him. “And you two”—he pointed to the security guard and Reba—“go get medics and bring them here.”

The guard nodded and jogged away. Reba looked back at the governor. “Sir?”

“It’s okay. Go find the rest of the staff. Tell me they’re okay.”

After she left, Governor Noble dropped his head to his hands. “What do you want to know?”

“Have the kidnappers been in contact with you?” Penny asked.

He nodded slowly. “The text said they would meet me at the airport.”

“That’s over an hour away.” It didn’t make sense. “How were you planning to ditch your security team?”

“They don’t mean that airport. There’s a secret airport here in Last Chance. It wouldn’t have taken much for me to sneak away.”

“And what did they want?” Jude asked.

“They would take me in exchange for my family, and that’s all I cared about. We were set to meet tonight after I left the ball. But then you”—the governor lifted his head and looked at Penny—“you said you’d found them. I called to say the deal was off, but they told me whatever lead the cops had was a trap. That’s when the bomb exploded.”

Tony tapped Penny on the shoulder. “You’re gonna wanna hear this.”

They moved away but kept Jude and the governor in their sights.

“What is it?”

“That callout we got about finding the Nobles was the wrong address.”

“What? So whoever the governor talked to was right?”

“Yeah, but get this. Zack Stephens called in. He and Bryce apparently are the ones that figured out where the Nobles really are. The firefighters and police were supposed to show up and didn’t. They were sent to the other side of town.”

“Because of the whole wrong address thing?”

“That’s my guess. Zack found the wife and kid, but he can’t do anything. There’s too many people guarding them, and somehow he lost contact with Bryce. When no one showed up, he called again. He gave dispatch the right location, a barn just outside of town. But no one knows where Bryce is. He’s disap?—”

Penny’s phone rang. Pulling it out of her holster pocket, she checked the screen.

Blocked number. She let it go to voicemail. The phone immediately dinged with a text message. Penny opened it up to see an address.

Another ding.

It took a moment for a picture to load.

Penny’s breath caught. Her body seized.

It was a picture of Bryce, bruised and bloodied. The words underneath made her blood run cold.

UNKNOWN

Get me Emma if you want him to live. Involve the police and he’s dead.