Page 48

48

They had gotten Shelby back before. Gotten Haldyn back. Gotten Hope. Odds… Gunnar would never stop looking. It took everything he had not to be sick. Then her mother was there. Her family.

Her oldest brother came right up to him in the middle of the main bullpen. “What in the hell happened? Where is she?”

“We don’t know,” Gunnar said. “All we know is that people saw Heather and Powell walking through their neighborhood, and then…she is gone . ”

“You are sure they were together?” her mother asked.

Gunnar nodded.

“Heather?” Alex asked. “Where is she? Is she okay? What has she said?”

Daniel stepped up next to Gunnar. “We…don’t know. Heather and Powell are both missing. Heather’s family is on their way in now.”

Alex swore.

“How in the hell did they get to my sister? This…this bullshit with the TSP was supposed to be over with that bastard Wilson,” Mac almost yelled. There was panic in his eyes.

It sent Gunnar’s practically skyrocketing.

She was out there. She would be terrified—for the baby. For herself. And she would know, she knew, didn’t she, that he would be looking for her? Just like they had Shelby and Haldyn. She had to know he would never stop looking.

“We have people canvassing the area. There are witnesses who think they saw a black luxury SUV in the area at the time of the attack,” Daniel said. “We believe they were last seen near the south entrance to Hughes Heights. Over on Hendricks.”

“How do you know something happened?” her father demanded. “Maybe they are just somewhere in the neighborhood? They are smart, resource women. Something can’t have just happened to them. Not behind a damned gate. Two women just don’t disappear in a secure, gated community.”

“Heather told Bonnie she’d be back in thirty minutes before Frankie’s first speech therapy appointment. Powell told Zoey she was going to find Heather today after visiting with Zoey this morning. It’s been over three hours, and the Colesons searched the neighborhood when Heather didn’t come back in time for her daughter’s therapy appointment,” Jake told them all. He had been the first to get to Jude Way after the Colesons had sounded the alarm—he’d been just a few blocks away at home. “Hope called me an hour and a half ago, and I sounded the alarm before I started searching. I called the HOA guards. They didn’t see anything either. They are checking cameras, but to be honest—security here sucks. Big time.”

“Heather wouldn’t miss Frankie’s appointment,” Alex said. “She hocked some damned jewelry yesterday just to pay for the first consultation. Insurance wasn’t going to cover it. She wouldn’t miss that appointment. And Powell wouldn’t just disappear. Not her. Not either of them.”

“Tracking their phones?” Mac asked. “Heather had her phone constantly in Wyoming. And Powell never goes without hers for five minutes in case calls come in about her listings. Cara said that Heather makes them all track each other too.”

“They aren’t showing up on GPS. Hope created a special private tracking app after Eastman. She showed me how it worked when I got there,” Jake said. “She said she tracked Heather to about six blocks from their house. I have Callum and Evers there, talking to residents now.”

“How do you know Heather was with Powell?” Mac asked. “Why would they be together unless it was TSP related?”

“I spoke with Powell this morning. She’d called me with questions about some things that concerned her. About Heather’s family history. I told her to just go ask Heather, that I was too busy trying to figure out who is behind the threats Heather got this morning,” Daniel said. “The Colesons said Heather and Powell were talking outside, then they just disappeared.”

“What in the hell?” Mac snarled. “Threats? What threats?”

“You sent Powell to Heather,” Gunnar said, turning. “Knowing that there have been threats against Heather this very morning ?”

“The threats weren’t credible,” Daniel said. But there was something.

“You’re lying.”

“Heather has gotten three dozen threats since what happened with Wilson, Gun. Apparently, she’s been getting threats all the way back to Eastman. And long before. Years. She’s just never told anyone. Nothing was there to indicate this was any different than these.”

“You brushed Heather off? ” Gunnar fought the anger with everything he had. “About threats she’s been getting. Did nothing to protect her .”

“I did not.”

“You did too. You’re no better than that fucking Stillman, and you know it. Maneuvering and manipulating, trying to achieve some end purpose only you know about. And now Powell and Heather are caught in the crossfire. What game are you playing at, McKellen?”

“I’m trying to find the sons-of-bitches who have threatened everyone we all care about. Not just Heather,” Daniel almost yelled. “Or have you missed that?”

Gunnar grabbed him and swung him around. “Powell is out there without me somewhere, pregnant and terrified. And you think this is a game ? That’s my every breath out there! ”

“Powell’s pregnant?” Daniel asked.

“Yes.” Gunnar’s world. Gunnar’s entire world was out there somewhere. In trouble.

Neither Heather nor Powell were the kind of women who would just disappear without a word deliberately. Not the two of them—not with what they knew was going on. Heather definitely would be exceptionally cautious of personal safety. Especially now.

“Where’s the bodyguard on Powell? Where is he?” Gunnar asked. “She’s kept a guard with her at all times since Haldyn was abducted.”

“No sign of the guard anywhere,” Daniel said.

“She wears a tracking bracelet. One of her cousin’s prototypes,” Gunnar said, grasping at anything to give them a place to start.

“I’ll call Mel Barratt,” Jake said. “See if we can get a read on it. We’ll find your girl, Gun. No matter what.”

“What do we have to do to find Powell and Heather? How do you even know they were together?” Alex asked.

“Whoever has them has no qualms about killing, ” a voice said from the door. “Powell’s bodyguard was just found, with two shots to the chest. In her recently purchased property on Jackson. He’s alive. But barely. He’s been bleeding slowly for hours. It doesn’t look good, and he may not wake to give us anything. And now they have Powell and Heather.”

Murdoch was there with the rest of Major Crimes. Waiting on instructions.

“What do we have to do to find them?” Jake asked, stepping into the conference room.

“Get her family out of here,” Gunnar said. “They don’t need to be here for this. And we can’t work as fast if we are guarding what we have to say.”

“Out, Mac. We’ll keep you updated,” Daniel said.

Mac tried to protest. Gunnar shot him a furious glare. “Go. You are just wasting our time. Time we need to get them back.”

“You’d better keep us in the loop. I’m going to go call the rest of my family, Dan. Find my sister. No matter what.”

Daniel just nodded.

Gunnar looked at Daniel. “When this is over, you and I are going to finally have that talk . I’m tired of all the bullshit that’s been going on. It’s time to clean house. Even if I have to do it the hard way. No more games, McKellen. You can count on that.”