He rolled up the window. “Let’s go home, Terry.”
Terry nodded, and I covered my face and cried.
“Did you fight with that poor bastard after I left? Were you pissed that he didn’t tell you about his time in the Marines?” Shawn asked.
I couldn’t answer. All I could do was cry into my hands. I did exactly what Shawn wanted. I told Trex I was leaving him, he was going to see the phone he’d bought me in the yard and think I’d decided not to take anything with me. It wouldn’t be the first time.
I held my stomach with both hands. It was hard as a rock again, tightening so much that it began to hurt—really hurt—for the first time. It wasn’t just aches and pains. I moaned, knowing it was probably too late, but I needed to calm down. I was going into labor. I breathed in through my nose and then breathed out, slow and controlled. The second time, Terry mentioned it to Shawn.
“She better not give birth in this car,” Terry said. “Not going to have that blood on my hands, too. You took it too far, Shawn. We’re all going down for what you did.”
“You said she wanted to come home,” the man in the passenger seat said.
Shawn frowned. “Fuck you, Todd. She does. Don’t you?” he said, looking at me and nodding toward the front seat.
I nodded. “What happened to his forehead?” I asked, staring at the bloody bandage taped to his hairline.
“T-boned a teenager.”
I closed my eyes. “Hailey?”
“We needed a distraction. I thought I was persistent. Jesus Christ. That leech was never going to leave the hotel. When Derek said the sister was on her way into town, we took the opportunity that was presented to us.” He squeezed my hand, noticing the ring on my middle finger. “What the fuck is this?”
“A Christmas present,” I said. “Is she okay?”
“From him?” Shawn said, the anger in his eyes returning.
I shook my head. “A coworker.”
Shawn laughed. “Wasn’t Lane, fucking whore.”
My bottom lip quivered. “Where is she? She didn’t show up for work.”
Shawn looked at the window, seeming nervous. The other men were quiet, too.
“Did you hurt her?” I asked.
“She was all for trying to fuck your guy. She was all for trying to piss you off and planting seeds to make you question him. She just wanted him,” Shawn said, spitting on the floor.
“C’mon, man!” Terry said.
“You fucking women. You make us think you want us until you get what you want. Nobody uses me.”
I kept my head down. “What did you do?”
“Taught her a lesson.”
“You were right. That was a nice piece of ass,” Todd said, laughing at his window.
“Is she okay?” I asked.
“Probably not,” Shawn said with a chuckle. “But you don’t worry about her. I don’t care about that slut. I’ve got you back. That’s all that matters. We’re going to get rid of that,” he said, pointing at my stomach, “and then we can get on with our lives.”
“I lied,” I said. “She’s yours, Shawn. Do the math. I’m almost thirty-six weeks. I just have four weeks to go. Count the months. She’s yours. When she gets here, you’ll see. She’s ours.”
“Whoa,” Terry said. “Congrats, man.”
He snarled. “You lied before. How do I know you’re not lying now?”
“Just…wait until I have her. You can see for yourself. She’ll look like you and me. She won’t look like Trex. She’s your daughter.”
Shawn looked down at my stomach, then put away his knife. “She’s mine?”
I nodded. I reached for his hands and flattened his palms against Maddie’s perfect dome. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I tightened my throat to keep from sobbing while Shawn fawned over my stomach, talking to Maddie with a soft voice I’d never heard from him.
He looked up at me, annoyed. “Why’d you lie to me?”
“I…was ashamed for leaving. I’m sorry I hurt you. I was just nervous, and I did something stupid. Then I was too ashamed to come back. I’ll…I’ll make it up to you.”
Shawn scanned my face, trying to decide if he wanted to believe me or not.
“Damn right you will.”
When the corners of his mouth curved up, I knew I’d bought Maddie and me a little more time.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Trex
Hailey walked slowly, but with my help she made it from the truck to the front door. Five vehicles pulled into the drive and parked at the curb in front of the house. Naomi was waiting at the door for me and the rest of my team to bring my little sister inside.
I tried not to rush my little sister, but Darby hadn’t returned any of my texts or answered my calls, and I was desperate to know if she’d really moved out. I’d sent Naomi to the hotel and then the house, but she’d reported no sign of Darby. It was noon, and there was no indication she’d ever come home. The thought of Darby leaving me was bad enough. Her leaving town pregnant and empty-handed had me near panic.
“Trex,” Kitsch said. I turned to see him holding Darby’s cell phone. “It was in the yard.”
My stomach sank. “It doesn’t make any sense. I’ve scrolled through the security feed. She hasn’t been here.”
Sloan carefully lifted Hailey in his arms, pushing the door open with his shoulder. “Go,” he said, nodding toward the house. “Maybe you missed something.”
For the first time all morning, I allowed myself to hope. I pushed through the door, immediately calling for Darby. I checked the bedroom, the bathroom, the nursery; all of Darby and Maddie’s things remained. Darby’s toothbrush was still in the holder by the sink. Maddie’s pink floral dress Darby had picked out and bought herself still hung in the closet.
“Darby?” I called, my heart racing.
“She’s not here?” Hailey asked, disappointed.
Naomi brought a glass of water into the living room from the kitchen, popping open Hailey’s pill bottle and giving my sister her meds. Naomi turned over her wrist and checked her watch. “You worry about yourself. You’re lucky all you got was some bruised ribs and a concussion. If the cops don’t find the bastard who hit you, I will.”
“Your parents on their way?” Harbinger asked.
I nodded. Hailey had been T-boned at the intersection a few blocks from my house. She couldn’t tell us much about the person who’d hit her except it was a guy with dark eyes and that he’d fled the scene on foot.
“It doesn’t make sense for Darby to leave with nothing,” I said, scanning the living room.
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Naomi said.
“Not to come back here, though, when she knows I’m not here to bother her. Not even to get her own things? Not even the things she bought for Maddie?”
Darby’s phone rang, and Kitsch tossed it to me. “Hello?”
“Trex?” Stavros said, surprised.
“Have you seen Darby today? Have you heard from her?” I asked.
He hesitated. “No.”
“Stavros, this is important. My sister was in an accident. I just got home. She’s not here.” I cleared my throat, struggling to say the words. “We got in an argument this morning. The last thing she said to me was that she was taking her things back to the hotel.”
“To the hotel? What the hell did you do to her, Trex?”
“I…it’s a long story. She left her cell phone. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
“Call the hotel. Maya would have seen her this morning. Let me know when you find her.”
“Will do. Thanks.” I hung up, found the number for the hotel, and called the front desk direct.
“Colorado Springs Hotel,” Maya answered.
“Maya, hey, it’s Trex. Is Darby there?”
“Not since this morning. She got some boxes and took a cab home. She was really upset.”
I bowed my head, putting my hand on top of my head. I could barely keep it together long
enough to speak. “Yeah, we had a rough morning.”
“No, she was, like, yelling at the cab driver.”
“She what?” I asked. “That doesn’t sound like her. What was she saying?”
“I don’t know. I just heard it. By the time I got out there, the cab was gone.”
“She hasn’t been back?” I asked.
“No.”
“Could you ask her to call me when you see her? I’m worried.”
“Sure.”
“Thanks,” I said, hanging up. I threw her phone across the room, hearing it shatter into pieces against the wall. “Goddamn it!” I screamed.
My throat tightened, my nose burned, and then the tears came. I bowed my head and gripped the counter until my palms turned white, struggling to keep it together while I counted to ten. My team had seen me lose control before. That was a side of me I never wanted Hailey to see. My vision blurred. I felt like throwing up, curling into a ball, knocking myself out, anything to get away from the pain.
“Trex,” Harbinger began. His voice was calm and level, talking me down from the ledge we’d all been on more than once, a ledge from where only our fellow soldiers knew the way down.
I turned around, glaring at the pieces on the floor, and looked away, already regretting it. My face fell as recognition hit. “No. Please, fuck, no…” I said, scrambling to fish my phone out of my pocket. I scrolled through the front door camera and driveway cameras between seven a.m. and eight thirty, this time looking for more than just Darby approaching the front door. It was then that I saw it. Her phone was tossed into the yard from a passing vehicle. I could barely make out a sliver of a possible white sedan when it passed.
I looked up at my team. “He has her. We have to go. Now.”
“Who? Shawn?” Naomi asked. “Let’s take one step at a time. We don’t know anything yet.”
“We’re wasting time,” I said, rushing into my bedroom, putting my phone to my ear, silently begging Val to pick up. When she did, I barely let her get out the first syllable of hello.
“I need you to find someone for me,” I said.
“Another fav—”
“Shawn has Darby! For the love of Christ, Val, skip the fucking snark and just find her!”
The other side of the line was quiet for too long, but just as I began to ask if Val was still there, I heard nails clicking against a keyboard. “Fill me in.”
“Shawn showed up at the hotel. A hotel employee reported hearing Darby yell at a cab driver, which makes no sense.”
“Checking security footage…” she said.
“My sister was hit and I had to leave Darby alone at the hotel. I sent Naomi to the hotel but by the time she got there around seven thirty, Darby was already gone. She wasn’t at the house.”
“Cab left without her. She’s with someone else, but it’s almost off-camera, hold on…”
More clicking.
“The car that hit your sister was stolen,” she said.
I sighed. “They fucking baited me.”
“Following a white sedan from your intersection just after seven thirty a.m. It left town…hold on, bringing up highway cams…” She sighed. “White sedan is on its way back to Texas. Four passengers. One female fitting Darby’s description.”
I packed a duffel with clothes and firearms, stepping into the living room. My team and Hailey stared at me, waiting for me to tell them what would happen next. “That was Val on the phone,” I said. “He has her. I’m going to Texas.”
“Not alone you’re not.” Naomi glanced over her shoulder at Hailey.
“I’ll stay,” Harbinger said.
Naomi nodded. “Oorah. Load up, boys.”
Naomi sat shotgun, with Martinez, Sloan, and Kitsch in the back seat. I drove ninety miles per hour down I-25 south, having Naomi check and double-check every white sedan and truck stop we passed. Val kept us updated. They were five hours ahead until Val caught Shawn on a gas station camera in Amarillo, Texas. The white sedan didn’t leave its parking spot for several hours, and by the time she saw them leave, we were only an hour behind.
“There’s a motel next door. It’s possible they napped and ate before the second leg of the drive,” Val said over the speaker. “It’s definitely Darby. She’s very pregnant. I don’t see a credit card being used at any of the area locations. They must be paying in cash.”
“Is Darby okay? Was she in the same motel room with Shawn? Where were the other two?”
“Unknown,” Val said. “She’s walking. That’s a good sign.”
I frowned, my knuckles turning white under the pressure as I squeezed the steering wheel.
“What about Derek? Is it possible he’s fucking with you?” Naomi asked.
“Nope,” Val answered.
“How do you know?” Naomi asked.
“Because he was arrested three weeks ago and charged with willful communication of classified intelligence to an unauthorized person under the 1917 Espionage Act. However, we do have information that he called in favors, and then made a call to Shawn on Hailey’s whereabouts.”
“Damn,” Sloan said.
“That explains why Shawn made his move,” Naomi said. “His brother isn’t around to cover his tracks or bail him out. The last thing Derek could do for his brother was to help him create a diversion.”
“With no help, he’s desperate and has likely decided he has nothing to lose,” I said, driving faster.
I drove until dark, and then Kitsch got behind the wheel. Naomi sat between us, and despite Val having eyes on every camera between Amarillo and Fort Hood, I still checked every white four-door from the passenger seat. We didn’t talk much, except to form a half-assed plan for when we came upon the car. The objective was to get Darby away from Shawn and his thugs before they knew we were there.
“Christ,” I said, “she’s probably terrified.”
“And stressed. Martinez, I hope you’re ready for this,” Naomi said.
“Always ready,” he said. He lifted his medical case by the handle.
The white sedan stopped in Lubbock for another hour, and again just half an hour later. We were twenty minutes behind them when they left George’s, a restaurant in Tahoka, Texas.
Just north of Justiceburg, I saw a pair of taillights. Finally, the white sedan came into view. “That’s them!”
“Okay, take it easy,” Naomi said. “Stay back, Kitsch. We’ve gotta play this smart.”
The sedan slowed from seventy to sixty-five, then fifty-five, then pulled over into an RV park.
“Pass it,” I said. “We’ll go in on foot.”
Kitsch passed the dirt drive, and I turned around in my seat, watching their car bounce over the uneven terrain. Kitsch turned off the headlights and yanked the steering wheel to the left, crossing the oncoming lane and bouncing the truck into a field, parking one klick south of Shawn’s location.
“You think they spotted us?” Naomi asked, tying her boots in double knots, securing her hair at the nape of her neck, and taking off her jacket. “The moon is full. It’s like we’re sneaking around in broad daylight.”
“Not sure,” I said. “Be ready for anything.”
I checked my Glock, took it off the safety, and took point, directing Sloan and Martinez to the outer line while the rest of us moved forward in a wedge formation. Just like the old days.
Fifteen yards from the tree line that surrounded the clearing, I could see Darby through the branches. She was sitting on her knees, her pants wet from the mud beneath her. The back doors of the sedan were wide open, the dim light from the cab of the car highlighting the sheen of sweat on her face.
Darby grabbed her stomach, leaned forward, and groaned. I rushed forward, but Naomi grabbed my sleeve and shook her head.
Darby put her hands flat on the ground, panting as she looked forward in fear. “You’ve gotta…you’ve gotta get me to a hospital,” she pleaded.
“Shut up!” Shawn growled. “I’m thinking.”
“We do
n’t have time!” Darby cried.
My jaws ticked, and I squeezed the handle of my gun.
Naomi motioned with her hand for me to be patient.
We took cover behind trees surrounding the RV park. Only the white sedan and two campers were present. I could hear Shawn and the other two talking to one another in distressed tones.
I could only see the top of Darby’s hair. She was crouching next to the car. “Fuck,” I said, leaning my head back against the tree. “She’s close,” I whispered.
“Complicates things,” Naomi said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Could also work in our favor.”
The others were waiting in the wings for an order.
Darby cried out again.
I leaned up, trying to get a better visual. I looked over at Martinez. He signaled he could see her and pointed at his watch. We were running out of time.
“Please!” Darby screamed.
“Shut her up!” the tall one said.
“Oh, I’m going to do more than put him on his ass this time,” Naomi whispered.
I gave the signal to move, and as one unit, we moved in.
Darby noticed us first. She was holding her stomach, soaked in sweat. She began to half laugh, half cry. “You came,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
“I’m here, baby,” I said.
Shawn turned around, took one look at me, and reached for Darby. I squeezed the trigger of my Glock, and the sleeve of Shawn’s jacket frayed. He cried out, grabbing his forearm, but I’d only grazed the fabric, a bullet hole appearing in the car behind him. Shawn checked himself over and then held out his arms to the side. The tall one ran, but Naomi put three bullets in the ground around his feet until he stopped.
“Is Hailey okay?” Darby asked.
“She’s going to be fine. Let’s get you home.”
She offered a tired smile. “Can we stop by the hospital first?” Her expression changed, and she doubled over. “It was him,” she grunted, lifting a shaking hand to point at the tall one. “Todd. He hit Hailey as a distraction.”
I looked at him. “You hit my sister’s car?”
He looked caught at first, looking to Shawn for direction. When Shawn didn’t say anything, Todd’s expression turned defiant. “Yeah, I fucking hit her.” He pulled a pistol from the back of his pants, cocked it, and raised it just halfway before I squeezed the trigger of my Glock. Todd fell to his knees, a stunned look on his face and blood spilling from his chest.
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