“I don’t care who you have to wake up or what you have to do, ping those phones,” Liam yelled into the phone as he pounded his hand on the steering wheel. “You need to find my niece and her friend.”
The cut across his chest throbbed in time with his heartbeat. How could there be so many cops milling about and not a single one of them saw two teenagers slip off.
Lord, help me find them.
He hit the contact button for Sophia. “Answer the phone, Soph.”
Straight to voicemail.
He wanted to throw his phone. He’d tried to use the tracking app, but her phone had gone dark. Most likely turned off. He kept trying to call her on the off chance that she’d answer it.
Lord. Help me.
He drove around the neighborhood. They couldn’t have gone too far on foot. Assuming someone hadn’t snatched them. He hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand.
He knew the statistics.
“God, don’t let Sophia and Bella become statistics.”
Lord.
The RPD was searching for the girls. They were also working on getting an Amber Alert issued. It wasn’t a confirmed kidnapping, but given the attack, it was a high probability.
It took some real guts to kidnap two girls with the number of police present at the scene.
The suspect who’d stabbed him was in custody and at the emergency room, being checked out before booking.
The phone in his hand rang. He looked at the screen. Glover.
“Please tell me the girls showed up at the hospital.”
“No.” She sighed. “We have another problem. Sam is gone.”
Liam slammed on the brakes. “What do you mean she’s gone?”
“She said Bella called her. Bella said they’d been kidnapped and Sam was to go to the slaughterhouse at Ashbend Industrial Park. We were on the way out of the hospital when she pointed out a man and said he’d been following us and that he’d been at the crime scene this afternoon. As soon as I took care of it, she was gone.”
“Why didn’t you call me immediately?” The rush of blood pounded in his ears.
“Because I was focused on trying to get us to the SUV, where I would have called you. I didn’t expect her to give me the slip.” Glover’s voice was hard.
“Okay.” Being angry with her wouldn’t help right now. “So she used the man as a distraction?”
“Yeah. He’s just some random bystander she chose to target.”
“Any idea why she gave you the slip?”
“None.”
“You said the slaughterhouse?” He knew where it was but wasn’t too familiar with the area yet.
“Yes. I’ll head toward Ashbend and set up a command center.”
“I’m on my way. I’ve got Kennedy working on pinging the girls’ phones. I’ll call and have her ping Sam’s just in case they move from there?—”
“Hold on. You were stabbed.” Shock filled Glover’s voice. “Have you been stitched up? I’ll call for backup. We’ll handle this.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I know my girls are safe.” He ground his teeth.
