“DNA on the items?” Archer asked.
“It’s being processed.”
The bastard had thought ahead enough to plan a route. Enough to bring gear and leave them with evidence that would take time to get answers.
Jolie heaved a low sigh and stared into her coffee cup.
He rested a hand on her back. “We’ll find him.”
“Don’t worry,” Rome added.
Archer nearly laughed. He’d spent the night with Jolie’s pulse under his fingers, checking it every time she shifted in her sleep. Worry had moved into his bones.
Archer looked at O. “You pull the camera footage from the restaurant in Chicago?”
Jolie whipped her head to pierce him in her astonished stare. “I didn’t realize you could do something like that. There must be thousands of people on camera. How would we ever find one?”
He squeezed her hand. “We have programs.”
“I need to talk to Stina.” Her voice wavered.
“You will—soon,” Archer said with force. “We won’t let anything happen to her.”
Cannon leaned forward. “We need you to provide a description of the man who took you in more detail. We have an artist lined up to work with you.”
She shook her head. “I wish I remembered more.”
“Anything you remember will help,” he assured her. “Even the things that seem small.”
Archer covered her hand with his, not caring that the team saw or what they thought about it.
He squeezed once. The action made him think of when he left her at the motel, how he had wanted to do far more than squeeze her hand. But the touch had meant something then, and it meant even more now.
Cannon’s attention settled on her. “I know you’re going to be upset about this, Jolie.”
She tensed.
“But you’re going to be with us for some time while we figure this out.”
Archer watched her face as she processed it.
Even though Cannon told her she had to stay on base, shewantedto be here. She’d spent years being what everyone needed. Choosing Archer wasn’t abandoning the people she loved.
It was finally refusing to abandon herself.
She lifted her chin. “You’re going to have to tell me about the aliens.”
One of the guys snickered. Younger coughed around a bite of doughnut he almost choked on.
Cannon gave her a flat look. “There are no aliens.”
“There are always aliens in secret military bases.”
Rome coughed into his fist.
“Underground,” she added.
Townie’s mouth twitched.
