“I was about to do that,” Colt said. “Good to know.”
Blowing out a breath, she asked, “How did Shadow know to send men here?”
For a moment, Colt didn’t respond, but she could see he was thinking. Then his eyes widened, and he reached into his pocket for his phone. He held it up. “Somehow, they’ve been tracking me. Maybe malware or an app I’m not aware of. That’s how they knew to find Opal at the clinic. They know I’m trying to find her. Could be how they found out about our visit to Steve and how they found us here.” He powered down the phone.
“We can have Eva go through both of our phones along with the burner phone and see what she can find out,” Maren said. “My boss said he’d contact the US Marshals to pick up Vinnie.”
“We can’t go back to your house,” Colt said.
“If Shadow knew about my place, why didn’t he send men last night?”
“Don’t know,” he said. “But we can’t assume he doesn’t send them now. Maybe he was waiting to see where we would go.”
Frustration crimped her chest. They may have led the drug kingpin straight to Vinnie. She sent up a silent prayer that the marshals would get to Vinnie before Shadow did.
She met Colt’s gaze, saw the worry there. “We have to go back to my place, at least long enough to grab some things. I’ll let Emmett know we need backup. I think it would be wise to have a task force member we know we can trust to provide extra protection in case we’re tailed to a hotel.”
“Fair enough,” he said.
They left the river area and met Colorado K-9 Unit member Officer Lizzie Reynolds and her golden retriever, a spectacular tracking dog named Reena, at the front door of the town house.
“I appreciate you coming,” Maren said to the petite blonde.
Though Haven and Reena had been around each other a few times the past few months, Maren kept Haven close.
The two female dogs eyed each other but neither showed any sign of aggression toward the other.
“Of course,” Lizzie replied, as her curious, green-eyed gaze took in Colt and Rusk. The pointer cocked his head to study Reena and her K-9 handler. “Glad to help.”
Maren made the introduction. Colt and Lizzie shook hands.
“I’d heard we had DEA on board,” Lizzie stated. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.” Colt’s voice was polite, but his gaze moved up and down the street. “We should hurry.”
With Lizzie and Reena staying on guard out front, Maren and Colt, with their dogs, hustled inside.
Maren found an extra duffel bag for Colt to put the things he’d bought the night before into, while she packed a small suitcase. Then she bagged up Haven’s food, treats and bowls.
After locking up the town house, she and Colt waved goodbye to Lizzie and then climbed back into the SUV.
“Let’s head to Denver,” Colt said. “We can find a dog-friendly hotel with connecting rooms and figure out our next move.”
Worry churned in her gut. “I just hope Opal’s in a safe place.”
When would her sister reach out? Would she reach out?
Or would Shadow get to her before they could find her?
She couldn’t go through the pain of losing her sister all over again.
Hopefully, whatever next move was decided on wouldn’t lead to Opal being the one to mourn.
* * *
When they arrived at the hotel, part of a popular national chain, they secured adjoining rooms on the fifth floor. Even though the hotel normally didn’t allow animals, the manager made an exception because Haven and Rusk were working dogs. Colt convinced Maren they needed to lie low for a bit, especially because he could tell she was shaken by the attack at the river. She’d agreed on the condition they buy a laptop and use their police access codes to run background checks on the men they’d apprehended and anyone else connected to Shadow and Opal.
Thankfully, there was an electronics store not far from the hotel. He bought a laptop and burner phones.
