He’d heard the guilt, the self-blame in Lia’s voice, but all he could think was she’d beenfifteen. She’d survived that abuse for three years and then worked with anFBI agentto bring down an entire trafficking ring. How could she look back at that with anything but pride?
Once they found Sammy—andDani—and got them home and safe, he’d deal with that. For right now, he had to put everything Lia had said and been through out of his mind and focus. He had to be a cop.
But a cop wouldn’t be holding a civilian’s hand as they walked down a dark, deserted road in the middle of nowhere. A cop would know better.
He didn’t have time to think or worry about that, because Sammy had been taken somewhere. He didn’t want to believe Dani had done that to her. If he let himself consider that, he’d be absolutely destroyed, and he couldn’t afford that.
So he chose to believe, like Lia had said, it hadn’t actually been Dani texting Sammy. Of course, that didn’t put Sammy in any better of a situation or ease his fear for her safety any.
They walked and walked, and Gard knew it was taking too long, but he couldn’t run in the dark. Even with his eyes adjusted to the darkness, it took all his concentration to follow the side of the road and count the gravel drives until they finally made it to the one they needed.
Before they even made it a few steps, he heard sounds. Quite a ways before the light from the house came into view. The faint beat of music, a lilt of too-loud laughter, the murmur of voices. He hurried his pace, pulling Lia along until he could see the house.
Lights shone from every cracked or broken window. Shadows moved inside. Shafts of light spilled out onto the overgrown yard, but it was clear no one was paying attention to what was going on outside. They were having some kind of party in there.
Gard started to walk forward, moved the safety on his gun off, but Lia tugged at his hand.
“Gard,” she said on a firm whisper. “You can’t go in there on your own. They’ll have guns, and a lot of them will be high. It’s a party right now.”
“And if Sammy and Dani are in there?” he whispered back.
“Maybe they are. Maybe they aren’t. But there’s absolutely no way for you to go in guns blazing and have it turn out well foranyone. Look.” She pointed at the house. “There are at least tenpeople in there. And that’s just what we can see from this front window, so probably more. I guarantee you they have weapons of their own, and they’re high so they’re going to do something foolish. Don’t do something foolish right along with them.”
She wasn’t wrong. He watched the windows. But what if Dani and Sammy were one of the people walking around in there? Didn’t that mean he needed toact?
Not if you walk in there and get you and Lia killed.
“Let’s see if we can find a barn or shed or something,” Lia was saying. “If we can find where they’re keeping people… And Laurel gets that search warrant, it’s all over. If Dani and Sammy are in there, it’s just partying right now. They’ll be okay, and if you can get a reason for enough of a police presence, they’ll be able to raid the party without anyone getting hurt.”
He wondered if she believed that or if she was just that good of an actress. But she wasn’twrong. Even if Dani and Sammy were in there andnotokay, he couldn’t rush in without some kind of backup. It wouldn’t save anyone. It’d just hurt them all.
Andlegal backupcouldn’t come without the warrants Laurel was trying to get.
He turned away from the house, dropping Lia’s hand and pulling his phone out of his pocket. He doubted anyone inside would be looking out down the drive, but if they did his body should block the light of his phone.
“I’m going to text Royal. He’s off duty. It’s a risk for him to help me with this when—”
Lia put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll be more than willing to help. Royal isn’t afraid of some risks.”
Royal was still just one guy, but maybe he could bring along that brother-in-law of his who Gard was pretty sure had some kind of military background. And Royal had an interesting background himself, not that Gard knew the details.
Did everyone connected to Hope Town have secret pasts? He didn’t have time to consider that.
But more bodies meant more chance of this situation not escalating. So Gard sent a quick, concise text to his friend, including the address and instructions to wait at the drive.
Because even if Royal could jump to help immediately, this place was a ways away from Hope Town and Sunrise and Bent. It would take Royal and whoever else time to get here, and Gard couldn’t wait for that.
It didn’t take more than a minute for the response to come through.
Should be there in about twenty. Zeke might be able to round up a few more. More soon.
Gard let out an unsteady breath. Royal hadn’t asked one question, hadn’t hesitated. Now Gard just had to hope he could find a way to get Dani and Sammy out of this without jeopardizing the police work necessary to stop this group.
Because he was going to do whatever it took to get Dani and Sammy safe—even if it meant ruining a police investigation and losing his badge.
“He’s coming. Maybe more than just him.”
“Good, that’s a start,” Lia said. “Let’s see if we can find an outbuilding while we wait.”
