"What the…?"
Sloane cut me off. "You said you wanted background information on Krista, right?"
I set the dumbbells back on the shelf. "Yeah. What do you have for me?"
"Krista Ann Smith. Thirteen years old. Mother died six months before she was taken. No father listed on the birth certificate. Straight A's in school up until her mother died, then everything went to shit. Attendance became an issue. Grades became an issue. Behaviors became an issue. She was bounced between foster homes because the families that took her in complained she was too troubled."
I knew all about that. It was like getting a glimpse into Nova's past. She’d had the same issue before my mother was granted permission to become a foster parent and took Nova in. My mother was a single parent, and the system frowned upon that when it came to fostering. Thankfully one of the child advocatesunderstood what Nova needed and pushed to get my mother approved. After that, Nova never had problems again.
"I thought you would find this interesting though." Sloane pulled me from my thoughts and handed me the tablet. I focused on the part she highlighted.
"Wait, she's from the same hometown as Nova and me?"
"Yup." Sloane popped the P. "A little strange if you ask me, considering the population of your hometown is like five hundred people."
"More like five thousand but I get what you mean. It's a small town."
"And apparently a small world."
Yeah, I'm not sure why that sat with me the wrong way. There was no reason for it to. It was merely a coincidence.
As I handed the tablet back to Sloane, it let out a blaring horn.
"What the hell is that?"
Sloane frowned. "I set up special alerts for Krista. I didn't want to miss anything, so I made it as obnoxious as possible."
The noise sure was that. "Okay, so what's happening with her?"
I knew it was bad just by the look on Sloane's face. "Mary just contacted Hawk. Krista's missing."
Shit! Had I known about her background before this, I could've expected this would happen. "Grab the rest of the team. We're headed to North Carolina. I want boots on the ground there while we look for her."
I should never have left her there. I should've known by the look she gave me she would do something like this. It was the same look Nova had every time she was dropped off at a new foster home. She hadn't liked being left there either. I needed to do the same thing for Krista that my mother did for Nova. Findthe one place she felt safe and make sure that was where she stayed.
We werein the air less than an hour later.
"Tell me Hawk has good news for us?"
"Nothing yet but I'm sure they will have something soon. She's a thirteen-year-old girl. She can't escape Hawk forever."
I thought the same about Mason, but somehow he managed to do it for seven years. My team knew what it meant to live off the grid, and that shit wasn't easy.
"What did Mary say when you talked to her?" Nyx had taken point on that, so I directed the question to her.
"She was both upset and concerned. She's blaming herself for not seeing the signs earlier. She was trying to give Krista space because she thought that's what she needed, and then this happened."
It wasn't Mary's fault. It was rare she took on anyone under the age of eighteen. Not from our team anyway. What else she did for Hawk was between the two of them, but I was under the impression it was usually adults.
"We'll find her," Sloane assured me. "Hawk's made Krista a priority, so all other assignments are on hold, but they think it won't take long."
"I forgot to say it earlier, but thank you for setting up those alerts. I know it's not custom for us to keep tabs on our assignments after we've completed them."
"I should actually be apologizing for that. I gave you shit for it, and that was a lousy thing for me to do."
"It all worked out in the end." I was going to focus on that. After the blowup we’d had, we were mending fences, and Iwasn't about to jeopardize that by being a bitch or saying “I told you so.” My team was right. We needed to work together.
We were descending into a small airport about thirty minutes away from Mary's house when Hawk had something to report.
