Chapter 28
“Oh, come on, Man, are you seriously going to take this from me?” Garrett practically whined, but he was only messing with Caden who gave him a look that unequivocally told him he wasn’t messing around.
“He’s part of an FBI case, and you know it. The state of Texas can tack on any charges it wants to, but we get him first.”
Garrett ran a hand over his brow, wiping away the sweat. He knew the FBI needed Ryker to make their case and put Russell Graham away, but a part of him wished he could’ve seen this thing through to the end. Orly and Luke weren’t the only ones Ryker and Russell’s guys had hurt. Reese had been kidnapped and was still worried sick that something was going to happen to him.
“You can watch.” Caden nodded to a door a few feet away from where Garrett stood, and Garrett moved to do just that. If he couldn’t be in on the action, at least he’d get the satisfaction of watching his good friend take him down.
“You got him?” Luke appeared seemingly out of nowhere and came up to Garrett. “Caden called. Said you got the guy.”
“We got one of the guys,” Garrett said. “It’s not Russell, but I think he can take us to Russell.”
Luke sighed and nodded. “Let’s do this.” He opened the door Garrett had been about to walk through, but suddenly jerked back. “What’s this?”
Garrett peered into the room over his friend’s shoulder. A large monitor sat on a table against the wall with a few chairs in front of it. “We should be able to watch everything on the screen.”
Luke stared at the said screen for a long moment. “I kind of hoped I could be in the room.”
Garrett put a hand on his shoulder. “You and me both. But don’t worry, Caden and Blake will give him hell.”
Luke reluctantly nodded his agreement and stepped inside, but just as Garrett was about to go in, his phone vibrated in his pocket. “Be right there,” Garrett said, pulling it out to glance at the screen. Caller I.D. showed it was Skyla calling. “Hey, Skyla, what’s up?”
“Garrett, we were just wondering what the holdup was,” she said, in an easy light hearted tone.
He had no idea what she was talking about. “What do you mean?”
“Reese isn’t here yet. I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer. How long do you plan to keep her?” Skyla laughed, and Garrett quickly realized she was reacting to someone who was there with her and not to her conversation with him. “Garrett? When is Reese coming? We’re all here and just waiting for her.”
A sinking feeling twisted his gut, and his hand automatically went to cover the ache. He glanced at his screen again and realized Reese had never sent him a text message that she’d arrived at Madigan’s. He’d been so caught up in chasing Ryker, he hadn’t even realized how much time had passed.
Garret cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully. The last thing he wanted to do was worry the women. He had no doubt they’d be terrified if they suspected anything was wrong. “I’m sure she just got caught in a bit of traffic. She’s on her way.” He ended the call and quickly opened the app linked to the new GPS locator he’d given Reese. But there were no missed alerts.In fact, it wasn’t transmitting at all. It was like Reese had turned it off or pulled the battery out. Had it died already?
He muttered a curse word just as the door to the observation room opened and Luke came out. He gestured behind him. “I think Caden is making the guy sweat before going in there. Why aren’t you coming in? What’s going on?”
“Hey guys,” Tanner said, approaching them. “I heard you made an arrest. Was it Russell?”
Garrett swallowed, hard. “No. And Reese never showed up to Madigan’s.”
“GPS locator?” Luke asked.
“Nothing.” Garrett showed him the screen of a map with no pin anywhere in sight. “I think it might’ve died or something.”
“She’d call if there was something wrong. Maybe she made a stop on the way.” Tanner suggested. But Garrett had a feeling something wasn’t right. Reese wouldn’t ignore a call from Skyla, and she would’ve told him if she wasn’t going straight to Madigan’s.
He checked to see if he could find her using her cell phone with his phone since he’d linked them when he’d bought it for her, but that didn’t seem to be working either. Garrett was starting to panic. His truck was an older model with no tracking on it, and if the GPS locator was turned off, and her phone was out of range, he had no way of finding her.
He was about to dial Reese, hoping she’d answer and tell him she was just fine, when his phone buzzed again. Caller I.D. showed it was Reese calling. Garrett let out a huge sigh of relief and hit the button to answer. “Hey, everyone at Madigan’s is worried about you. Are you okay? Where are you?”
***
Reese nearly crumpled at the sound of Garrett’s voice. She wanted to scream into the phone, to warn him to stay away. If hecame anywhere near this cabin he was going to die. She would never survive that. But Russell had taken the time to gag her with a filthy rag before actually pressing Garrett’s name on her phone, making it impossible for her to say anything to the man she loved. The only thing she could do was grunt and moan, hoping he’d somehow decipher what she was trying to tell him. It wasn’t until she heard Garrett say, “Don’t you dare touch her. I’m on my way,” that she realized it was all over. Russell had already told him where they were, and Garrett was walking into a set up that would end with his death.
As soon as the call ended, Russell yanked the rag out of her mouth but his fingers bit into her shoulder as he held her in place. “Sorry about that little sis, had to make sure you didn’t give away our epic plan.”
Reese struggled against his hold, not that it did much good. He had her in a death grip, for no other reason than to hurt her. It wasn’t like she could go anywhere with him right there. Not to mention, she was quite literally tied to a chair with her hands behind her back. “I had nothing to do with any of this. How could you do this to me? I know we’re not blood siblings, but our parents loved each other before my mom died.”
Russell seemed to consider her words. “That was only because my father didn’t know the truth about your mother,” he bit out.
