Page 16 of Juan

“You need us for that,” Mantis said.

“You have us for that,” North corrected. All three men nodded. Out of the corner of her eye, Dottie, still at the stove eyeing her paella, nodded, too.

She blinked back tears. She didn’t want to be weak. She wanted to be strong like Callie and Lina, fearless like Charley, fierce like Daphne. But she wasn’t any of those. She’d spent years tiptoeing around Anthony, always fearful of what might set him off, rarely knowing what would. Unpredictability meant pain. And that cause-and-effect equation seemed hardwired in her brain. Maybe less loud now than it had been, but all these uncertainties unsettled her. Deeply.

“Holy shit!” Leo’s voice burst through the phone. North and Mantis straightened; Spencer pulled her tighter against him. As if all three were preparing for a battle in the kitchen of the clubhouse.

“Leo?” Mantis demanded, his voice sharper than it had been seconds ago.

“The phone just came on.”

“Is Adrian making a call?” she asked at the same time Spencer asked, “Where?”

Leo murmured something that sounded like “hold on,” and the click of a keyboard sounded through her device. Spencer’s thumb traced small circles at her waist. She focused on those as Leo worked his magic.

What seemed like ages later, though was probably less than ninety seconds, Leo exhaled. Loudly. “Well, fuck,” he said. Then not waiting for Mantis to jump in, he continued. “Whoever has the phone is definitely here. In Mystery Lake. Not ten miles from the clubhouse. I can’t pinpoint the location, though, unless Adrian—assuming it’s her—makes a call. But at least we know the area.”

A heavy silence fell across the kitchen—even Dottie stopped working—as they waited. Amber’s gaze flickered to the clock on the wall. The second hand ticked around while Spencer’s hand remained warm and steady on her hip.

Thirty-two seconds passed when Leo exhaled, the quiet sound startling her.

“She turned it off,” he said.

“Without making a call?” she asked. “Why would she do that?”

“Because she was checking the device to see if you’d called her,” Spencer replied. She drew back and looked at him. A mixture of determination and concern shadowed his eyes.

With a little shake of her head, she returned her attention to the phone. “Is the area searchable?” she asked. “If we think it’s Adrian Mills leaving the notes and making the calls, I assume we have a picture of her or can find out what she drives or trace her credit cards? If she rented a house in that area, maybe we can find her without her knowing we’ve found her? Maybe do a little recon,” she said, then made a face. “Saying that around a bunch of ex-military makes me feel like a poser.”

The men chuckled. “You’re not wrong, though,” North said. Both Mantis and Spencer nodded. “Assuming it is Adrian, if we can get a better bead on her location, through all those means you mentioned, Amber, we can investigate. See if we can gather any clues as to why she’s looking for you.”

“I can do a search on rentals,” Leo chimed in. “It’s not a heavily populated area. Too far from the resort for the weekenders. There’s one campground out there, too. Actually, given we know she’s used campgrounds in the past, I’ll start there.”

“What about a picture of her?” Amber asked.

“Sabina will send one over. She started looking into it when Mantis called earlier today but got pulled into something else. She’ll be wrapping up in the next hour, and it won’t take her long to dig one up,” Leo replied.

Spencer pinned her with a look. “Don’t even think about going to the campground to have a look around.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you telling me what I can and can’t do?”

North and Dottie snorted. Mantis hid a smile behind his hand. Spencer narrowed his eyes.

His jaw ticked, and she’d swear he held his breath for the count of five, then exhaled. “I would prefer if you didn’t go to the campground alone to look around. If you want to go, I’ll go with you.”

The band around her chest eased. She’d held her ground, and nothing bad had happened to her. In her heart of hearts, she not only knew but also trusted that none of the Falcons would ever hurt her, least of all Spencer. But still, a little thrill of power coursed through her. A power that allowed her to be honest.

“You know I’m a chicken. I would never go out there alone. We can talk about it later and decide if it’s a good idea and if so, how we should go about it,” she said.

Relief eased the lines around his eyes. “You’re not a chicken.”

“I have a couple of hours before I’m meeting Joey at my parents’ house for dinner. I’ll see what I can dig up before then,” Leo said. She and the others thanked him before ending the call.

A contemplative silence fell among them, then Mantis turned to her. “How are you?”

Confused. Curious. A little worried. Glad to be at the clubhouse surrounded by the Falcons. “It’s unsettling. But I’m safe here, so that’s what I’ll focus on.”

“You going to be able to sleep tonight?” he asked.