Page 73 of Unveiled

Her eyes widened as she gave an appreciative nod. “Sounds… complicated.”

They lapsed back into silence and delved once more into the video feeds. After a bit, Jaxon moved to stand behind Adalyn, but he offered no reassurance. He didn’t touch her, never even said a word. Again, that irrational anger flared to life and simmered in her stomach. Her emotions were ready to bubble over. Suddenly, she was mad at everyone and everything.

None of this was fair. She wanted her daughter back, and she wanted to know why she’d been taken in the first place.

CHAPTER

FORTY-ONE

The automated voice announced that the auction was over, and the screen went blue with a message that read “Session will expire in ten minutes.” Aiden’s fingers flew over the keyboard, and he watched the monitor to his left as code rolled across the screen, a bunch of numbers and letters that may as well have been a foreign language for all the sense it made to him. Suddenly, he froze. “What is that?”

In place of the disconnection message, a new window popped up. “Re-homing needed, local pickup only. Blonde, blue. Enter bid now.” A timer popped up and began the countdown from five minutes. Jaxon’s stomach contorted into knots as he watched the seconds tick away. “What is that?”

Aiden’s face was bright red, his expression livid. “Well, it’s not a dog they’re referring to.”

Beside Jaxon, Adalyn let out a soft cry as a picture popped up on the screen. He sucked in a breath, his chest feeling like someone had planted a fist right in his solar plexus. Jaclyn’s tear-stained face stared back at him from the computer screen, and he fought to drag in air. Oh, Jesus. He watched the nightmare unfold right before his eyes.

The minutes counted down, and the first bid popped up. Five thousand dollars. The number hit him with the force of a brick wall. That was the value someone had placed on his daughter’s life. Red exploded across his vision, and he whirled on Aiden. “What are you waiting for?”

Aiden stared up at him. “Let’s see how this plays out for a second, and⁠—”

“Are you kidding me?”

Knox stepped up between them. “Hold up. Let’s relax for one second. We still have several minutes. No sense in bidding it up unnecessarily.” He turned his dark brown gaze on Jaxon. “Whatever the cost, we’ll bring her home. But we need to be smart about it.”

Knowing Knox was right didn’t make it any easier. Jaxon clasped his hands together behind his neck and stared at the screen. The counter moved downward while the bids grew until the number turned his stomach.

“IP address is different,” Aiden muttered. “This definitely isn’t the same person.”

“What does that mean? Someone hacked the auction?”

Aiden stared at the code zipping across the screen on the left monitor. “Can’t say for sure yet, but it’s possible.”

When it came within the thirty-second mark, Aiden tapped his bid in and pushed it through. Relief mingled with dread as the clock ran out, their bid still the highest. Where was he going to come up with that kind of money?

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a second window popped up, requesting personal information. He threw a glance over his shoulder at Knox. “What do you make of that?”

“They’re running background on the winners,” Aiden murmured. “We need someone’s name. Can’t be one of us.”

Jaxon’s heart dropped to the floor. Aiden was right. Mickelson had participated in the auction, but Jaxon had a feeling that using him would be the wrong way to go. They couldn’t use Adalyn, since she was Jaclyn’s mother. And they were all ex-military—there was no way they’d work with any of them.

Luke’s deep voice cut through the silence. “Use Hannah’s.”

Jaxon whipped toward him. “You sure?”

She’d been through a lot recently, and though he’d do anything—literally anything—to bring Jaclyn home, he felt like a jerk for putting an unsuspecting woman at risk for a second time.

Luke just nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

Jaxon shot him an appreciative look, and Luke rattled off Hannah’s information, Aiden’s fingers flying over the screen as he typed it in. They all stared in silence as Aiden submitted the information, and a message popped up. “Final winner to be contacted for retrieval.”

So even though they’d won, they could still choose someone else?

Rage threatened to consume Jaxon, and he slammed his fist down on the desk. He swore to God—as soon as he found the person behind all this, he was going to rip him limb from limb. He was going to die a slow, painful death for everything he’d put them through.

“Keep looking. I need a name.” His voice was harsh and raspy to his own ears. He needed to know who this was. They didn’t have the time or resources to try to run voice analytics. He needed to see the man’s face so he knew exactly who he was looking for. Too bad he’d stayed out of view of the camera the whole time.

He’d been brash enough to walk right up to Adalyn’s house, in sight of everyone. Bitterness filled his tone. “Damn. At least a day care would’ve had security footage.”