Page 85 of Rescuing Brinley

Zamora nodded.

The phone rang, sounding extremely loud in the small room. The lieutenant colonel moved to the phone and answered, putting the call on speaker.

“Zamora here.”

“Tex. Shadow?”

“I’m here.”

“We’re going to find her. I’m on this. The best thing you can do is stay positive. Don’t give up. You understand?”

Shadow swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

“All right. I got the video from the coffee shop and enhanced it. The woman is definitely Tamika Black. The man with her is Louis Marden. His rap sheet is a mile long—assault, burglary, DUI, domestic violence, drugs…you name it, he’s done it. I haven’t been able to figure out how he and Tamika are connected but I will. For now, it’s not important. I’ve tried to ping Brinley’s phone but it’s been turned off. Tamika and Louis’s phones are also off, so they’re either using prepaids or no phones at all. I’ll search their bank accounts for any signs of them buying a burner in the last few months, but if they were smart, they bought one with cash. But even those phones have to be registered to someone, so I’ll be looking into that too.

“More importantly, I found airline tickets for both of them. They arrived in Fairbanks yesterday on one-way tickets. Stupid of them to use their own names, but whatever. They don’t have return tickets…yet. But I also have the make, model, and year of the car Tamika rented when she arrived. A car that hasn’t been returned yet. I’ve sent Zamora the details on that and passed it on to the detective you talked to earlier today, Shadow, so he can put out a BOLO.”

Shadow was shocked that the man already knew about his visit to the police station, but then again, if he was as good as everyone claimed he was, maybe it wasn’t so surprising.

“But what I know you’re all interested in is what, if any, security footage I’ve been able to find. I’ve been able to track Brinley’s Outback from the coffee place, past a dozen different businesses, getting onto the George Parks Highway. There’s just one business in Nenana, the next town from Fairbanks along that road, that has a security camera…and her car’s not on it. My best guess is that she’s somewhere between Fairbanks and Nenana.”

Fuck. That left way too much ground to cover. There were miles and miles of wilderness between here and there. Hundreds of dirt roads that snaked off into the bush. How in the hell were they going to find her?

“Oh…hang on…Damn! I put an alert on my software for her license plate and it just pinged. The car is back in Fairbanks. Just passed a traffic camera near the airport. Just a second, let me call the detective…”

Silence filled the room. Shadow itched to jump up and go to where Brinley’s car was last seen. But of course, by the time he got there it would be long gone. He had to stay where he was and wait for Tex to act as his eyes and ears.

He hoped like hell Brinley was still in her car. That Tamika and her companion had changed their minds and brought her back to the city. That they’d scared her and gotten her to agree to make a gown for the bitch…but deep down, he knew that was unlikely. He held on to his composure by the skin of his teeth.

Several minutes passed before Zamora’s cell vibrated where it was sitting on the table in front of him. He picked it up and frowned at the same time Tex came back on the line.

“You there?”

“We’re here,” Zamora said. “Got your email.”

“Just sent over a video of your girl’s car pulling into a motel near the airport. It’s grainy, but two people got out, a man and woman. And I’m sorry, it’s obvious that neither are Brinley. The cops are on their way to grab them now. At the very least, they’ll be charged with being in a stolen vehicle. But they’ll do what they can to find out where Brinley is.”

Shadow waited for more. But when Tex didn’t continue, he blurted, “That’s it? That’s all we got?”

Tex sighed. “Unfortunately, for now? Yes.”

No. This was unacceptable. Despair threatened to overwhelm Shadow. He wasn’t sure what was worse, not having any intel at all, or having just enough to realize that Brinley left the city with Tamika and Louis and wasn’t with them when they’d returned.

“I’ve done some calculations based on the amount of time they were gone,” Tex said, after a long, emotion-filled silence. “I’m sending you a map of the area where Brinley might be. It’s big. Too damn big, but we have no idea how long they drove, how fast, or how long they might’ve stopped anywhere.”

The implications were huge. Had they driven a short distance and tortured Brinley for hours? Or had they driven as far as they could before doing something horrible, quickly, then returning to the city?

Shadow’s breaths came hard and fast. It felt as if he’d run a five-minute mile.

Kodiak’s hand landed on his shoulder, grounding him.

Their phones all vibrated with a message, and Shadow looked down at the map Tex had just sent. He didn’t ask how the man had gotten all their emails; it was a moot point.

He was right, the area was big. Immense.

“We can break this up. Each take a team of volunteers from the base to drive the back roads and search.”

“There are already at least twenty men and women ready to head out.”