Page 49 of Hidden Obsession

Shane nodded silently, encouraging Malco to go on. Cleo was on the edge of her seat.

“We can’t know for sure until we get our hands on Vaughn, but I think at some point, we were the one that brought Spears into the mix.”

Caitlin gasped. “You can’t be serious.”

“I think it was a one in a million chance and we inadvertently stepped right into it. The usual process when looking for a stalker is to comb a person’s past to see if the threat comes from there. I’m convinced Spears being in Miami was simply a coincidence and if Mason hadn’t confronted him at the hospital, I don’t think he would have even appeared on our radar.”

Cain leaned forward, nodding. “We shook a hornets’ nest when we could have just sidestepped it? That means Travis has no relationship with Spears either, or worse, he used it to cover his intentions toward Mason.”

Curses bounced around the room. Wolf threw his hat on the table. “We know virtually nothing about this guy, we all trusted Mason on this.”

“We need to dig deep. Anybody have friends in the Secret Services?”

Cleo almost laughed at Caitlin’s statement, although she knew the woman wasn’t entirely joking.

Shane pulled out his phone. “I’ll see if I can get hold of someone. Been a while since I chatted with some brass, but it won’t hurt to dig.”

“That will take too long. We don’t have time to do a psych eval on the guy. We need to find him. To find Mason,” Nicholas said. From the nods of the others in the room, he perfectly mirrored the general opinion.

Emme looked at Shane, who shook his head. “I’m all for it, but we’ve already checked all the available videos in a five-mile radius of Mason’s apartment building, and we haven’t found anything. Zilch, zip, nothing, nada.”

Cleo closed her eyes, trying hard to engage her brain and provide a worthy idea, but all she could come up with was the last time she had seen Mason. He had covered her body with his, so typical of his protective nature, risking his life to rescue her.

People talked all around her as she was lost in the memory until something occurred to her. “What about the cameras around the warehouse where you found me?”

Nicholas looked grim. “Alex and Kingsley looked at them. Travis and Mason were out of range, so it’s impossible to see them. I don’t remember Travis disappearing for that long, I mean not long enough to carry a man like Mason far without being seen and then he brought Cleo home.”

But Cleo wasn’t deterred. Something inside her told her it was the thread to pull. “I know, but Mason must have been unconscious at that point, otherwise he would’ve called for help. That means Travis had to act fast while we were all busy, and it was chaos. What if he hid him somewhere close? It may have been a spur of the moment decision and he could have gone back later to get him. I went to bed pretty much straight away, I heard him leave, but I have no idea where he went. I honestly thought he’d decided I was fine and decided to go back to his place. I didn’t hear him come back till this morning, but knowing now he drugged me, he could have come and gone a few times while I was asleep, or he could have been gone the whole time.”

The room turned silent as a tomb before Nicholas and Cain bolted out of the room. Everyone was hot on their heels as they entered the war room and they all crammed around the two men as they started their search.

Images came up at a mind-blowing speed, and it became difficult for her eyes to focus on the images flying by in fast forward.

Emme gasped, and Cain froze the screen. “Look, it’s Travis’ car.”

Cleo held her breath, leaning forward as she saw the blond man getting out and he disappeared from the screen.

“Damn it, Cleo, you’re a smart woman. You were right! Guys, don’t lose him now!” Shane looked like he was about to punch the screen.

The men pushed forward, and it didn’t take long for Travis to head back toward his car and it was clear he was carrying something substantial in his arms even though his back was to the camera.

“Don’t lose him. We need to start tracking his car as soon as he puts Mason inside.”

It took only a moment more to see Travis had no intention of taking his car. Instead, he followed the building. The angle was broad in the now darker evening, but he went in-between the buildings instead.

“Shit, can’t find a better angle, boss.”

Nicholas started fast-forwarding the feed they had, and it didn’t take long. When he came back, Mason wasn’t with him. Appearing casual, Travis put his hands in his pockets until he reached his car and drove away in the Miami night.

“Bingo.”

Malco’s low voice was so close to her ear it made Cleo jump, bringing her back to reality, and she saw it. The moment Travis disappeared inside a building. They now had an address.

When she looked up at Emme, Cleo saw the familiar warrior gleam in her friend’s eyes, telling her that nothing was lost. “Team, time to go get Mason back.”