Page 61 of Her Forever SEAL

She cut it off short and measured the distance between her and the island barstool. It was too much. She sank to her knees and made the call.

Four rings.

“Gault. You know what to do.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. Even hearing those six words in Mason’s voicemail helped.

“Mason. Nobody’s hurt. We’re all fine.” That was the most important part to get out before anything else. Making a call when he was on a mission just wasn’t done, so he needed to know that they were okay. “Bree, Kayla’s friend, was kidnapped. She’s safe now. But I got a text just now. It said, tell your SEAL this is just the beginning. I haven’t had Lydia look at it, but.” She swallowed. Started again. “But I have to assume it’s untraceable.” She gripped her phone like it was a lifeline, and maybe it was. “Mason, come home. Whoever this is, is going to come after our babies. I know it. I’ve got them at Beth and Jack’s place for now. It’s a fortress… Come home.”

She hung up.

“Dammit!”

She hadn’t said she loved him.

She called Beth first.

She didn't explain. She didn't need to. Beth said of course before Sophia had finished the sentence, and Sophia heard her daughters' voices in the background—Lisa laughing at something, Kayla talking—and she pressed her eyes shut for just a second.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Stop,” Beth said. And that was that.

She called Lydia next.

“Lydia.” Her voice came out steadier than she expected. “I got a text.”

A pause. Not the pause of someone surprised—the pause of someone already moving. “From the same number?”

“I don’t know. Just an unknown number. How do I—” She stopped. Read it again, even though she didn't need to. “It said, tell your SEAL this is just the beginning.”

Silence.

“Come to my place,” Lydia said. “Now.”

Sophia didn’t remember much of the drive, but Lydia was at the door before Sophia's headlights swept the driveway. When Sophia got to the top of the stairs, she just stepped back and let Sophia in and held out her hand for the phone. Sophia handed it to her.

“Angie's down,” Lydia said, already moving toward her office. “Declan has a school thing, and Rylie doesn’t feel good leaving Marcus and Tanisha again. I told them I’d call when I find something out.” She sat down in front of her computer. She didn’t look up from the screen. “Sit down.”

Sophia sat down on the couch in the office. She hadn't expected to feel this tired. She'd expected wired. Instead she felt hollowed out.

“Burner,” Lydia said.

“Huh?”

Lydia was now standing at her desk, one hand flat on the surface, her eyes moving across her screen with the focused patience of a woman who had done this a thousand times. “Pre-paid. Cash purchase, almost certainly.” She paused. “It pinged a tower in National City.”

Sophia felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. “The warehouse district.”

“Adjacent.” Lydia said. “Whoever sent this was close to where we pulled Bree out. They were probably watching the building.”

“Oh.” Sophia said, feeling worn out.

“We'll work it. Tomorrow.” Lydia came around the desk and handed her back her phone, then looked at her the way she sometimes looked at her kids when she was trying to figure out how much they needed before they'd accept help. “When did you last sleep?”

“I slept Wednesday night.”

“It's Friday.”