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He should have slept on the couch in their sitting room. He hadn’t wanted to get in their way while they bonded, but now that felt like a weak excuse.

Brody had awakened at five fifty, a full ten minutes before his alarm was set to go off. Immediately, he felt something was off. He’d stood in the center of his room for maybe a minute. Then he tried texting Claudia. She usually woke early. No answer.

Using the door connecting the two rooms, he’d rushed in to find both women missing, the comforters pooled in heaps on the floor. Claudia’s phone had been charging next to her bed. On the other side of the shared night table, Jenna’s hearing aids blinked green at him from her charger.

She would be terrified without her hearing aids. He knew she couldn’t hear most voices, not well enough to understand. The only spark of hope he had was that her phone was nowhere in sight. He didn’t dare text her and give it away. But maybe it could be tracked.

He ran back to his room and called Sergeant Dawson.

“Dawson here.” The cop’s voice sounded like he’d been dragged from a deep sleep.

Brody didn’t care.

“Jenna and Claudia are gone. It looks like they were abducted sometime during the night.”

“Walk me through it.” All traces of sleep and irritation had left Dawson’s voice.

Brody gave him all the information he knew, including everything he’d learned from Cameron the night before.

“We questioned Andy yesterday. There’s nothing to hold him on. He has alibis for every time an attack occurred. In fact, when the parents were killed, he was away in the army.” Dawson recited as if reading off notes he’d taken. “When we asked, he handed over his cell phone, iPad and computer. Nothing on them that could be traced. He also gave us permission to search his place. I’m telling you Brody, I’m not liking him for this.”

Neither was he. His mind took a detour sideways. “Andy had stood out because of his dislike of Jenna, but what about his brother, Matt? Is he connected to the Ellis family? I think he and Andy share a mother.”

And he’d be old enough to recall more of what happened.

“I’ll call you back.”

Brody ran down to the lobby and showed the concierge his badge. “I brought a woman here to protect her, but she was abducted.”

He gave the room number. The manager came in, very offended that their hotel reputation was being smeared. When Brody told them to check the cameras outside the room in question, the man went silent.

Two burly men wearing hotel uniforms entered the room with a laundry cart. A few minutes later, they exited. The cart shook and moved. As if someone were inside it fighting to get out.

The manager made a phone call to the laundry department. “We had two unknown males dressed in uniform pushing a laundry cart. We believe they abducted two women. Have you seen anyone suspicious?”

Within seconds, his face lost all color. He hung up and turned to the concierge. “Call the police. The men took one of the vans. They loaded the cart in the back.”

Brody felt his stomach turn over. Jenna and Claudia were inside that van. The two women he’d promised to protect had been snatched right from under his nose.

Hey excused himself from the concierge desk and moved away to call Sergeant Dawson again.

“Brody. What do you have? Any news?” Dawson asked the moment he picked up the call.

“It seems that one of the laundry vans is gone,” Brody reported, keeping his voice level with extreme effort. “The police here have been called. The consensus is that two men took the women.”

“Mr. Carson!” The manager called out.

“Hold on, Dawson. They might have something.”

He ran back to the desk.

“We have another video.” The clerk informed him.

Brody watched. A familiar face came into view. “Dawson! You’re right. I can clearly see Matt Anderson’s face on this video. He kidnapped both Claudia and Jenna.”

Brody left the desk. “Jenna has her cell phone on her. The pay as you go kind that you instructed us to get. I have the number. And I’m sure that the desk can get us the plate number of the stolen van. We should be able to track them.”

“Let’s hope they haven’t stripped the plate off the van yet.” Sergeant Dawson said.