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“Put him through.”
“We found the car,” he said without preamble.
“Where?”
“At the Eastridge Mall.”
The mall was a half hour from Lauren’s house. “Good work. What’s next?”
“This doesn’t mean they’re hiding nearby, but it’s at least a start. We’re going to start looking, start canvassing the area. And then we’re going to find Hannah, and then we’re going to get her out. How does that sound?”
I stared at the full parking lot, my hand gripping the phone. “It sounds like exactly what I needed to hear.”
Chapter 10
Lauren
My brothers want to have a meeting tonight, Gabe texted me.
I’m leaving soon, I texted back.
I took a final look at the patent agreement my team had drafted. “I think this looks good enough to send over,” I said to Bethany. “What do you think?”
“I agree.” Bethany started drafting an email to Petra. Her gaze flicked to me. “You ready to do this?”
I nodded. It wasn’t as though I had a choice.
“I’m going home to have a meeting with Gabe and his brothers—would you like to join us?”
Bethany hit Send and grabbed her bag. “Okay. I just hope they have some news. I’m sure you feel the same way.”
The men were waiting for us when we got home. Gabe jumped up when he saw me, taking me into his arms. “Did you hear anything today?”
“No, but we finished the documents and sent them over.” Which means we’re closer to a showdown. I looked away, not wanting to see his expression.
His grip around me tightened, which told me everything.
“Lauren, thanks for being here. I know you’re extremely busy,” Levi said. “I want to update you. You know we traced the plates to the vehicle that Li Na’s men stole. We found that car at the Eastridge Mall today—and Ash tracked down the owners.”
My pulse quickened. “Did you find anything that leads to Hannah?”
“Not yet, but this car was stolen from San Francisco, from a neighborhood that experiences a pretty high level of crime. I’m guessing they knew that—I think the people who did the job could be locals. Which is both good and bad. Good because they might be comfortable enough to stay in the area, and bad for the same reason. They could be very well hidden.”
“So what’s next?” I asked.
“I’ve been consulting with the FBI and the NSA, so I’ll follow up on this lead with them,” Levi said. “They might have something useful with the neighborhood—we can cross-reference their databases to try to find the men we’re looking for.”
Ash leaned forward. “And I’m taking the crew to go out and do a search. We’ll start at the mall, checking neighborhoods around the area. We’re also looking into every stolen vehicle that’s been taken from the area during this timeframe. It’s going to take a while, but at least we’ll be doing something while we wait for their next move.”
“That’s great—it’s progress. Thank you.”
Ash nodded. “Hopefully, we’ll turn up something.”
I swallowed hard, dreading what I needed to say next. It wasn’t going to go well, but we had to talk about it. “I think Li Na’s next move is to arrange the exchange—as soon as the paperwork’s approved. I got the sense from her that she wants me sooner than later.”
Gabe tensed next to me. “Babe—”
“Hey.” I put my hand on his thigh and squeezed. “We need to discuss this, okay?”
