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This couldn’t be connected to Kip Lunceford. Could it?
* * * *
6:52 p.m., Friday – TBK Tower, Destiny, Colorado
Dylan was hitting too many dead ends. If he didn’t figure out something soon, Scott might have to transfer the ransom that had been demanded in the e-mail.
“Scott, any clue what this odd placeholder in the code you mentioned might mean?” Jason asked. “Give me something to go on. Anything.”
The billionaire shrugged.
“I think I might know.” Dylan nodded. “The dollar sign is a word divider. The number one is—”
Cameron rushed through the door and into the room. “What do we know? How can I help? Do we know where or who took Erica?” His face was dark with concern.
Dylan was relieved some that Cam was here, but he held up his hand to him. “Hold up for a sec.”
Scott turned to him. “I still can’t make heads or tails out of this placeholder even if the dollar sign is a word divider. The only thing that might make sense is the ‘KL’ stands for Kip Lunceford.”
“That definitely is the case,” Dylan told him. “Kip is arrogant.”
“Yes.” Scott nodded. “He’s the most arrogant, self-absorbed lunatic I’ve ever known.”
He looked at his screen and realized another country had popped up. “I just found a server in the Ukraine, fellows.” How many rabbit holes are in this?
“On it, Dylan,” Cam said, taking a seat at one of the free computers.
“You’re right, Sheriff,” he continued. “KL is Kip Lunceford. Now, replace the 1 with the letter i and that’s the message.”
Scott said aloud what he’d already figured out. “Genius Kip Lunceford wins. What an asshole.”
“That’s Kip,” Jason said, his face dark red.
“Found it,” Cam said. “The e-mail came from Vernal, Utah.”
“Hold on.” He shook his head. “I just sent you what I found. Casper, Wyoming.”
“What does that mean?” Jason asked.
“One might be the origination point,” he said, realizing how complicated the rescue mission was becoming. “The other is just a mirror to get us off the scent.”
“Wait,” Cam said. “Here’s a third. A suburb in Denver.”
Scott shook his head. “What if they’re all just repeaters and the real location is masked?”
“That might be true,” Cam acknowledged.
“But it’s all we have to go on. There’s nothing more to do here. The code has dried up.” Dylan stood, knowing it was time for him to take charge. He was the best in mission planning, and this mission meant life or death to Erica. “We’re running out of time before TBK is supposed to make the first wire transfer. We need three teams to go to all these locations.”
“I’ve got the physical address for the one in Vernal,” Cam said. “Sending it now.”
“Got it.” Scott typed on his iPad. “That’s five and a half hours from Destiny. We need to go now.”
“The Denver and Casper addresses are about the same,” Dylan said.
Scott stood. “Give us our orders, Dylan.”
“I’m going with you, too,” Cam stated firmly.
