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Aiden climbed out of the truck and glanced me over. “How’s your head? Do you need to get checked out by paramedics?”
“My head is fine.” Since when had he taken on Jaxson’s role of being the parent to the team? I expected it from Jaxson, especially since he was a father. “My ego got a little bruised, that’s all.”
Getting my ass dragged out in front of the town couldn’t have helped our image at Eagle Tactical. I should have fought harder and knocked that guy with the gun on his ass.
“I’m sure you’ll recover. Hazel and Ariella are inside?”
“Unfortunately. Where’s Jaxson?” I asked.
“He’ll be out in a minute. He’s on the phone talking to our client’s brother. It turns out he’s requesting information since he can’t get ahold of Franco.”
My head spun. “What? He’s trying to hire us now too?” What were the odds? It wasn’t like we were located in Chicago, and they both had searched for a private security firm.
“No. Franco had given our contact information to Nikolai in case he didn’t check in with him,” Aiden said. “Any chance these guys are the ones from the restaurant this morning?”
“The two deceased men were Alexander Petrov and Miko Romanoff,” I said.
Jaxson slammed the door of the truck as he stomped over toward us, fuming.
Was his shitty mood a result of the phone call or the fact he’d been sexually frustrated the past few days working alongside Ariella? There wasn’t much more I could take of his attitude. I shot a glance at Declan. He saw it too, didn’t he?
Declan gave a faint nod and then rubbed at his jaw, glancing at the resort. “How many armed men did you see?” Declan asked.
“There were eight in the lobby, armed with semi-automatic weapons donning ski-masks. I didn’t see any body armor, which is good news for us,” I said.
Another officer brought over a map of the facility and spread it out over the hood of the squad car. I pointed at the exit that Emma had come in and out of easily. “This appears to be the only point of an entrance that isn’t locked.” I had noticed metal chains on the doors before being pistol-whipped. I’d tried to take in as much detail as possible. I was the only eyes the team had right now.
“SWAT is on their way. I’d like Eagle Tactical to assist,” the sheriff said, “but we’re in charge of the operation.”
“Of course,” I said. “We wouldn’t have it any other way.” We knew how procedure worked on these types of cases. There was often red tape involved, and they couldn’t just hand over the reins for us to take the lead.
“Where’s Ariella and Hazel?” Jaxson asked.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Had they not gotten the news from the sheriff?
“They’re inside the resort.” I met his icy stare, unwilling to cower.
His gaze tightened. “I realize that. Where in the building were they last located?”
I pointed on the map where we had been. By now, it was likely they’d been moved some place else. “Here.”
“How many hostages were inside?” the sheriff asked.
I hadn’t been able to count fast enough the total number. I could give a rough estimate. “Fifty hostages, maybe sixty-five.” There hadn’t been too many people who had filtered in down the stairs while I’d been getting my head smashed in by the barrel of a gun.
“We’ll start with negotiations and see what they want,” Jaxson said.
“There’s something you should know, Jaxson.” He glanced from the map of the building back up at me. “We believe Emma may be involved in the hostage takeover. She came outside to take a smoke.”
“I don’t get it. Why not just smoke inside the building if she’s involved?” Jaxson’s brow furrowed, his jaw tight.
I didn’t have an answer or an explanation for him, at least not yet. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she heard the fire alarm and had been locked in a bathroom and then stepped outside for a cigarette. Except why else would she have fled back inside the building at the first sign of the authorities? She had to be hiding something.
Declan folded his arms across his chest. “Was she coming outside to see if anyone was coming to intervene? I don’t know Emma, but this doesn’t sound like what I know of her.”
I snorted under my breath. “She was with the off-gridders just last week.”
“That doesn’t make her guilty of a crime,” Declan said, “just poor taste in friends.”
