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Chapter Four
Mason
It was the middle of the night. My phone buzzed, breaking me of sleep and comfort.
“What?” I wasn’t a morning person, let alone a middle of the night wake my ass kind of guy.
“It’s Colton. We’ve got a problem.”
My stomach felt like it fell out. I ran a hand over my tired eyes and jumped out of bed. In the dark, I grabbed clothes and rushed into the bathroom. “Shit.” I flipped on the light, the brightness blinding. “What is it?” I wasn’t ready for whatever he was about to spring on me. Hazel was supposed to be on her way to Eagle Tactical for our protection. I had requested the best in Chicago, and that was Colton Carr.
“The U.S. Marshals were hit sometime in the past two hours. They didn’t call in like they were supposed to, and their vehicle isn’t moving. I’ve got GPS coordinates. I need you to go check it out.”
“Why didn’t you escort her?” I put my phone on speaker, yanked off my boxers, and threw them at the wall. He should have been in the vehicle. “I called you, Colton. I wasn’t asking for the next best agents to help.”
“Stanford and Blakely are two of the best the Marshals service has to offer. Do you want me to call the sheriff’s office? You should know the mafia is involved, the Russian mob. They’re going to keep trying to track her down.”
I tugged on a clean pair of boxers and jeans, then threw on a sweater. I grabbed the phone and hurried with socks in my hand to fetch my shoes. I didn’t have a second to spare. Hazel’s life was in danger. “I know that.”
“Let me know what you find,” Colton said.
“Yeah.” I hung up the call with Colton, grabbed my car keys, and slipped on my socks and boots before I headed for my truck. “Fucking Bastard,” I muttered under my breath. I asked him to do one thing, why couldn’t he have listened?
The darkness of night enveloped the vast expanse of land, across the mountains and down the valley. The night sky was speckled with stars, a beautiful sight if I wasn’t in a rush to find Hazel.
I slowed as I approached the coordinates and pulled over to the side of the road. I left the engine idle and the headlights on, unlocking the door. I stepped out onto the street.
There was not another vehicle in sight for miles. Where the hell was the missing SUV? Had it been picked up already by a tow truck? That didn’t seem right or likely on a Friday night. Especially if the vehicle had just recently been located.
I grabbed a flashlight from the truck and headed out into the field. Shining the light ahead of me, searching for any sign of Hazel seemed an impossible task. She could have been anywhere by now. She’d never been to Breckenridge. She wouldn’t know how to find me.
My flashlight flickered, going out in the darkness.
“Damnit!” I threw the stupid flashlight into the distance but didn’t hear the thud I expected. Instead of a soft landing on the grass and field, there was a clank on metal in the distance.
I grabbed my phone from my pocket and used the flashlight feature to get a better look at the sound that I’d heard: a smashed-up vehicle in the ravine, crushed.
“Hazel!” I shouted and practically held my breath, listening for a response.
There were no noises from below. Darkness surrounded the vehicle. I carefully catapulted down the side of the ravine, scaling the mountain. My boots slid under my feet, forcing me to lose my balance, but I caught myself before landing on my ass.
I’d made it to the bottom of the ditch. I glanced up the mountainside. It would be hell to climb back up but I could do it.
“Hazel?” I called out into the night.
No response.
I approached the smashed vehicle, bullet holes covered the body of the SUV. “What the hell happened?”
I crouched down, finding two male bodies. I checked them each for a pulse; neither were alive. There was no sign of Hazel. That had to be good news. It meant she survived the crash, right? Unless she’d been ejected out the windshield. No, that was a horrible thought. She had to be alive. Hazel was a fighter.
I dialed Aiden. He would know what to do. I didn’t want to wake Jaxson. He had a kid at home, and Lincoln had the restaurant. Declan would be useful in the office, so I patched Aiden and Declan in on a conference call.
“What’s up?” Aiden asked. He didn’t sound as tired as I felt.
“Aren’t you just peachy?” Declan yawned. “What’s going on?”
“I need help. It’s regarding an off-the-books assignment.” I didn’t wait for them to answer. I headed back to my truck. Standing out in the field, searching for her wasn’t doing a lick of good.
