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I went to work on the viewing software, which, unlike the camera, was so antiquated it was one step beyond rewinding an actual VCR tape. The restaurant had seen better days for sure. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet now, but it had once been a prestigious seafood joint overlooking Lake Merritt.
Still, it was exactly the type of place that might fall on hard times. And therefore, the type of place unfortunately forced into dealing with the Lozanos.
Luckily, the restaurant’s recording system saved its files more than a month before deletion. It had taken us only five minutes to bribe our way into the back room, but another three hours to find the day in question. The kid, or busboy, or whatever he was, kept coming in and out of the room, getting more and more impatient each time. But we were close. Damn close.
“Stop!” Brynne shouted abruptly. “Right there!”
The kid returned to the room at that exact moment, only to be ambushed as Brynne yanked the half-empty bottle of Windex from his hand. She sprayed the glass monitor, wiped it down, and the fuzzy form on the screen became just a little bit sharper.
“That’s him!” she leapt forward excitedly. “That’s Evan!”
The man on the screen was tall and lanky, with shaggy-looking hair and boots with the tongues flopping out of them. He stood slumped forward a little, like he was tired or worn out. He also had his hands in his pockets.
“You’re sure that’s him?” I had to ask. “I mean, this is kinda grainy—”
“A thousand percent!” Brynne cried, and now tears were literally streaming down her face. “A million percent!’
The pure exuberance of having found her brother was infectious. I felt my own heart soaring alongside hers, excited and thrilled that her brother was alive.
Or at least, alive thirteen days ago.
I shook away any grim thoughts and gave her the mother of all full-body hugs. Brynne melted into me gratefully, letting out tiny involuntary laughs of happiness as I sank my face into her hair.
“I can’t believe it,” she swore. “He was righthere. Right in this restaurant.” Abruptly, she whipped around to face the kid again and nodded at the screen. “Do you remember him?”
The kid shrugged apologetically and shook his head. “Most of the time I work days.” He pointed to the top right corner of the screen. “See the time stamp? I’m usually gone a few hours before that.”
Brynne sighed wistfully, but her smile still didn’t fade. She looked so beautiful when she was happy. Then again, she looked beautiful when she was angry too.
“You guys done in here yet?” the kid asked a bit nervously. “You’ve been here forhours.”
“No,” I told him. “Almost.”
“Because I can get in a lot of trouble for having you back here. Especially when Miranda gets in. She’d raise hell if she knew I—”
I fished into my pocket and slipped him a twenty. “Give us five more minutes.”
The kid nodded and left, and together we set our focus back on the screen. Three men surrounded Evan, or at least walked through the restaurant with him. One of them was Lucas Almon, the man we’d almost buried in the desert. Of the other two, I recognized the shorter one immediately.
“That’s Mathias,” I growled, tapping the screen.
Brynne’s pretty eyebrows came together. “Who?”
“Lozano enforcer. Ex-military.” I squinted harder. “MP and Ordnance expert, or something like that.”
“Did you serve with him?”
“No,” I replied coolly. “But I know someone who did.”
I stepped back and scratched at my chin, wondering who to call first. In the meantime Brynne was looking up at me. There was hope in her pretty brown eyes, but also gratitude too.
“We’re going to find him, aren’t we? You know where to look.”
The last part was more of a statement than a question. I nodded, smirking.
“And this guy…” she tapped the screen. “He’ll know where they took Evan. Or at least where he went when they…” She stumbled. “When they—”
“Shipped him out,” I finished for her. “Yes.”
