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“I’m coming,” she yelled to Bella, who nodded and leaned into the car to speak to her family.
Aria bit her lip as she turned to us.
“I’m not sure how to thank you guys,” she began, her voice a little shaky.
Shai shook her head. “You got yourself out of there. You have no one to thank for your escape but yourself.”
Shai was right. If Aria hadn’t been proactive, who knew how long it would have taken to find her. The woman was stronger than she knew.
“But you guys never gave up.”
“It was a single night. Who knows what tomorrow might have brought,” Nadia dead-panned.
We laughed. Nadia’s comedic timing was always right on the money, and ended our ordeal in laughter rather than tears of emotion.
“But really, I couldn’t ask for a better team,” Aria said softly. “Thank you.”
The three of us nodded quietly. It didn’t feel right to accept Aria’s gratitude, but if it helped her to feel better, we would.
“Now let’s get some sleep,” Shai said, and we all headed toward our cars.
My exhausted body thought it had never heard sweeter words.
* * *
It was about noonthe next day and Susie had gotten word that the cops had officially vacated the tunnels and the house. According to Susie’s sources—plot twist—Shai had been wrong. For once. It was kind of fun to see it. The house on the property had been vacant and when the cops had searched, it looked completely unused. It was weird for the Beast Boys to create tunnels instead of exploiting the already usable building, but I wasn’t a criminal. I was kind of glad I didn’t understand their reasoning, even if it meant that my mind had to keep working on the puzzle.
We’d all gotten five or six hours of sleep before coming back into the office, ready to start our own search of the tunnels. The cops weren’t letting our tech guys anywhere near the Beast Boys’ electronic trail, so for now that was a dead end. Shai had spent time with a sketch artist that morning, describing the man who’d approached her outside the laundromat, but it had been dark and his features had been very average, so it was doubtful that would lead anywhere. Charity and her team, along with others at Aurora, were already checking out the bars, laundromat, and bakery. So far they’d turned up empty at each location. They were going to move on to the vacant house next, even though they didn’t expect to find much. Our team was really hoping something would turn up at the tunnels because it looked like they were our last lead before the trail went completely cold.
When we’d met at the office before going to the tunnels, all of our coworkers had been full of encouragement and hugs for Aria. Although she’d seemed appreciative of how much they cared, the look of relief on her face when we finally left the office was hilarious.
“I kind of miss Charity,” Nadia said, winking at me from her spot next to me in the back seat.
“Screw you,” Aria retorted from the front. But she was grinning, and we all burst out laughing.
Count on Nadia to read the room. She knew Aria needed some normalcy and was more than happy to give it.
Shai pulled into a driveway that led to a smallish home, compared to the rest of the mansions in the neighborhood.
“So we can’t figure out who owns this place?” Nadia asked, gazing up at the house along with the rest of us.
Shai shook her head. “Shell corporation. If the cops would let our people take the lead on the electronic trail we’d probably be getting somewhere, but I think egos are getting in the way. Now the tech guys at the precinct are saying the info is too confidential and . . . basically, Cora is having a hell of a time trying to work things out with the Chief.”
Nadia nodded. She understood attorneys taking the lead in situations like this one. The only reason she wasn’t back in the office working with Cora was because Susie wanted our team to be complete if we were going back into the field so soon. It was her way of trying to protect Aria without looking like she was trying to protect Aria. I was sure Aria hadn’t missed the not-so-subtle special treatment, but she seemed to be cool with it as long as Susie let her go back to work.
“It all just looks so normal,” Aria said. She stared at the house, appraising it and seeming to find it lacking in every way.
“Do you need a minute?” Shai asked. I glanced at her in surprise, not used to seeing her sensitive side.
“Nope,” Aria responded shortly, jumping out of the car before any of us could second guess her decision.
“That way?” She pointed toward the woods behind the house.
Shai nodded and we all followed Aria back through the dense growth of trees. Even with sunlight, entering the wood was slightly terrifying. I couldn’t imagine being alone at night in the middle of it, not knowing where I was, fleeing from the men who’d captured me as Aria had been last night. I worried that she wasn’t acknowledging how serious her situation had been and hoped that she would soon. I’d seen the way trauma could eat away slowly at a person or even cause a sudden break. I knew I’d have to bring it up to Aria someday—just not today.
On our drive back to the office the night before, I’d expressed some of my concerns to Shai and Nadia. They’d listened but then Shai had spoken, straight from her own experience. “She needs to get to the bottom of this. After that, she can work on healing. But for now she has to take her power back.”
Shai was right, of course. She typically was when it came to this kind of stuff. So I was in support mode, following my friend and teammate into the dungeon she’d escaped.
