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After walking for another two hours, her heels were beginning to burn. “I’m getting a blister. I need to adjust my socks.”
“Okay, we’ll rest over there on that rock outcropping.”
Before they reached it, they saw twin grooves in the ground where the grass was flattened. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Jeep tracks,” he said, rushing toward them.
“Hallelujah. I can’t believe we found them.”
He stared at the tracks for a long moment, frowning.
“What?” she asked, his concern rippling off him in waves.
“Does this seem way too convenient to you? Why would they let Marcie keep her phone? Maybe Emerich wants us to come looking for her. She could be bait and we’re walking into a trap.”
She took a deep steadying breath, knowing his fears were most likely what was happening. The same thought had been nagging her since the first ping, but what choice did they have? “You could be right, but I’m hoping Marcie hid her phone so they couldn’t find it and waited for the first opportunity to make contact. That’s what I’m clinging to.”
“Let’s hope you’re right.”
She sat on the ground next to the tire tracks, fixed her shoes, then they continued following the Jeep tracks until deep in the afternoon.
Chapter12
They fell into an easy silence as they followed the tracks, rehashing everything that had been happening the last few days. Cameron could feel the tension of his world starting to shift. The CTA was being threatened on all sides, and he didn’t know how much more the organization could take. Marcie’s kidnapping could be the final straw. “I should have made Marcie return with Debi to the house. Debi seemed to want her there.”
“Why, though? If Debi was working with Emerich, why did he want her back at the house? Especially if he was planning to nab her.”
He sighed. “Maybe the plan was to grab her there when he picked up Debi. Maybe he had his men grab her at the diner because she wasn’t there.”
Becca shrugged. “Either way, I think that means Emerich was already at the house. They would have gotten Marcie either way.”
He thought of the men out in the boat shooting at them. “I’d say he was there. In force.”
Becca sat on a rock and took off her shoe, adjusted her sock again, and then put it back on again. When she looked up at him, vulnerability pooled in her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the figurines. If I had, you could have checked the island, and then maybe we could have stopped all this from happening. Obviously, he’d been there watching all of us all along.”
He took her hand and pulled her up, then kept hold of her hand. “Don’t blame yourself. We don’t know what he knew or for how long. We cannot go backward. All we can do is trust each other in the future.”
“I do trust you,” she said, biting her lip.
His gaze caught hers and held it. “I appreciate that. I only have your best interests at heart. All of yours,” he corrected and dropped her hand. The way she was looking at him, her vibrant eyes as beautiful as the blue in the sky, swimming with need, made him want to sweep her into his arms and hold her. To assure her everything was going to be okay.
But if he was honest with himself, he wanted more than to just hold her. He wanted to kiss her enticing lips, to spear his hands through her long blond hair, to feel her warmth up against him. Something shifted inside him and he took a deep breath to keep himself from saying more, from feeling more, from pulling her into his arms and kissing the regret out of those eyes.
She was only a breath away. It would be so easy… But he couldn’t. She worked for him; she was part of his team, and that was a line he wouldn’t cross. He only prayed she couldn’t feel his attraction or the war raging inside him.
He stepped away, putting distance between them.
She moved toward him and touched his arm. “Marcie wanted to stay with Genie and me at the diner. You couldn’t have made her do anything she didn’t want to do.”
“I know.”
“She deserved some downtime and she was having fun. We were all having fun eating really good cobbler and ice cream. Not to mention kicking Debi’s butt at darts. Marcie loves to win more than anyone I know.”
He grinned. “She does, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, and that’s why I know she’ll be fine with whatever Emerich throws at her.”
He was silent for a moment. “What do you think we’re walking into?”
