AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The multi-monitor computer setup I’ve got here in my room is extensive for a reason. If something happens in Halston, I want access to it, and by now there isn’t a single public camera in the city that I haven’t tapped into. And not just the public ones.
Unfortunately, the area that West Point took Riley in has shitty security coverage.
It took me longer than it should have to find an image of McKenna’s car speeding away from that fucking alley, and so far, I’ve only been able to trace it up to a point before the sightings start falling off. And the last image I’ve been able to confirm makes it look like McKenna was running parallel to the border of his territory.
“Were you stupid enough to veer north, you piece of shit?” I ask, widening the radius of my search.
I don’t think he did. North would have taken him into Cliffton, and as I said to my brothers earlier, my guess is that McKenna won’t try to stash Riley in West Point’s territory.
So… fuckingwhere, then?
My hands go still on the keyboard as I close my eyes, reviewing a mental map of the area around that final sighting of McKenna’s car that I picked up. It was a shot of the silver Dodge Charger’s rear license plate, captured by an ATM machine’s camera about three miles from the alley.
I’ve already done a street-by-street surveillance search in a twelve block radius around the location and come up with nothing. The longer it takes for me to pick up the trail, the colder it grows. It’s like that bastard drove her into a fucking vacuum, leaving me with nothing but a black hole of information.
“Unacceptable,” I bite out, keeping a tight rein on the emotions that threaten to distract me so I can focus—again—on sorting through every sighting of McKenna’s car, cross-referencing maps of the city as I build up a picture of the route he took as it correlates with all the known connections West Point has in the city.
It gives me a probable direction…ifMcKenna was acting logically.
I start searching block by block through all surveillance systems along my predicted route. Again.
And come up with nothing.
Again.
I press my lips together tightly, breathing in through my nose to the count of six, then breathing out for the count of eight. I repeat it over and over to activate my parasympathetic nervous system, desperately needing to eliminate the unsettled feeling that keeps intruding on my concentration.
I fail.
I feel… out of control.
When a thing happens, there is a record of it. When a car travels through Halston, it leaves a trail. This is simply another puzzle to solve, and not being able to do that makes me feel off balance and out of control, a feeling I hate.
But it’s more than that. It’s not having Riley here. That’s making me feel off balance and out of control too. It’s… wrong.
I know it was the plan all along.
She was going to leave even before West Point took her.
It made sense and was safest for her and her sister, but that was wrong too. I can see it clearly now. She should never have gone anywhere. She belongs here with us.
Once we get her back, I’ll need to tell Maddoc that.
And… I should have told Riley.
I want her here. I want more of what we had before she left. Not just the sex. She’s important. She’snecessary. For as much as I hated how disruptive her presence was when she first burst into our lives, now the house—mylife—feels wrong without her in it.
If McKenna hurts her…
I grit my teeth and forcefully shove the thought aside, then get back to searching. If he does, it’s a given that he’ll die. But letting myself imagine it now isn’t going to bring Riley home, and right now, that’s my only priority.
I pull up a satellite view of the city and zoom in on the location of the ATM machine where I last caught sight of McKenna’s car. I’m about to input new search parameters into my surveillance mapping program when a soft noise from behind me freezes my hands on the keyboard.
I spin my chair around to face my bedroom door, the door Ialwayskeep closed whether I’m in here or not.
It’s open.
Ileft it open.
