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The next photo was a closeup of his profile.
Kade.
He quickly scanned the pages in the file. This must be what Smithson had given Anne. Proof of who killed her brother. Blane saw his name and stopped to skim the information. Old case file notes about his uncle’s death. The police report on Anne’s brother’s death, determined a mugging though he was shot in the back and nothing was taken. Just like she’d said.
His heart was pounding and his blood was ice. Anne had probably poured over this file until she’d had it memorized. Including the identity of her brother’s killer. Which she’d just met face-to-face an hour ago.
Blane suddenly realized that Anne had been gone for a long time. Too long.
He shoved the file into the pack and zipped everything up, a knot growing in the pit of his stomach. Glancing at his watch, he saw Anne had been gone for fifteen minutes. He had no idea which way she’d chosen to go after disappearing into the trees.
Blane shoved a hand through his hair in frustration. Everything in him wanted to run into the trees and find her. But he had a helicopter and men waiting for him. Making a decision, he hauled ass to the helicopter. The rotors weren’t turning yet and Kade was waiting for him outside. He frowned when he saw Blane.
“What’s wrong?”
Blane crashed to a halt. “She’s gone.”
“What do you mean ‘she’s gone?’”
Blane pulled out the report and shoved the photos toward Kade, fury churning his stomach. “What the hell is this?” His voice cutting.
Kade’s brows furrowed as he examined the photos. “Give me the file.”
Blane handed it over, turned to the police report on Matt’s murder. “That’s Anne’s brother. Alan Smithson gave her this file, told her you murdered him. Used those photos as proof.”
“What the hell did you do?” Blane roared. His fist connected with Kade’s jaw, knocking him onto his back.
Kade took a moment to get back on his feet. His lip was split and bleeding. He held his hands up. “Hold on, brother. Listen to me. It’s not me.”
“What do you mean, it’s not you?” Blane shot back, furious. “It’s a fucking picture of you, clear as day, following him!”
“Listen. I wasn’t even in the country on that day,” Kade said. “I can prove it. I was in London. Nowhere near Anne’s brother.”
Blane grabbed the photo from where it had fallen on the ground. “Then how do you explain this? It’s a still photo from a surveillance camera, Kade. Hell, she may have the whole video somewhere. Someone certainly does.”
“Looks like a deepfake to me,” Kade said with a shrug, dropping his hands.
“A what?”
“A deepfake,” Kade explained, wiping the blood from his lip. “Layman’s terms, yeah it’s somebody following him, but they’ve replaced his features with mine. It’s pretty advanced shit.”
Blane’s eyes narrowed. “So it wasn’t you.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
All the fight went out of Blane. Panic threatened, but he pushed it down into the place where he put all emotion before an op. Calm flowed in its place and the tightness of his muscles eased as they turned loose and ready.
“I’m going into the woods after her.” He handed the pack off to Kade. “You search the road by air. I’ll meet you.”
Kade handed him a radio. “Stay in touch. And good luck.”
Blane hooked the radio onto his belt. “Yeah.” Turning, he jogged back to where Anne had disappeared into the woods. His tracking skills were rusty, but the ground was soft and she hadn’t tried to hide her tracks.
He was easily able to follow her, saw when she’d broken into a run. He went as fast as he could, eager not to miss her trail, but it seemed she’d went in a relatively straight line. At last, he hit the road. Hope flooded him, but he tried to ignore it. He had to find her, explain. But would she believe him?
Now Blane faced a decision. Right or left? If he was her, he’d avoid going further north. He’d assume south would hold a larger population than going further north. He headed south just as he saw the helicopter fly overhead. Kade was searching. Blane didn’t have a lot of faith Kade would be successful. The helicopter was too loud and the trees were close enough to hide in.
He kept running.
