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“Just one,” Carter said.
“They took Charley,” I heard Lucy say over Carter’s comm. “She’s gone.”
I stopped in the hall, my body going numb. “No,” I seethed, my knees buckling.
At the sight of Carter at the end of the hall, escorting Lucy, I did my best to get a grip. The mission wasn’t over yet.
“Jack,” Lucy cried, breaking away from Carter to rush my way. “She’s gone.”
I let the sling catch the rifle to hold her.
“The Fed was dead before we got here,” Carter informed me, meeting my eyes. “I’m going to talk to the team. We’ll find where Charley was taken.”
I nodded at him over Lucy’s head and held her for a few more seconds, knowing Charley would want me to comfort her sister.
Mason appeared at the side door. “Are you okay, Lucy?”
“No.” She peered around me, and Mason flicked his wrist, quietly motioning for her to come to him.
I let her go, and she walked into his waiting embrace. Damnit, I need to find my girl. I sidestepped the two of them and went outside. Camila was there now, talking to the police and Feds, as well as the “partygoers,” who apparently included the missing women. “What’d they say? Do they know anything?” I asked her as Gray made his approach.
Camila turned to me as the police and Feds focused on talking to the bikini-clad women and the guys in swim trunks out by the pool. “The women are here because they chose to be here. But there are only five of the six. I showed them the picture of the woman from season one, and according to them, she was never here.”
I clutched my aching shoulder as I studied her, wishing she’d hurry up and tell me the future changed and that everything would be okay. “What do you mean they ‘chose’ to be here?”
“Erik Luther offered them a lot of money to play house with his brother and pretend to be Claudia Lennox,” Camila explained. “They each have a two-year contract and had to sign an NDA. Once Brant was done with his delusions in believing the woman to be Claudia, which lasted anywhere from two to four months, Erik brought them to this house to finish out the duration of their contract. The girl from the second season said her time is up next month, and she’s supposed to receive her million-dollar payday.”
“You mean the one who looks pissed we’re here?” Gray’s eyes fixed on a blonde throwing her hands in the air, ranting about being robbed of a million dollars.
“The women really chose this?” I asked in disbelief. “They weren’t taken against their will?” That was good, but it didn’t change the fact Charley was still in the hands of dangerous men.
“According to them, no. I guess I got that wrong.” Camila’s eyes narrowed on me. Was she suggesting she got “something else” wrong, too? Like Charley’s fate?
“The women identified both Erik and Brant’s head of security for us,” one of the Feds said, joining our “debrief.” He looked at me and added, “Erik offered them a sweet deal they said they couldn’t refuse.” He shrugged. “Money, the universal language,” he tacked on, throwing back what we’d said at the airport about the crooked Feds.
I blinked a few times, trying to pull my thoughts together. “I need to find Charley. She can’t be far away.” Think, damnit.
“Every way off this island is now being monitored,” the Fed shared. “They have to be here somewhere.”
“And our men just checked the other address you gave us,” one of the local officers said as he joined our group. “The house the Luthers used to bait you is empty. Not even rigged as a trap. But the women confirmed that was where they lived with Brant before coming here.”
“Did we leave anyone alive here so we can question where they might be now?” I spit out, ready to claw at my hair, but I needed to keep calm to get through this.
“Alive, yes. Conscious? No. Carter’s working on waking one now, but we doubt he’ll know anything. The Luthers wouldn’t risk that,” Camila noted, her focus on me.
“Get Gwen on the phone.” I keyed in on Gray next. “Have her search nearby properties that have a helipad. And then narrow the search down to ones rented or purchased this week. They’d need a new place fast to pull this off.”
Camila nodded. “Gwen’s already on it.”
“And we’re working to get a hit on any recent air traffic for helicopters to get us a search perimeter,” the Fed said.
“Thank you.” I waited for the agent and officer to leave and, even though Gray was still there, turned to Camila. “Tell me there’s hope, that something changed. Tell me Charley doesn’t die. Tell me you misinterpreted that vision, too.”
Camila bowed her head and whispered, “I’m sorry, Jack. I, um, can’t tell you that.”
I backed up from her, bumping into Gray, and nearly fell into the pool. He caught my good arm, keeping me from going down. Frustrated and furious at how fucking useless I was, I turned, preparing to walk away when Camila threw her hand out, nearly knocking me into the pool anyway.
“Wait.” Her eyes widened as she seemingly stared off in a daze and yelled, “Something did change. There might be hope. But she doesn’t have much time.” Still focused on the pool, she murmured, “She’s going to drown.”
