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The dispatcher told her to stay on the line.
That wasn't going to happen. Sydney told her that. “I’m finding my friend and getting out of here. I’m not sticking around to join the party when the TSP finally shows up. Hurry the hell up—this place is on fire, too.”
Then she grabbed every damned flash drive and both small external hard drives she could see.
That old crackpot had been doing evil things for decades, she’d bet her millions on that. She wanted that information to make it back to the right people. Even if it was just on her corpse.
At least, then she wouldn’t have died in vain.
She shoved them in her bra and in her jeans pockets. Tucked them in nice and tight in those pockets on the hips that sick old nut had said were the perfectwidth for childbearing.
Sydney strongly suspected he’d intended her to bearhissick little offspring. Talk about vomit-inducing. She tucked the hard drives into her bra. "Damned big boobs are good for something, at least. Packing room."
Then she went to the window.
It was locked. The assholes had locked it somehow. And painted over it.
Unless she broke the glass, she wasn't getting out that way. That left only one choice. Going back out there in the hall.
Well, that made the most sense, anyway.
Pen was in this place somewhere. Sydney was going to search every room she could. One by one. Until she found her best friend.
Then together, they were going to bring this evil bastard pigdown.And laugh at him the entire way.
110
He hadn’t likedher challenge. Heather knew that. But she wasn’t backing down. “Well? Is someone besides Kimball going to help us?”
Hope had her phone out. “Here, Heath.”
Heather looked down at the image on the screen. Crispin’s beautiful face stared back at her. As did Bonnie’s. So beautiful, so kind.
Bonnie had the softest heart of anyone Heather had ever known. Crispin—the sweetest.
“This was taken last week.” Hope said quietly. “Cris is just a naive kid. All alone out there. And Bonnie…Bonnie will do anything for one of us. Anything. We all know what could be happening to them right now. Just help us find them. That’s all we’re asking. Heather and I can’t do it ourselves. I’ve called my friends at the Wichita Falls post. Heather’s, too. They are coming to help us look. But it’s going to take time. We just can’t do it ourselves. A single detective, not Kimball. Is that too much to ask?”
Heather held out her phone. For the chief of the Finley Creek to see. “She’s just a kid. Look at her, then tell me yourself that we don’t get TSP help to get her back. That we should justwait,like Kimball said. While every available resource goes to the girls whose families can pay for it.”
Heather shifted again. Right into the governor and the police chief’s path. What were they going to do? Knock a mother with a newborn in her arms out of the way, with this big of a crowd watching? Talk about career suicide. For both men.
He swore, took the phone in his big hand. He was a tall man, and very handsome. Distinguished. She’d heard he’d married a much younger woman from the computer forensics department a while ago. Everyone in three districts had been talking about that. About him…playing in the pool, like that. Until the girl had quit. Probably to protecthiscareer or something.
The governor was related—up close like this, she could see it. That was probably how Marshall had gotten his position in the first place. She knew how good old boy politics worked, after all.
Heather didn’t care. She just wanted Bonnie and Crispin back.
He held the phone out to the man next to him.
The governor of Texas, himself. Who just stared at the screen for a long moment.
Governor Deane jerked his head up. His gorgeous green eyes met hers. He studied her closely. His eyes narrowed. She met his look with her own. “This is your older sister? She’s not the girl’s biological mother, is she?”
Heather’s surprise probably showed. “No, she adopted Crispin. That is my sister Bonita. We call her Bonnie. Our oldest sister Denita left Crispin on Bonnie’s living room rug when Crispin was only a day or two old. Cashlyn and Iagan are Crispin’s biological half siblings as well. How did you know?”
“We just want my mom and my sister home safe. Can you help us, even while you are looking for that billionaire’s missing sister, please? I lovemybaby sister just as much as he loves his.” Someone stepped up behind Heather. Cashlyn. In baby pink scrubs, her pale cheeks streaked with tears. Her dark hair was pulled up out of her face. She looked like a porcelain doll, and always had. So pretty, so elegant and sweet. Just like Bonnie. Of all of them, Cashlyn was the most like Bonnie—in appearance, and personality.
Cashlyn stopped—right in front of the governor. She looked up at him, out of those eyes of hers that could soften the hardest of hearts.
