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“No, it doesn’t.” Paige added over the link.
The ache between Bridger’s shoulder blades released some. He didn’t have to do this alone. He had a team again. “Talk to me.”
“I’ve got satellite imagery from before the attack,” she said. “The only car on the road in the past several hours matches the description of Billy Peckham’s vehicle. There’s been no satellite coverage for the past hour, so I don’t have footage of the car leaving Dressler’s place, and I can’t track it again for another ninety minutes or so, but that’s what I have so far.”
“Copy that,” Tai said. “I’ll have info from our target’s parents in a sec.”
Bridger strode back into the house. He’d give the wide-eyed young deputy ten minutes, then he’d borrow one of Dressler’s expensive rides and get himself back to Jane’s place.
Once Paige pinpointed Peckham’s location, he wanted the team together, ready for an extraction.
They’d find Myles. But would it be in time?
32
“Nice ride,”Mason said as he opened Jane’s front door for Bridger.
Bridger tossed him the keys to the vintage Jag he’d eased in next to his Jeep. “Rides like a go-cart.”
The smells wafting out from Jane’s kitchen seemed at odds with the seriousness of the mission. Sugar cookies and kidnapping didn’t exactly mix. Though he couldn’t deny the way the comforting scents eased his tension.
Still, no amount of comfort food on earth could erase the fact that Peckham had sprung the trap early, and the pastor might pay the ultimate price.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed for the voices in the kitchen, his jaw so tight he knew he wouldn’t be able to eat a thing.
At least it wasn’t Jane in danger.Thank you, Lord.
It probably wasn’t very Christian of him, but her life meant more to him than anything. He’d do everything in his power to save Myles, as would his team, but if it was Jane in trouble….
He scrubbed the awful images from his mind with ruthless efficiency. There was a time for reflection. This was not it.
Hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, Jane was bent over the oven, pulling out a sheet of golden cookies. His heart stopped. Just flat stopped. She was such a vision. So pretty. So kind. So innocent.
He wished he could shelter her from whatever evil the pastor had brought into her town. And from the even bigger evil her brother was likely fighting.
“Is Randall all right?” she asked as she turned around.
He nodded. “He’ll have a headache for a good while. The EMTs wanted him to get checked out at the hospital, but he refused. I don’t blame him. He did agree to let friends check up on him every hour or so.”
Tai and Fenn reached for the tray of cookies.
“Guys,” Jane warned. “They’re hot.”
Tai ignored her, scooping up a handful of treats he had to juggle like hot potatoes. “No worries. Better to suffer than lose out.” He glared at Mason. “Some people take more than their share.”
That made Jane laugh. “I’m baking as fast as I can.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “These two are bottomless pits. It never ends. I warn you.”
Ignoring the byplay, Bridger asked Kate and Tai what they’d found out from Billy’s parents.
Tai pulled a face. “Nothing that’s gonna help.”
“They were very cooperative,” Kate added. “They just have no idea where he is.”
“He left around ten a.m. for his weekly psychiatrist appointment in Buttermilk Valley,” Tai said. “The parents made that a condition of him living at home.”
Bridger blew out a breath. “Let me guess. He missed his appointment.”
