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“I’m sorry for raising my voice. I want you to know that I don’t blame anyone other than Bryce for what happened. I shouldn’t have taken my frustrations out on you. Leanna’s my best friend, and I love her. But I sometimes forget she’s your sister, and you’re all as scared as I am. Will you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” Callie says. “But all of us will be in deep trouble if we don’t let Mom and Dad know what’s going on. Not it!” she yells and points to her nose. The last person to touch their nose is the one who’s supposed to make the call, but it’s my responsibility.
I dial Nick’s number and hear Elena sob on the other end when I tell them Leanna is missing. “If there’s anyone that can bring my baby girl back to us, it’s you, Carter. You are a strong-willed, capable, and worthy man, and I couldn’t be prouder that you and Leanna found one another,” Nick tells me.
“I promise I’ll bring her home, or I’ll die trying.”
“I know you will, Son. Don’t let it come to that. We’ll be holding vigil here and praying for you all.
I hang up the phone, and the eight of us get to work. Melissa and Joe bring us coffee in preparation for a long night, trying to help where they can.
Patrick grabs a mug before updating us. “Headquarters is on high alert and monitoring Bryce’s credit cards, cell phone usage, and email logins. They are also monitoring all traffic cameras in and out of the area. The closest traffic cam is a few miles away, where the resort’s driveway meets Highway 244. Bryce would have to pass through that intersection to exit the mountain.”
Savannah leans forward and points to the map. “There are a lot of small roads in the area, but the main road is the only one that will allow him to escape. The good news is that they are still somewhere on the resort property since the cameras haven’t recorded his Silverado at the intersection. That narrows things down a bit. If only we had some way to track her!” She slams her fist down on the table.
“I installed a tracking device in her phone that can be remotely activated by dialing her secondary number with a PIN code. It’s the same one we use in all our phones for headquarters to find us in an emergency. I did the same for Daphne. The only thing is, I didn’t see Leanna bring a phone or her purse. She had a lightweight jacket, which is still hanging in the coat room.”
Daphne laughs. “I had forgotten all about that tracker! And Leanna has her phone on her Carter! She’s wearing a bra that can hold a cell phone around the underarm area. I doubt Bryce even checked her for it when he grabbed her!”
Having wasted enough precious time, I start dialing the code and PIN before Daphne’s done speaking. Immediately, a dot appears on the screen, but in the last place I expected it to be.
“Where is that?” Brody asks.
“It’s Stella’s, the diner where Leanna and I went to breakfast our first morning here.”
Chapter twenty-eight
Leanna
BryceJordanwasthelast person I expected to see holding a gun on me and escorting me down the narrow service corridor. He’s always been a nice guy—friendly and helpful—while also tenacious and persistent. His latter two qualities make for a good police officer but are quite off-putting when he refuses to accept “No” as an answer.
“Where are you taking me, Bryce?” I ask, perturbed. We’ve taken several different turns, and I haven’t seen a single soul in the hallways. However, I have seen several cameras and stare at them to ensure my face is captured on camera.
Bryce chuckles but ignores my question. “It’s no use, Leanna. The signals to the cameras are being jammed. No one knows where we are, and they won’t be able to track you, especially since you don’t have your purse, jacket, or phone.”
After ten minutes of walking with a weapon being held against my back, we end up at a side entrance where a white Silverado is parked. “Arms up,” he demands. Instead of setting down the gun and using both hands to pat me down, he chooses to hold on to it, requiring him to perform an awkward, one-handed pat down that is ineffective. I’m not about to complain about his methods and consider it a miracle that he has enough decency to avoid my fitted bodice, where my cell phone is hidden.
Satisfied that I don’t have any pockets in my dress and I’m not carrying anything on me, he opens the passenger door for me as if we’re on a date. When I don’t move, he raises the gun to my chest and says, “Get in!”
His truck is camouflaged using the resort logo magnets on the rear passenger doors. Between the mud and the logo, his normally pristine truck looks like a maintenance or landscaping vehicle owned by the Windham Lodge.
I’m tempted to try to escape while Bryce goes around to the other side, but I know that I wouldn’t get very far since I can’t outrun a bullet.
Bryce drives one-handed, keeping the gun pointed at me the entire time. Still having no idea where he plans to take me, I try to get it out of him again.
“Where are you taking me?”
He looks over and gives me his trademark dimpled grin. “To dinner. All I’ve ever wanted from you, Leanna, was one date. Just one chance to show you how compatible we are together.”
“And you think that pointing a gun at me is going to change my mind?”
“You’re here, aren’t you?” He shrugs like this is just another day in the park.
Bryce continues to drive all over the resort as any of the maintenance staff would. I hate to admit it, but it’s a genius tactic if he’s trying to hide in plain sight.
“Yep, I’m along for the ride. While I appreciate the resort tour, you mentioned something about dinner?” My stomach growls loudly, causing him to laugh.
“Let’s go get my woman fed! I know the perfect place. They have good food and even better service!” he says excitedly. I watch as the hand holding the gun relaxes a small fraction. The happier he appears to be, the less attention he pays to the weapon. If I play along and pretend to be ‘his woman,’ then maybe he will forget about the gun entirely, and I can make my move.
