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Annoyance flares that Jack feels emboldened to break the rules, even though I’m well aware there are probably many spouses out there who know more than they should.
“You said Sophia’s okay. So you aren’t here to tell me she’s dead.”
His words are like a blast of cold water. “No.” I shake my head, as much to emphasize my answer as to wash that horrific notion away. “But…” On the way over, I planned how to tell him, but the phrasing left me.
We’re standing just beyond the foyer that’s more hotel lobby than home, and Jack asks, “You want to talk in my office or out on the deck?”
“Kitchen.” In his office, he’s CEO. On the deck, we can be seen from many vantage points. He’s got a fucking public beach in front of his estate.
“She called you this morning, right?” I read the team update. It was a brief call to her dad.
“She left a message. Nothing material. What’s going on?”
Ava pulls a stool out and pushes it in my direction, offering it to me, but there’s too much troubled energy flowing through my veins for me to sit idle. I pace in front of the island, glancing between the view of the ocean and Ava and Jack.
“Fisher? You look frightened. What’s going on?” It’s Ava’s voice that pulls me back into this room with Sophia’s parents. I glance down at the phone screen in my hand. Brush up. No updates.
“We don’t know anything yet.” Jack’s expression turns to stone. “As you know, we’ve been working two targets. We were successful on approach, and our contacts are being leveraged—”
“What the hell is going on with Sophia?” Jack interrupts.
Ava’s enormous eyes track both of us.
“We don’t know.” The words come out rough and thick with emotion. I look to the ceiling. Telling her parents is worse than discovering this fucked-up scenario this morning. Saying it out loud. I grit my teeth. Fuck it. “She’s with the target right now. Not answering her cell. Tracker not picking up her location. I left this morning for a run, came back to a note.” I slow myself down and make eye contact with Jack. “Might be nothing. But she ran into a friend.” I blink, realization setting in that, of course, Jack and Ava know Lauren. “Lauren. Totally unexpected. But she thought she played it off and our target didn’t pick up on it.”
Jack’s face remains unreadable, but his head nods slightly, like he’s adding it up and figuring out where we are and why I’m now at his door.
“Lauren’s with her mom, Heather.” Jack and I both turn our attention to Ava. She lifts her shoulders in a slight shrug. “Heather told me about it. Mother-daughter spa and shopping trip. They’re doing lots of that. Dress shopping. For the wedding. There was some bridal shop she wanted to visit.”
That explains why Lauren was in Santa Barbara. I rub my temple, thinking about what would’ve been said in front of Gemma. Sophia didn’t really go into details.
“What spa?”
Ava sucks on the corner of her lip. “I can’t remember. I can call and ask. Why, what are you thinking? That maybe Lauren mentioned it?”
“No.” My gaze travels over the ceiling and frustration mounts. “Never mind. I was thinking maybe Lauren mentioned it to Gemma, but the last location was a helipad. If she took her to a spa in Santa Barbara, they wouldn’t travel via helicopter.”
“They took my daughter in a helicopter? And the goddamn motherfucking tracker isn’t working?”
Ava holds on to Jack’s arm. I pace in front of the window. At this moment, I’d like to pick up a kitchen chair and smash it through the window. We don’t know shit, and we’re helpless. Colombians are notorious for eliminating leaks. If Gemma got suspicious…
“You’re concerned.” It’s Ava’s soft-spoken words that pull me back.
My hand goes to my hairline, and my fingers maneuver the skin on my brow.Think. Panic serves no one. If they’re on to her, what exactly would they do?
“You love her.” It’s Ava again, and I spin around, fixing an irate glare on her. This isn’t the time to get into that.
But Jack’s eyes narrow into a lethal gaze. “Are you dating my daughter? Is that why those bastards set you up as a married couple on this op? I should’ve fucking known.”
Jack’s hands ball into fists at his side. If he wants to hit me, I deserve it. He should bludgeon me. Not because I’m dating her. We never talked about anything past this assignment. But he should bludgeon me because I should’ve protected her. From me. From this.
“You. Sick. Fuck.” The stool clatters across the floor as Jack leaps into my perimeter. “I trusted you. She’s twenty years younger than you.”
His fist collides with my jaw. My head snaps. Pain courses from the side of my face to my neck.
Ava screams, “Jack!”
She’s there, pulling on his raised arm.
