“Annie? Everything alright?” Charlie asked from behind me.
“Eli. I left him with Alison,” I quickly tried to explain as I turned and raced for the nurse’s station.
“Who’s Alison?” Charlie demanded, easily keeping pace with me.
“My neighbor. She was here with her husband, and she said she would watch Eli. Excuse me?” I grabbed the attention of the nurse behind the desk. “My son, he was sitting with my friend, Alison, out here in the waiting room. Her husband, Stephan, was getting an x-ray for a broken wrist. Can you tell me where they are?” The nurse looked a little irritated at the abrupt disruption, but nonetheless her fingers tapped away at the keyboard before her.
“We are not supposed to give out patient information, but since your son is with them . . . Last name?”
I wracked my brain but was unable to recall if I even knew it. Nothing came to mind. “They’re my neighbors. I came in with my friend who was taken to operating room, and Alison said she would stay here with my son until I came back for him.” Another nurse listening to the conversation approached the desk.
“Your son, is he around seven, eight?”
“Eight,” I replied, grateful that she obviously knew who I was talking about.
“Curly hair, brown eyes, red Avengers shirt?”
“Yes, that’s him.” I almost laughed.
The nurse looked hesitant, casting the other nurse at her side a concerned glance. “We are not supposed to give out information about patients.”
The other nurse quietly got up and moved away. “Stephan Walters, he was supposed to wait for a cast but got a phone call and demanded to leave immediately. I was the triage nurse helping him. He refused treatment and when I followed him out here, his wife was standing by the doors with your son. They all left together. Please don’t tell anyone I told you that, I could get into a lot of trouble.”
My mind went blank for a moment. “I told her he wasn’t allowed outside, to wait for me. She said she’d wait for me!”
“Maybe they went back to the apartment,” Charlie offered from beside me.
“Why would they just leave like that?” My voice was beginning to rise, panic setting in. Charlie already has his cell phone at his ear.
“Dillon, it’s Charlie. I’m at the hospital. Ella went into early labor.” Charlie paused for a moment. “She’s with me. Ella’s fine, she lost a lot of blood, though, and they’re working to fix that. Jax is with her and the baby’s all good,” Charlie paused again, frustration on his features. “Dillon! I need you to get over to Annie’s and see if Eli’s there.” Another pause. “Annie had to go into the operating room with Ella for a bit, and Annie’s neighbor, Alison, was in the waiting room waiting for her husband. She had agreed to watch Eli, but we can’t seem to find them anywhere. Maybe they took off and went home to wait for Annie there.” Charlie was quiet as he listened to whatever Dillon had to say before ending the call with a grunt. All the while, my eyes were glued to the people around us, expecting to see Eli running down a corridor and into my arms at any moment.
“Let’s check the café across the road. Maybe they took him to get something to eat.”
The wisdom of Charlie’s suggestion snapped me to life, and I left the hospital, Charlie at my side, our eyes watching the parking lot as we briskly walked around the parked cars. We raced through the café, checking the bathroom before stepping back out onto the busy sidewalk. I wanted to scream, my body shaking with unrepressed terror. I wanted Eli, and the frustration at not being able to find him was wracking my body with indescribable feelings. I thought I might throw up from the sick, churning sensation in my stomach.
“I can’t . . .” I began, emotion clogging my throat. What if the man who had threatened and attacked me taken him? What if Alison had taken Eli for an ice cream, and the men watching us had snatched him? But then where was Alison? “I just can’t . . . I had more time, I still had time!” I sobbed. “I need him.” I was suddenly dragged to Charlie’s side, his strong arm wrapped around my shoulders.
“What do you mean you still had time?” he asked.
I shook my head, unable, or maybe unwilling, to say anything more. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding. Maybe Alison had taken Eli for ice cream, maybe even back to the apartment. It didn’t feel right, though. She wouldn’t have just walked away with him.
“Let’s go back over to the hospital. If they just ducked out for something to eat or a drink, it makes sense that they would head back to the hospital to wait for you. We’ll wait there for Dillon to call back.”
I tried to draw big gulping breaths to calm myself, and by the time we had reached the waiting room, Charlie gently pushed me into a chair and brusquely walked to the nurse’s station. As he spoke, their concerned eyes settled briefly on me before returning to Charlie. I didn’t care that people were staring at me, I didn’t care that my shirt was splattered with blood, and I certainly didn’t care that tears tumbled from my eyes unchecked. What if Phillip had taken him? What if he had appeared here in the hospital and Eli had willingly gone with him? Maybe Alison had allowed him to go with Phillip because he was Eli’s father? The thought made me want to throw up again, and I gulped down the bile that threatened to spill. I just needed to see Eli and know he was safe. My eyes were glued to the hospital doors, and they never once left them. I could almost imagine Eli wandering through them, an ice cream in one hand, a smile on his face. He didn’t, though, and as time dragged on, my fears rose as my heart began to sink.
Chapter 16
Dillon
The building super ran hot on my heels, Bomber’s heavy feet falling close behind us. My heart was beating an erratic tempo that I couldn’t seem to get under control. I was the master of control. I had kept my cool while under heavy fire in some of the most war torn, dust holes in this world, and yet, right at this moment, I couldn’t level my heart rate or stop my mind from spinning. The panic that began building when Charlie’s words hit my ear was threatening to explode in a torrent of frustration and anguish. Eli was missing. At first, I couldn’t believe that Annie had left him under the care of a virtual stranger, but I pushed that disbelief away quickly. Annie’s neighbors had lived quietly alongside her for over a year now and had not once given her reason to distrust them. My mind ran through scenarios like a fast paced movie with no pause or ending. They could have taken him somewhere for a snack, maybe to a park, but in the end, the loop always came back to foul play. Maybe Phillip had found Eli. Perhaps Annie’s neighbors had been harmed at the hands of a man who was quite possibly teetering on the brink of insanity. There was also the distant voice that was demanding to be heard: what if her neighbors had taken him? Any responsible adult would never have walked away from the hospital without advising the parent first.
When we reached Annie’s doorway, I used my own key to unlock the door and push it open. The apartment was small and took Bomber and me less than half a minute to check. It was empty, but we expected that. I moved down the hall to Alison and Stephan’s apartment. My knock wasn’t calm or dignified; it was heavy and loud in the quiet hallway. After a moment, when there was no response, I tried one more time. Bomber shifted impatiently behind the balding super whose large stomach fell heavily over his tight belt. I had called the man on my way to the apartment building and only had to mention that Eli was missing, and he was prepared to unlock any door we asked for. I gave a nod, and he stepped forward with a determined expression on his face. He already had the key in his fingers and quickly unlocked the door and stepped aside. After a quick glance, I moved, Bomber following close behind me. The super stayed outside in the hallway. The apartment was a mirror image of Annie and Eli’s, albeit a little messier. Dirty dishes filled the sink, and clothes were strewn about the room. I moved down the short hallway and peered in the spare room. It had been set up in a makeshift office, a small desk pushed to one wall with a computer sitting on it. The large cork board on the wall above the desk caught my eye, and I hesitantly
stepped forward.
“Bedroom’s empty, and a mess,” Bomber grunted from behind me. I flicked the light switch and moved to stand before the board. Pictures were held to it with thumb tacks, so many pictures, and in every one was Eli. “Fuck,” Bomber breathed.
“Call Sergeant Maitland back and tell him what we got, tell him he needs men out here now, and tell him to put out an APB for Alison and Stephan . . .” I glanced down at the paperwork and moved an envelope aside. It was an electricity bill. I picked it up to better make out the name. “Alison and Stephan Walters.”
Bomber was already on his phone as my legs trembled, and I collapsed into the chair in front of the desk. My eyes remained focused on the pictures, so many fucking pictures. Some taken from what most likely was their window that overlooked the street below, some at the park, even some of Eli in front of his school. How had I missed this? They had been everywhere, watching, waiting, and I hadn’t even noticed. I was supposed to keep him safe, and I had failed. A large hand on my shoulder caught my attention.
“Sergeant Maitland is on it. He’ll have officers here in five minutes. We need to take a look at this before the officers get here and make us back off. They’ve obviously been planning this for some time.” Bomber’s eyes flickered to the board of photos. “They won’t bring him back here and they won’t risk putting him on a flight. If it were me, I wouldn’t risk transporting him anywhere. Police are going to be all over this and fast. It’s a kid, they’ll set up check points, alert neighboring towns, and their faces will be all over TV, their names on the radio. If it were me, I’d find a hole to disappear in for a while, lay low until the heat dies down a bit. Somewhere far enough away they won’t be in the city, but somewhere close enough that they won’t be on the road long.”
Bomber’s calm tone and directive gave me a way back from the brink of panic. It pulled my mind into clear, sharp focus. Paper littered the desk, and I began carefully sorting through it for something that stood out. Motel receipts, car rental agreements, or travel documents, something, anything, no matter how small or insignificant.
“We need to call Charlie back,” Bomber quietly added.
My eyes clenched shut and my hands fisted. Annie . . . this was going to break her, and I couldn’t let her break alone. This was my fault—I’d dropped the ball on this one—and I needed to be the one to tell her.
I nodded in agreement. “Call him back. Tell him what’s going on but don’t tell Annie.”
Bomber sighed. “Boss, she’s his momma. She’s gonna want to know.”
“Tell Charlie to tell her Eli’s not here and that she needs to come home as this is the most likely place for him to turn up.” I glanced over my shoulder and observed Bomber’s raised brow, though he didn’t argue. “I’ll tell her everything once she’s here. She deserves to know, but I want to be the one to tell her.”
Bomber nodded and moved from the room to make the call. I glanced back at the dark computer screen. I needed Sam here. Grabbing my own phone, I called him, and as usual, he answered on the first ring. I filled him in, and he was already in the car and driving before I hung up.
The Claymont police force had wanted to form a silent alliance with Montgomery Securities. With the combined intel, their legal resources, and my own not quite so legal resources, it would a force to be reckoned with and mutually beneficial. Eli’s disappearance would be the first step in building that relationship. If they weren’t prepared to work with me and my team on this, it would be an automatic deal breaker as far as I was concerned.
“They’re on their way,” Bomber murmured as he walked back into the room.
“How’s Annie?” I was almost afraid to ask.
“Not good, but Charlie is keeping her held together for now.” I nodded and glanced back to the photo board. “I’ll call Braiden and fill him in, then I’ll check out the rest of the apartment. As soon as the police are here, I’ll go meet Braiden and we’ll hit the pavement, starting at the hospital and work our way from there,” Bomber offered.
I didn’t bother acknowledging him, knowing he had already left the room, his mind clear, ready to execute his mission. I, on the other hand, was struggling, barely treading water that threatened to drag me under.
Sam beat the police by mere minutes and was already positioned in front of the computer, furiously typing away on the keys when Sergeant Maitland entered the apartment with a team of men. Maitland was a large man, tall and wide with a dark gaze that might have been intimidating if I hadn’t dealt with more intimidating men in my life. His no-nonsense gaze quickly took in the room.
“Dillon,” he nodded, his gaze finally finding mine, “let’s go over this again, in detail.” I told him everything Charlie had told me then led him into the spare room. “Jesus,” he murmured, taking in the photo board. When his eyes fell to Sam, who was feverishly working away on the computer, he raised a brow.
“Sergeant Maitland, meet Samuel Rynehart, Montgomery Securities IT expert.”
Sam glanced back, his black rimmed glasses sitting crooked on his face. “Sir,” he murmured before turning his attention back to the computer.
“What a have you found, son?” Maitland asked.
Sam looked over his shoulder to me before answering, and I gave him a nod. If we were going to try and work in any capacity with the Claymont police force, we needed to establish some trust and that would begin with sharing information.
“Someone’s tried to cover their tracks; the password was a piece of cake, but they’ve used an incognito mode for their search engine, which means the browsing history wasn’t recorded.”
“So, we’ve got no way of knowing what they’ve been searching for? What sites they’ve visited?” I growled, frustration heavy in my tone.
“I didn’t say that, Boss,” Sam drawled. “The browsing history isn’t recorded, but there will still be an electronic footprint. Incognito only keeps the search engine from storing data; it doesn’t stop the operating system, websites, or the router from storing a record of visits, and any data saved to the hard drive will also be traceable. I have some keylogging software I can upload that will help me, so it’s more than a sure thing that I can access this computer’s secrets. I just need time, and before you say it, I know we don’t have time. So, leave me to get my geek on, and I won’t stop till I have something.”
If the situation hadn’t been so dire, I would have smiled at his lazy, technical tirade that mostly meant nothing to me. All that registered was he could access the computer’s secrets, and that was good enough.
“Bomber had a quick look around. He said, apart from the place being a mess, nothing seemed particularly amiss. Their toothbrushes are still in the holder, milk in the fridge. They haven’t packed for a vacation, so they either have a second base with all the essentials, or they are prepared to start over again. They won’t come back here for anything. They’ve more than likely taken Eli and run.”
A noise at my back, something caught between a sob and a groan, caught my attention, and I spun around to find Annie, her red rimmed eyes focused on the board on the wall. Charlie was at her side, his own shocked gaze taking in the pictures. I lunged forward and caught her body before she could sink to the carpet.
“I’ll get him back,” I whispered, my arms like steel bands around her. “I’ll get him back. I swear it.” I scooped her up and left the apartment. Fortunately, Charlie followed, pushing Annie’s door open for me. I sunk to the couch and held her in my lap, her body shaking so hard it was enough to worry me. “Shhhhh, we’re gonna find him. Sam is working on the computer, and Sergeant Maitland has already put out an APB on Alison and Stephan; there are people out there already looking.” Her hands gripped my wrists hard.
“What do you mean they’ve taken Eli?” Annie asked in a panicked voice. “It’s not them. It’s the other man.”
My head tilted as confusion consumed me. “What other man?”
Her gaze flicked away nervously before settling back on me. �
�It’s my fault,” she whispered as more tears fell. “I should have told someone, anyone . . . you.” She shook her head furiously as more tears spilled unchecked.
“What’s going on, Annie?” I whispered, taking her trembling chin into my fingers and turning her face towards mine. Her heart was breaking; I could see every painful splinter and fragment in her eyes.
“Phillip owes someone money, and they want it pretty bad. They couldn’t find Phillip, so they came to me for it.” My hand automatically touched the lump on her head, and she nodded. “That was them letting me know they were serious. They knew who you were and told me not to tell you or the police. They told me they were watching me and I had to get them the money.”
“What did they threaten you with if you didn’t come up with it?” I asked through a hoarse voice.
“They’d take me or Eli,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I had more time. I still had time. They’re early!”
“Shhhh.” I pulled her into my chest. “We’ll figure this out.” I was angry and confused. Annie should have told me. Fuck, I wished she had told me. I could have fixed this before it got to this point. I could have kept them safe.
“I’m so sorry,” she continued to whisper into my chest through sobs that wracked her entire body.
“How were you going to get the money?” I found myself asking. Annie didn’t answer right away, settling herself down before she did.
“I was going to ask Jax for another loan against the business. There was some money in the account and I had hoped Jax would make up the difference. When he got home today, I was already there at his house. I was going to sit you and him down and tell you both, together.”
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