Page 43 of Peace Under Fire

“Hey,” Tex protested; his voice more amused than disturbed. “I wouldn’t jump off a bridge just because you told me to.” A short pause traveled the line. “You’ll have to give me a suitably good reason first.”

Mandy didn’t look amused. Instead, her face flushed bright red. “I’m so glad you find the kidnapping and torture of my family amusing.”

CHAPTER 10

“Back up there.” The southern twang lost its amused tone. “I had nothing to do with the kidnapping of your family. I never found a location for you or your family.”

“You were looking for me. Your searches caught the attention of others and led the cockroaches to where my sisters were hiding,” Mandy hissed.

Although, her guilt rose hard and fast, dampening the rage. She knew exactly who was to blame for what had happened to her sisters and it wasn’t Tex. She’d known before she’d left Jacob the voicemail that he’d try to find her and probably alert his superiors to her capabilities. She’d predicted his future, for heaven’s sake. Of course, that would attract attention. Of course, Naval Intelligence would want to interrogate her. She’d even known an investigation into her might trigger attention from her old captors.

But she’d left the message anyway. She’d convinced herself she could warn him and escape any fallout.

She’d been wrong. So very wrong.

“Look.” Tex’s voice sharpened, until the southern accent was stretched thin. “If someone found your sisters, it wasn’t because they piggybacked off my searches. I never located you—or your sisters.”

“So, it’s just a coincidence that they were kidnapped not long after you started searching for me?” Mandy snapped. “Kaylee said her safety protocols were triggered. You were running searches on my name, weren’t you?”

“Yes.” Tex’s voice turned thoughtful. “But I never got any hits. Obviously, you’re using an alias. Would these people you’re hiding from know this alias?”

“No,” she admitted grudgingly.

“If they’re unaware of your current alias, my searches into that name wouldn’t have triggered anything.” He fell silent for a few moments. “You said someone—Kaylee?—had safety protocols in place. That’s how you knew I was looking for you?”

“Yes. Kaylee’s a computer whizz. She set up an internet algorithm or program or something to scan the internet for any references to Amanda Wilde or Mandy Wilde. Any time an internet search was launched on those names, an alarm would be triggered. Her protocols remained silent until last week. I was in Virginia Beach for over a year, but the protocols were only triggered last week.”

Tex grunted. “That timing does match when I ran the first search on that name, but I never got any hits. We knew you were using a burner phone because of that voicemail. I tracked down where you purchased the phone. But since you paid in cash, there was no name attached to the receipt. Same goes for the phone you bought in San Diego. Nor did your call to the hospital have your name attached.”

Mandy’s eyes widened. He knew about the hospital call? Which meant Jacob must know too. How embarrassing. He probably thought she was stalking him.

“Did Kaylee try to track down the IP that was running the searches on your name?” Tex asked, his voice gaining strength and speed as though he’d thought of something important.

“I don’t know.” Mandy frowned. But knowing her sister… “Probably.”

“If someone was monitoring my investigation, they could have intercepted her reverse search before it pinged on my system and traced it back to where it originated.”

“Who would have—”

Jacob broke into Mandy’s question. “We have a traitor in SEAL command. There’s a good chance he listened to your voicemail and knows what you can do. He probably knows Tex and I were looking for you.”

While that would explain how her sisters had been found, it raised all sorts of other questions. If their abductions had been a result of Jacob’s traitor, and he’d followed Kaylee’s reverse search back to the compound, he wouldn’t have known what her sisters were capable of. She’d barely mentioned her family to Jacob, and she’d never told him they had ‘talents.’ Even if he’d assumed that they were gifted and passed that information on to his superiors, including the traitor, none of them had any idea just how talented the women in her family were.

Nobody would have been able to waltz into the compound and capture everyone—not without extreme precautions. Whoever had taken her sisters must have known their capabilities. They must have knocked everyone out before collecting them.

Which led right back to the cockroaches.

“How did you find out your sisters were taken?” Jacob asked, a frown wrinkling the skin above his thick black eyebrows.

“Giulia…called me.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. Giulia had called, just without a phone. “She told me not to come home. To run.”

“When was this?” Tex asked.

In the background of the call, she could hear the clacking of computer keys. Her heart squeezed as memories hit. That same sound had always accompanied Kaylee’s voice on the phone.

Tears pricked her eyes. With a deep breath she blinked them away and concentrated on the southern-twanged question. “Two days ago. I was almost home. Maybe three hours away when Giulia called.”

“Where’s home?” The question came from Jacob this time.

---