Page 103 of Hero's Prize

No.Tonydid.

“I’m pretty sure that Tony was setting you up to make it look like it was you.” And Rick just happily got his DNA all over a piece of clothing that no doubt would become a big factor in making him look guilty.

Colton froze as he thought this through.Shit. If Tony was behind all this and was setting Rick up as his patsy, the only way he could be successful was if Rick was out of the waypermanently.

Otherwise, Rick would defend himself. Maybe no one would believe him, but he’d still plant seeds of doubt about his guilt.

Tony had probably thought Rick would drive back to Denver after being fired. And since he didn’t have direct access to Colton, since his calls were blocked and Tony filtered through all of Colton’s emails, Rick wouldn’t have any way of getting in touch with Colton.

Tony hadn’t counted on Rick’s idiotic temper driving his actions and that he would come here to confront Colton tonight. The man had probably saved his own life by doing so.

Colton hoped he was wrong about all this and Tony wouldn’t goto such extremes just to keep Colton in the game. Because it wouldn’t. Colton wanted to be wherever Ella was.

Shit. Dread pooled in his stomach. Tony had to know that too. Which meant…Tony had to plan to do something to Ella too.

Where the hell was she?

Colton rushed toward his cabin. “Get on your phone and call Sheriff Webb. Tell him that Tony is our stalker and that we don’t know where Ella is and that everything has gone to shit.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m calling in the people I trust most.”

All his friends came through exactly the way Colton knew they would. Within thirty minutes of Rick tackling him, Theo and Lilah had arranged a house-to-house search in Oak Creek. The search would be guised as friendly visits and touching base, but the true purpose would be to make sure Ella wasn’t there. Callum Webb was checking businesses.

The fact that everyone in Oak Creek was so friendly and open—and cared so much about helping find Ella—reaffirmed to Colton that this was where he belonged.

Rick had actually provided some useful information—reminding Colton that he’d given Tony permission to put a tracker on Colton’s truck right after the avalanche since he’d been spending a lot of time alone in the wilderness. Colton had forgotten about it, and they’d never removed it.

No wonder Tony was always able to find Colton so easily.

But he and Ella hadn’t been driving Colton’s truck the day they’d gone shopping at the sporting goods store. Yet, if Tony had released that social media announcement, he’d been following him. So maybe he’d put a tracking device on Ella’s car too.

Colton had already put a call in to Lincoln, asking him if he could reverse-engineer the info from his truck’s tracking device and maybe gather some details if Ella’s vehicle had one placed on it too.

If anyone could do it, it was Lincoln.

Colton kept trying to call Tony also. Finding him before he made his move was just as important. Colton had to pretend like everything was still business as usual until they caught him.

Colton froze when Tony answered on his fourth time calling him.

“Hey, boss, what’s going on? Sorry I missed your other calls. Battery died.”

Colton forced himself to stay cool. He could not give away that he knew what was happening. “Just wanted to talk over some possible plans with you. You got time to meet? I’m sure the Eagle’s Nest is still open. We could grab a bite.”

“Actually, I decided to go back to Reddington City. I wanted to talk to the manager of that store again. Get all the details I can so we can move forward.”

Reddington City. Shit. If he had Ella, they couldn’t do any door-to-door search there.

“Okay, I hear you. But I’d really like to talk about this tonight, if we can. I’m wondering if you’re right and we need to just get back to work.”

This was a delicate balance. Colton wanted to disarm Tony by seeming compliant to the other man’s ideas, but he didn’t want to change his tune so much that it made him suspicious.

“Really?”

A text came through from Lincoln.

I was able to locate Ella’s car. Coordinates 40.8056°N 106.9442°W

---