Page 67 of Emi's Hero

If they found it soon enough, the team could potentially reach the compound well before Warren.

Emi squeezed George’s hand, glad he was with her.

When he’d left her at the marina to plant the tracker on Warren’s yacht, the ten minutes he’d actually been gone had seemed like hours.

His voice had carried over the water back to her as he’d sung that silly song at the top of his lungs. She could just imagine how ridiculous he’d looked. And how brave and selfless.

He’d told her he’d pretended to fall onto the yacht and stuck around long enough to arouse Warren’s curiosity and ire. Once he’d confirmed Warren was on the vessel, he’d planted the tracker.

He’d come back to her in a little less than ten minutes, and she’d been able to breathe again. She didn’t know what she would’ve done if he hadn’t come back. Her initial instinctwould’ve been to go after him and kick whoever’s ass had dared to hurt him.

Which would have been suicide, or at the least, walking back into the lion’s den. She had no desire to be trapped in a prison for another eight years.

No, she’d have done as he’d instructed and had Hawk help her find George and then get on to the task of saving her daughter.

Kalea landed the plane at the little airport. Not long after they’d taxied to a stop, the second aircraft, piloted by her friend, landed and came to a stop beside Kalea’s.

Everyone climbed out of the planes and converged on the tarmac. Two SUVs waited nearby. Kalea had called ahead to the FBO, asking for the vehicles to be ready and waiting for them when they arrived.

Kalea climbed into the driver’s seat of one, and Devlin Mulhaney took the lead on the other.

Hawk and Emi compared their handheld tracking devices.

“He should be arriving at the island in the next few moments,” Hawk said. “It appears as though he’s not going to one of the marinas.”

“I remember them taking me out to the yacht on a smaller boat,” Emi said.

“A dingy?” Kalea asked.

Emi nodded.

“Which means he could get off anywhere along the coastline, and we might lose him trying to find where that was by land.” As Hawk shook his head and studied the tracking device for answers, his cell phone chirped.

“Great,” Hawk said. “Did you give the coordinates to the drone team? I’ll contact them and see if they’ve decided. Thanks, Swede. You and Kyla are the best.” When he ended the call, he said, “Swede narrowed the properties down to two. The otherthree are commercial buildings along the coastline. The two we’re most interested in are tucked into the mountains. He gave the drone team the coordinates of both about the time we left Oahu.”

Emi’s heart leaped. They were getting closer.

Hawk called the man in charge of the drones. “Hey, Sean, what do you have?” Hawk’s face brightened. “You did?” He grinned. As quickly as he smiled, a frown took its place. “What’s wrong? Seriously?” His head shook back in forth, his lips pressing into a tight line.

Emi didn’t like the grim set of Hawk’s face. Something was wrong. A chill rippled across her skin in the warm, balmy night. She leaned into George, her body trembling.

He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her even closer. The warmth of his body against hers chased away the chill.

Hawk gave a final nod to the man on the other end of the call, even though he couldn’t see it. “Shoot me the coordinates. We’re on our way. It should only take us twenty minutes. No, don’t do anything. You’re drone operators. Unless you have rockets attached to the drones, you’re not equipped to handle the situation. Those men your infrared cameras picked up are armed and dangerous mercenaries. They probably have orders to shoot first and hide the bodies in a very deep hole. I’ll be in touch. Thank you for coming on short notice and staying as long as you did.”

Hawk ended the call and looked around at his team. “Warren didn’t need a marina or a dingy to get him to shore. He had a helicopter pick him up and fly him to the location Sean and his team finally identified as the compound. I have the coordinates. Let’s roll.”

Emi pressed a hand to her chest. No amount of pressure eased the ache growing inside.

So, Warren would arrive before them. It wasn’t the end of the world. She just had to get there before he did anything stupid and irreversible to Sara.

She climbed into the middle seat of the SUV Kalea would drive and prayed she’d bend the rules enough to blow past the established speed limits.

Emi wasn’t disappointed.

Kalea drove fast but in full control of the vehicle.

Hawk navigated with his phone’s GPS, telling her where to turn. The island didn’t have so many roads that they would be confused.

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