Page 123 of Desolation

The ringing of his phone cuts him off as he answers it and puts it on speaker. “Muff, you’re on speaker.”

“Charlie found CCTV footage of a woman in a red dress being dragged into a building on the outskirts of downtown. It happened thirty minutes after the cameras went out. Kermit and I are heading in.”

“Do you need backup?”

“No. We think she was left here. The two people she was dragged in by left about ten minutes ago. No one else came in or out. I am sending you the info on the building. Find out what you can. Charlie and David should almost be at the house. Once we get Rebecca, we will call you.”

He hangs up and all of us look around the room. I grab the laptop as Mark rattles off the address. I get into public records and look for the owner of the building. “Shit.”

“What is it?”

“That building is owned by Waters & Smith Investments.”

We all sit still as we watch the clock go by. It's only been eight minutes but a lot can happen in thirty seconds. We all jump when the front door slams open and Charlie comes running in, David on her heels.

“Mark,” her arms are around him instantly. “I’m so happy you’re okay.”

“Have you heard from Muff?” he asks.

She shakes her head.

“It’s been almost ten minutes,” Ben chimes in. “Should we pull up the feed?”

“I got it,” David says as he sits at the table and opens his laptop.

Just as he hacks into the CCTV, we see Jackson carrying out a body. Jimmy right behind him. We see them get into an SUV before they are lost from view of the camera.

I drum my fingers against the table impatiently waiting for the phone to ring.

When it finally does, we all jump.

“She’s alive. Took a few hits to the head and a bullet to the leg but she should be fine. I need two of you to head back to the hotel. She says to find her clutch in room 1502. Get an IV ready, we will be there in twenty.”

Charlie and Mark agree to head to the hotel while Ben and I prep for Jackson and Jimmy to arrive. David continues to analyze video in the kitchen.

“You think it was her?” Ben asks me.

“I don’t know what to think anymore.”

He sets up an IV while I pull out a bunch of first aid supplies. “I met her a few times when I was on watch. She doesn’t seem like the type but who's to say that means anything these days.”

“The day someone broke into David’s house was the same day Mari gave intel to Rebecca. I find it an odd coincidence.”

“Unless someone was tapping into Rebecca’s phone lines.”

I shrug. “I figured we would have known that.”

“We are just going to have to wait and see.”

A few minutes later Jimmy bursts through the door holding a beaten Rebecca. Blood staining her dress a deeper red.

We direct Jimmy to the room we designated as a medic room and he gets to work on her. Jimmy had medical training before he became a SEAL. When he left he thought about becoming a doctor but after seeing too many friends die in war he’d had enough death and accepted Jackson’s offer at Cole Security.

Jackson storms into the kitchen just as he is hanging up the phone. “Fuck. The news just gets worse.”

“What now?” I ask.

“Charlie just found out the room that Rebecca told us to go to belongs to Senator Harris from Florida. Charlie’s brother thinks he’s been involved in this scandal from the get-go.”

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