Page 82 of Loco

“Lay by on the old service road between Palmerstown and Piersville. The one near the dry creek.”

“On my way,” I said, checking the rearview mirror to ensure Kai and Keir were still behind me.

In the rearview mirror, the headlights of the vehicles behind me stayed steady, unwavering beams cutting through the early morning haze. Kai and Keir—loyal as hell, always close, and always ready. They hadn’t said anything during this nightmare aside from asking questions, they justshowed up at my side without hesitation. That meant more than I could say.

Their presence kept me anchored and reminded me I wasn’t doing this alone, even if itfeltlike I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.

I turned off the main road, tires crunching over loose gravel as I veered onto the old service route that curved between Palmerstown and Piersville. The world got quieter out here. Trees framed the road in tall, silent rows, their shadows reaching across the asphalt like fingers.

Something shifted inside me as I took that turn. This wasn’t blind rage anymore, and it wasn’t the spiraling, helpless fury of not knowing. I had direction now. All the anger, the guilt, the relentless ache in my chest—it finally had somewhere to go.

I wasn’t chasing ghosts anymore, I was hunting something real.

And when I got there—when I stood face-to-face with the man who had dared to come into my house, to threaten Sayla, to terrify my children—I wasn’t going to hesitate.

It ended today.

I pulled into the lay by just as the sun began rising, streaks of light cutting across the sky like they were trying to burn through the darkness still clinging to everything. Gravel crunched under my tires as the truck rolled to a stop. Seconds later, Kai and Keir pulled in behind me, their headlights swinging wide before settling into place. They were out of their vehicles before I shut the engine off.

“What’s going on?” Keir asked, his voice calm, but I saw the tension in his shoulders—he could feel it, too. Something was shifting.

I stepped out, the cold morning air hitting me like a slap, but I barely felt it. I was too hot inside, not from the sun or the drive, but from the pressure building in my chest. The barely restrainedneedto do something, move, rip the world apart until I found Sayla and the kids.

But I kept it down, I had to.

If I lost it now—if I gave into the tightness in my throat and the images clawing their way into my head—I wouldn’t be any good to them. I wouldn’t be able to see straight, let alone lead thisthing. And right now, every second mattered. We had to find a clue somewhere in the chaos and this mess. Something that told us where they were.

So, I focused.

“Ned called me,” I relayed, voice tight, clipped. “He thinks he recognizes the guy from the video. He might have seen him yesterday with the mayor of Palmerstown acting as his new bodyguard.”

Kai frowned. “I didn’t even know the mayor had changed his security detail.”

“Neither did I,” I muttered. “But the pieces are lining up. Judd found links between the mayor’s office and the shell companies Topper was tied to. Titian’s name—if you can call it that—is in there somewhere. If that guy’s working with the mayor, we’ve been staring right past him.”

Keir held out his hand. “Let me see the photo again.”

I passed him my phone, and he studied the grainy still, brow furrowed.

“I’ve never seen this guy standing next to the mayor before,” he said slowly. “Not in public or the background, but something’s off…” He trailed off, thinking hard. Then— “Do we have a shot of the van driver?”

Kai was already texting before the words were even fully out. “Mark might. He was nearby when they loaded him into the ambulance.”

The wait stretched, taut, and thin like a wire about to snap. I kept my breathing steady, forcing myself to focus on the here and now, not the what ifs. Not on Sayla’s face twisted in fear, Kaidacrying in the dark, or Kairo trying to be brave when he was just a baby.

If I let myself spiral, I’d crash. So, I didn’t.

I reminded myself that Judd was back in Palmerstown, probably already ten steps ahead, with Kapono combing through every piece of evidence they’d pulled from Topper’s place. That man’s brain could make sense of anything. He saw patterns where most of us saw noise. And Imogen was nearly as good. If there was something to be found in those files between the two of them, they’d find it.

Kai’s phone buzzed. He looked down and swore under his breath.

“He got one just before they loaded the guy into the ambulance.”

He turned the screen toward us, and suddenly, the air shifted.

Even with the neck brace, even with the blood and bruising and the paramedics crowding around him, I recognized the face. It took a second, but then it clicked, and when it did, it hit like a punch to the chest.

Kai’s voice dropped. “I might not know the first guy, but I know exactly who this is.”

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