Page 11 of Back In the Shadows

“No, dude, my bad.” He paused before he spoke again. “Are you … are you at home?”

“Yeah, and shit isn’t right. Something is really wrong … I … I can’t find Ella.” My tone cracked with the confession.

“We’re on the way.”

My shoulders tensed as I realized Dope knew something.

“What is it, mate? Don’t draw it out, tell me where my wife is.”

I visualized Dope holding up his hands in surrender. He was used to my temper, but this time it would be a lot worse if he stalled and hid shit from me.

“I was calling to see if she was there. A few minutes ago, I checked the camera footage, and some men showed up and wrecked your house and … took Ella.”

My gaze narrowed. “You weren’t watching live?”

“I can’t monitor 24/7, man,” Dope admitted, guilt heavy in his voice. “I check recordings every few hours, run analytics for unusual patterns. But they knew our schedule, knew when I’d be focused on helping relocate that family in Oregon. They timedit perfectly, which means one thing. Someone was watching or they could have hacked my system. I’m good, but shit happens because there’s always someone better out there. I’m sorry, man.”

Tears pricked my eyes as I struggled to digest what the fuck he’d just said. “No way did I hear you right.” I realized I was grasping at straws. The evidence was right in front of me, but I couldn’t believe it.

“From the earlier video, I think the kids are with Lulu. I suspect she’ll be home soon. I called everyone and we’re all on the way to the airport.”

I shook my head, confusion settling over me like a wet blanket. “The kids are definitely with Lulu. I’ve already called her.” I massaged the back of my neck, the sharp headache giving way to a dull pounding. “Why is my plane in Oregon?”

“Riley and I were heading out to help a family, Bass. You had your pilot fly over. It was actually perfect timing, but we’re on our way to you. Well, Kip and I are.” The tension dripped off his words. “I just pulled up and Kip is on the tarmac. We’re on our way, man. We’ll find her. I swear to fucking god we’ll find her.”

“You’re sure you saw someone take her? The shit you smoked wasn’t too strong and you hallucinated?”

“I’m positive. I watched the footage several times. We can go over it when I’m there.”

“Screw that. I’ll look at it while you and Kip are in the air.”

Dope sucked in a sharp breath. “Then go straight to 1:23 p.m. this afternoon. There’s nothing else to see, so don’t waste your time.”

“I’ll see you in a few hours. Call if you find anything else.” I didn’t wait for him to speak before I hung up and tossed my phone onto the bed. Hurrying to my laptop, I flipped it open and retrieved the camera footage. I rarely looked at it since Ididn’t want Ella to think I was spying on her, but we had a lot of enemies, and I couldn’t take a chance of not picking up danger.

I dropped onto the edge of the bed, frantically pulling up the surveillance footage. My pulse pounded against my neck as I fast forwarded to the timestamp Dope had mentioned. And there it was, a black Nissan Sentra pulling up to my house. The hairs on my arms stood on end as a tall figure in a dark suit and sunglasses emerged from the car. I cranked up the volume, listening to every word of the conversation. The security system, meant only for outside threats, suddenly seemed useless as I cursed myself for allowing this to happen. Forcing myself to focus, I needed to hear every last detail of what that son of a bitch said when he took my wife.

Horror slithered through my veins as I watched a man creep up behind Ella, then jab her in the neck with a needle. She stumbled; fear etched into her beautiful face as she grabbed the railing of the porch. Within seconds, she slumped forward and the man who had injected her scooped her up and carried her to the Nissan Sentra. I yelled at the video as I witnessed him put a helpless Ella in the car’s trunk and close it.

Two other men entered my home while the guy in the suit swapped out both license plates on the car.

“You stupid son of a bitch. You think that will keep me from finding you?” I focused on the car, catching a glimpse of the license number. Hitting the button to pause the feed, I grabbed the notebook and pen Ella always kept on her nightstand. I scribbled down one letter and two numbers on the Wisconsin plate. Unfortunately, I suspected it wouldn’t be the only time those plates would be changed. I had to act fast.

Once I located my phone again, I texted Dope that I was going to file a missing person’s report with the police. Before I could dial 9-1-1 my phone vibrated.

“Yeah?”

“You can’t call the cops, man.” Dope cleared his throat. “Wait until we get there, but you have to trust me. Keep them out of it.”

“You’re not making any damn sense, Dope.”

“What if those men are tied to the Horizon Society? Every family we’ve worked hard to help might be jeopardized. Not to mention we’ll all get arrested and put in jail. We can’t do Ella any good if we’re all behind bars.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I hadn’t thought about that. I’m fucking out of my mind right now.” I rubbed my temple.

“That’s what you have us for. To help you think straight. I’ll text you if I learn anything else.”

“Later.” I gripped the phone in my hand. A hitch in Dope’s voice told me he was hiding something. He knew more than he was telling me. When the guys got here, I would pry it out of him one way or another. For now, I had to try to keep a clear head and focus on my twins.

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