Page 69 of Forged in Secrets

Ben and Asher exchanged a glance.

“I’ve always wondered who owns that thing,” she continued. “It’s the nicest boat here, and that’s sayin’ something. It’s strange, though. I’ve never seen anyone on the deck enjoying the sunshine, but someone has to be in there drivin’ it. Autopilot aint quite that good.”

Ben’s heart began beating faster in his chest.

On her very first field op, Grace had already figured out the most important part of investigative work. She knew how to listen to her intuition, and it was becoming more and more clear just how right it was proving to be.

“What makes you say that, ma’am?” Asher prompted.

“Now, I am usually over here on the lagoon side, so I can’t promise I haven’t missed some goings-on,” Connie cautioned, “But I know I seen them lights belowdecks on at night before.”

“Has the yacht been here since the Lumeneer II arrived?” Ben asked.

Connie shook her head. “No, not at all. It got here right before the beginning of spring break.”

Ben’s heart sank.

Maybe Asher was right. Maybe he was seeing connections where there was only coincidence after all.

“Did you see anyone actually take it out?” Asher pressed.

“I did. Was the first time I’d ever seen it in motion, and they weren’t wastin’ no time.”

“When?” Ben asked, a hair away from losing his patience entirely. If this whole lead wasn’t going anywhere, they couldn’t waste any more time chasing it.

“Yesterday morning,” Connie said. “Not long after sunrise. I remember. I was out for my morning pilates class on the beach.”

Sunrise. Right around the time Grace had been taken.

That was all Ben needed to hear.

Grace was on that yacht. He could feel it in his gut.

And he was going to bring her home.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

DONALD

The phone began to ring, filling the calm hotel room with noise.

Donald glanced down at the screen, yanking his eyes away from the bustling streets of Shanghai that he had been watching through the window.

It was Craig.

Why was he calling now? It had to be the middle of the night in Texas.

He let the blaring sound continue, not wanting to answer, and not quite wanting to hang up, either. He needed to think before he talked to his friend again.

He padded over the plush carpet until he reached the bed and fell back onto it, staring up at the smooth cream-colored paint on the ceiling.

His daughter was gone, and now Grace Hinton had disappeared as well. His life felt like such a mess on so many levels, and yet, he couldn’t quite figure out why that should be so.

Sure, AveroTech was having financial problems, but few within the company realized how dire things had become. The internet news outlets and struggling business magazines had not caught wind of it yet. He was sure of that.

His friends and colleagues and even the police had tried to convince him that Katie’s disappearance was probably random, that it had nothing to do with his work at all. There was no real reason to think otherwise, and yet…

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