Page 38 of Rescuing Tobias

But from the moment they’d met, Josiah had made it clear without actually saying it outright that he was here purely to do a job. He’d left the SEALs, and this was his way of still doing what he could without being able to serve in the way he’d first chosen, same as it was for Tobias. Josiah was good at what he did, which was why he maintained his job at Prey even with his antisocial behavior. That and Tobias was pretty sure that Eagle Oswald himself had a soft spot for the tortured SEAL.

“The kind you're going to be particularly interested in,” Josiah said, then turned on his heel, went back to his desk, snatched up one of four laptops sitting there, then went and sat down at the table.

Curious and a little frustrated that Josiah wasn't just coming right out and saying what was going on, Tobias joined him at the table. He wasn't the only one. Ava, Chelsea, and Teresa all went to see what was going on, and Raven, who had been sitting at the table, closed her laptop.

“You've got our attention, what’s up?” she asked Josiah, who had taken the seat to her left.

“Something you're all going to want to see. You especially.” Josiah nodded his head in Tobias’ direction, but didn't look up from his screen where he was furiously tapping away.

After almost a minute passed without Josiah saying anything else, Tobias felt his nerves snap. They were already pulled taut. Even before Isabella had dropped by a couple of days ago with her world-shattering announcement, he’d been running right at the end of the rope. After he’d learned she was pregnant with his child, it was like he’d fallen over the edge, his rope stretched astight as it would go, and now he was merely waiting for it to snap and send him plummeting.

That’s certainly what it felt like.

He hadn't even been home since the morning after Isabella’s revelation. He just couldn’t walk inside his apartment without picturing the look on her face right before she’d left. So he’d been sleeping in one of the apartments in the Prey building that he’d offered to her that first night.

Maybe if he hadn't offered his place, he wouldn't be stuck in this black hole that seemed to be devouring him. Then again, if he hadn't offered his place he wouldn't have had one amazing night with an incredible woman, and she wouldn't be carrying his child. A child he would love even if he wasn't part of their life.

Being there meant he didn't waste time commuting, and he’d been working almost around the clock, taking breaks only to do his morning and evening workouts, and take power naps. So it was absolutely no wonder that Josiah making an announcement that they had a problem then acting like he’d said nothing at all was the thing to make him snap.

“You going to tell us or are we playing twenty questions while a dangerous organ trafficking ring is out there abducting nurses and doctors and making them participate in their illegal operation? While they’re snatching people off the street, tying them to beds, and removing their organs without their permission.”

If Josiah cared about his raging spiel, he didn't show it, just tapped away on his keyboard for another few seconds, then flipped it around so they could all see his screen.

Letting out a frustrated breath, Tobias still leaned in to see what it was. It was two women who looked vaguely familiar, their headshots side by side. Looking from the screen to Josiah, he shrugged.

“Care to elaborate, or you really do want to play twenty questions?” he snapped.

“You know who they are, right?” Josiah asked, his voice irritatingly calm, even as emotion flickered in his dark eyes.

“Yeah, they’re two of the other nurses who we found with Isabella, right?” he asked.

“Odelia Murphy and Dawn Peters,” Raven added.

“Why are we looking at their pictures?” Teresa asked.

“Because they’re missing,” Josiah said simply.

Missing?

What the hell.

How could two of the women who had been abducted once before be missing again, a mere month after being rescued?

Beside him, Ava stiffened, her fingers curling into fists, and Chelsea immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They all knew how dangerous these people were and that they were prepared to re-abduct people they believed belonged to them.

Was that how they saw the nurses they’d kidnapped?

They knew that the ring had come back for Ava a second time because they had not only already sold her organs and would lose out on that money without access to her body, but she was also responsible for them having to cut some losses when she escaped. It had been part practical business decision, part revenge. It had made sense under the circumstances, and none of them had thought that the ring would be stupid enough to do it again.

Had they been wrong?

“Missing or dead?” he asked. Tobias didn't mean to sound harsh, but they had to know. These women had been through a traumatic experience. Not only had they been held captive and forced to help care for the ring’s victims, but some of them had been kidnapped off the streets by the ring for theirqualifications, others like Isabella, had already been trafficked and been bought by the ring. It wouldn't be outside the realms of possibility to wonder if they had buckled under the enormous pressure and hurt themselves.

“Both missing. One—Dawn Peters—was last seen five days ago. She went out to the park and never came back. Family and friends report that while she was, of course, traumatized, she was working hard at getting her life back, had resumed her job at a local day clinic, was in therapy, and maintaining good relationships with the people in her life,” Josiah replied.

“Five days?” Raven echoed. “We should have been notified as soon as she disappeared.”

“We would have but the local police department refused to list her as a missing person. They insisted that she likely just needed some time alone and that if she wasn't located in a couple of weeks, they’d take a report,” Josiah explained. “The only reason I found out about it is because we got an alert this morning that Odelia Murphy had been reported missing last night. Her boyfriend got home and she wasn't there. She hadn't left their apartment since she was rescued so he knew right away something was wrong. CCTV cameras in their building showed her being forced outside and into a waiting van. Once I knew she was missing, I went through all the others, just to check, and that’s how I found out about Dawn. The police might not be taking it seriously, but her family is and are posting about her everywhere.”

---