Page 68 of The Only Reason (The Trident Trilogy 2)

I’m going to find my dad with Azayiz. She thinks he was in the Kalasha Valley at some point. Meet us there. Sorry I went without you. She can’t be taken back into U.S. custody. Watch my last video. I’ll call you as soon as I can. I love you.

“There’s a message from her. It says she’s going to find her dad,” I say to Culver. “Call Chase and see if he’s gotten any closer to where that might be.”

“JJ should be almost at the hotel. Get geared up and get to the airport,” Culver says. “I’ll have a helo meet you there.”

“Roger that.”

I grab the man from Butch. “If she’s dead, I’m coming back for you,” I say as I throw him to the ground.

As we head to the lobby, I watch the video. Her phone must have still been in her pocket because the picture is black, but the audio is clear. It’s a play-by-play of how Alex died. I fucking knew he was the one who gave up Azayiz’s position. I only hear two shots on the recording. Both sound like a .38, so Alex likely didn’t get any shots off before Millie took him down. I know she shot him in the leg to give him another chance to surrender. That pisses me off so badly. She knows better than that. If she’s alive, I’m definitely going to lecture her about taking a kill shot first.

As Butch and I get to the lobby, we see our team fully loaded standing outside waiting for us. The hotel manager rushes over to me.

“We did not agree to this! Please have them put their weapons away. They’re scaring our guests,” he says, tugging at my arm.

I grab him by his collar. “You have a dead body in your spa. Worry about that.”

He gasps as I push him roughly away.

“They have her cellphone tracked?” JJ says as we walk out to them. “No one here saw her leave.”

“You mean this cellphone?” I say as I grab a vest and rifle.

He pulls out his cellphone and shows me a map. “I put a GPS tracker on her leg holster before I packed it back in Virginia Beach because I knew she’d pull some high-maintenance shit like this. I’m guessing she’s wearing it?”

I nod. “Yeah. Where is she?”

“Not the strongest signal. Last ping I got was just this side of Peshawar. Looks like she might be headed north. That mean anything to you?”

“Yeah. That’s the way to the Kalasha Valley.”

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