Page 25 of Master Cordell

What he didn’t say was Tiffany would come home even at the expense of his own life. He loved her so much, he was willing to die for her.

As they left, Dante stepped over. “Hey, Adam said they located the boat about a mile east of here, but Tiffany and the suspect weren’t there. The area he docked at has no cameras either. They’re trying to track down the owner of the boat, but I’d bet anything that it’s stolen and the owner doesn’t even know it’s gone.”

That was Cordell’s thinking too. While the suspect had once again kept his head down and his ball cap shading his face, they’d gotten him and Tiffany on the surveillance cameras located on the east shore. Dante had brought it up on a tablet for everyone to see. While Cordell had watched in terror as his sub was dragged out of the woods toward the water, Dante had focused on the boat which was different than the one they’d seen on the video recording after the break-in. They’d been able to get a description of it and its name—theAquaholic—out to the patrol units and Coast Guard.

Detective Adam Tate approached them. “We’ve got everyone out looking for them, Cordell. You know the drill—the best thing for you to do is wait up at the resort. As soon as I hear anything, I’ll let you know.”

Under any other circumstances, Cordell would’ve said no fucking way was he sitting this one out, but he knew something the deputies didn’t know, so he gave Tate a curt nod and the man walked away.

“They’ll find her, mate,” Dante tried to assure him.

“If we don’t first,” he murmured. “C’mon up to my office and bring Boomer and Cooper with you.”

The head of security narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. “You know something they don’t?” He gestured with his thumb in the direction of the deputies.

Cordell didn’t respond. Instead, he turned on his heel and stormed toward the resort. Pulling his phone out, he located Nick’s number in his contacts and hit the call button.

“Cordell! You’re on speaker. We’re about fifteen minutes out,” the younger man said. “Any news?”

“Nothing good yet. She’s still missing.” Somehow he managed to keep the gut-clenching fear he felt out of his voice. “Jared was rushed to the hospital. Troy’s with him. No word yet on his condition. Come straight to my office when you get here. The bastard left a note that the cops didn’t see. I’m throwing together a team to go rescue my woman as soon as we find out where.”

There was no hesitation from Jake when he said, “Anything you need from us, you’ve got it. See you in a few.”

“Hey, Cordell!”

Disconnecting the call, he stopped in his tracks and spun around. Dante was jogging toward him with Boomer and Cooper on his heels. Cordell waited for them impatiently—although it wasn’t like he had anything else to do but wait for the cocksucker to call.

“Instead of going to the office, let’s head over to my place. We’re going to need some toys for when this asshole calls you.”

Thank goodness someone was thinking straight. Cordell was a step away from sheer panic. He’d planned on just strangling the bastard when he got his bare hands on him but stocking up on weapons and ammo was a good plan. While he had his 9mm concealed at his lower back or within reach ever since the break-in, they didn’t know if the suspect had anyone else working with him. They needed to be prepared for anything. Hopefully, they could rescue Tiffany without any of them being arrested for murder when it was all over.

Chapter17

His anger and frustration rising, Cordell paced back and forth in the middle of Reed and Dante’s living room. His hip was killing him, but he ignored the pain even though it forced him to involuntarily limp. Over the past few months, between the PT and taking walks in the sand along the shoreline with Tiffany after dinner most evenings, he’d noticed he’d been experiencing fewer flareups. But right then, he could almost feel the bullet that’d been removed hours after he’d gotten shot. Truthfully, that hurt less than the aching in his chest at the thought of losing the only woman who’d ever owned his heart.

His friends had stopped offering him something to eat or drink a while ago, and Cooper had quickly gotten out of his way and lay down on the couch to watch him. The phone in Cordell’s hand had rung three times in the past two hours and not once had it been the asshole who’d kidnapped Tiffany. He was squeezing the device so tightly that it was surprising the thing hadn’t crumbled into a thousand pieces.

The police still had no leads, and Cordell hoped they didn’t get anything before he did. He wanted to be the one to take the bastard down and dole out his own justice. That was something he’d never had the strong urge to do during his entire career in law enforcement, but no one had ever been a threat to the woman he loved before.

Boomer, Nick, and Jake were in the kitchen with Dante, talking in low voices. They’d invaded the Aussie’s weapons vault—that was exactly what it was—and were locked and loaded. The man had a nice collection, and everything was in pristine condition. Now all they needed was a destination.

Reed was currently in Miami, but Dante had spoken to him earlier and given him the short version of what was going on. The businessman was horrified at the news and asked for updates whenever they were available. He’d been ready to call for his helicopter to fly him back, but Cordell and Dante had talked him out of it. They’d been hoping it would be all over before the chopper even got from Marathon to the city.

Blowing out a harsh breath, he changed direction and strode into the kitchen, even though he couldn’t put a damn thing into his stomach. Everyone’s concerned gaze zeroed in on him, but no one said a word. Despite the fact he wouldn’t drink it, Cordell stepped over to the Keurig and selected a random pod from the rack next to it. Having no clue what flavor he’d chosen, he spent the next few seconds setting the machine to brew. It’d just started gurgling when the phone in his hand trilled. Cordell wasn’t the only one in the room who froze. They all did.

He checked the screen. “Unknown Caller.”

Biting his upper lip, he stabbed the speaker phone button on the third ring and set it on the counter, so everyone else could hear. “Roberts.”

“Well, well, well. For a minute there I thought you didn’t care about this bitch and weren’t going to pick up.” The gruff male voice wasn’t familiar at all.

“Who is this? Where’s Tiffany?”

“Where? We’ll get to that. As for who, well I’m the guy who’s going to kill your woman if you don’t do exactly what I say.” No one in the kitchen moved or made a sound, but the tension cranked up a few notches.

He gritted his teeth. “Fine, what do you want?”

“I want your blood.”

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