Lawson gripped my shoulder. “If someone wanted to get to Maddie, they would’ve found a way. If not today, then tomorrow. Right now, we’ve got to focus on finding her.”
Tires sounded on the gravel drive, and I looked up to see Holt’s SUV heading toward us. He pulled to a stop and jumped out. “I might have something.”
In a flash, Lawson, Grae, Caden, and I surrounded him.
He held out his phone. It showed a map with a single red dot. “One of my guys hacked into the rental car database.”
“I didn’t hear that,” Lawson muttered.
“He got the tracking information for Adam’s vehicle. A black Escalade sitting in the middle of the damned national forest.”
A prickle of something skated over my skin. It was that knowing I got at times when I was working a case. “He has her.”
“It could be Jimmy,” Lawson argued. “We don’t know anything for sure.”
I grabbed the phone from Holt, taking in the coordinates. I didn’t give a damn what Lawson thought. I was finding that SUV.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Lawson asked. “You’re suspended.”
If my brother thought I’d sit back and wait while he investigated, he was a moron.
“Good thing I am. Because now I can look for my missing girlfriend as a civilian, and you can’t take me off the case.”
“I’ll come with you,” Caden offered.
“Me, too,” Holt echoed.
Grae moved closer into our huddle. “I’m going, too.”
Caden scowled at her. “You are not,” he barked.
She glared right back. “You’re not a cop, and you sure as heck weren’t in the military, so how do you think you’re more qualified than I am?”
“Because he has years of firearms training,” I clipped. “You hate even carrying a damn flare gun.”
Grae pressed her lips into a firm line as tears welled in her eyes. “I want to help.”
Holt wrapped an arm around her and squeezed. “Go wait at the station. Wren’s working, so you’ll be the first to hear when we find Maddie.”
Grae swallowed hard and nodded, heading for her SUV but sending one last glare in Caden’s direction.
“I can’t have a bunch of damn civilians messing around with this. Let county SWAT handle the approach,” Lawson said.
I stared at my brother, anger, rage, and torment coursing through me. “You know how long it takes SWAT to assemble. You know what could happen in that time.”
Lawson stared at me for a beat. Then another.
“You know, Law. We all do,” Holt said softly.
Lawson had seen what almost losing Wren had done to our brother. It had left him broken in a way that only her love had a prayer of healing. But he’d lived as half a man for a decade before that happened.
Lawson looked between us all. “Go. But the second you set eyes on them, you call me. I’m getting the team together on the access road now.”
“Thank you,” I croaked.
He met my gaze. “We’re gonna get her back.”
We had to.
