Damn.
The sinking feeling in his stomach solidified into a hard center of concern.
Ellen missing?
“She’s been taken,” Hank said. “Fred Henderson saw a man force her into a white van in the school parking lot.”
Mortimer. She’ll be terrified.
Anger coiled around his concern, twisting in his gut. Anger he carried deep inside.
He’s a dead man.
“How close are you to the school?” Hank asked.
A calm deadly stillness came over him even as he made a quick U-turn and sped back toward the school. “Almost there.”
“The sheriff is too,” Hank said.
Travis made a quick turn into the parking lot. “I see him.”
“Good,” Hank said.
Travis threw his truck into park and had the door open while he left the truck running as he climbed out to talk to the sheriff.
“He’ll update you,” Hank said. “I’m putting Swede on your next assignment so you can focus on finding her. Keep me updated. We’re all concerned about her and will do everything we can to help.”
“Thanks, bro,” Travis said. “I’m out.”
Both men knew Travis would drop everything to find her. It was no secret that he and Ellen were dating. She was his girl.
The sooner he got on finding her, the better. A missing persons chance of survival would drop faster as time ticked on.
Wherever he’s taken you, darling, I will find you. That’s a promise.
He walked up to the sheriff to find out what they knew.
Mortimer had no idea what he’d stirred up this time. Last time he’d gotten away. The police had looked for him and never found him. Then they’d moved on to other cases as the trail went cold.
This time, a SEAL was now hunting for him. A SEAL who loved to hunt. One who would never give up. There would be no other cases or assignments for Travis until she was found. And he had a whole team of local Brotherhood Protectors to back him up, along with his many SEAL brothers. He would and could search the world for her, if necessary.
“They can’t have gone far,” the Sheriff said. “Fred Henderson called us right away, before they’d even raced out of his sight, and he stood in the road watching until he couldn’t see them anymore.”
“Have you got a drone?” the sheriff asked.
“One of our team, Kujo, has a girlfriend who does,” Travis said. “Molly Greenbrier, she’s FBI. There may be others. Pretty sure I heard Hank say something about a custom made one for the team that they were starting to work with.”
“Good,” the sheriff said. He already had his phone out and was punching it to make a call. “I’ll ask Hank.” He dialed and raised it to his ear. “Yeah, Hank?” he said. “Sheriff here. Got a drone we can send up?”
Travis listened, hating that they didn’t know exactly where Ellen was, right this minute, but glad they had access to a drone which could find her.
The sheriff stepped away and kept talking and one of his deputies came out of the school walking toward them, carrying Ellen’s purse, her car keys, and her phone.
She doesn’t have her phone. Can’t track her with it.
That answered one question. Without her phone on her or in the van, they’d lost that option. Pushing his reaction aside, because he had no time for what wasn’t working and needed his full attention on what would, he stepped up to the deputy.
“She have her gun in there?” Travis asked, indicating the purse, though he was already sure of the answer.
