Chapter 26

Meeting with the fire marshal wasn"t how he wanted to spend his afternoon. When Ryker called to let him know that Monica had a break in her day, due to a client canceling, he had hoped to surprise her with lunch. Ryker"s tendency to constantly hound Monica"s secretary had its benefits. But even his best-laid plans didn"t work out.

Not when he got a call from both Steven, the chief of police, and Brad, the fire marshal, saying that they wanted to meet him at Monica"s townhouse.

"Luke." He grabbed Steven's outstretched hand and pumped once. "Thanks for meeting us on such short notice."

"You said you had something you wanted to show me."

"Brad does."

Brad was the same fire marshal they met with the day after Monica"s neighbor"s house caught fire. He was the one who suspected it was arson. Luke liked the guy because he was a no-nonsense kind of man who got straight to the point.

"Lead the way."

Monica"s townhouse was a two-story building built in the sixties, in immaculate condition. Or it had been until the fire next door had traveled a short distance and caught the second floor on fire.

Steven brought him around to the side of the townhouse that caught fire. Brad stood next to two ladders that rested against where Monica"s bedroom would"ve been.

"Are we climbing?"

"We are." Brad gestured to one of the ladders. "What I have to show you is up there."

Now he was intrigued. Because the buildings were so close, it was difficult to get the proper angle to climb, but they made do. Once he was just below where the bulk of the fire had started, Brad stopped him.

"Do you see this faint pattern here?"

Luke saw what he thought was a trail of water that discolored the siding.

"Kinda?" He had no idea what he was supposed to be seeing. He wasn"t an expert on fires, or the paths they took.

"That"s proof that an accelerant was used," Brad explained. "And I"m not just talking about on the primary building. Someone wanted to make sure the fire jumped to this building even with the firefighters trying to provide protection to the exposure. Someone sprayed this building with accelerant as well."

He looked at the mark more closely. It wasn"t until he was within an inch of the structure that he realized what he was seeing. The discoloration was actually the path the fire took through the accelerant.

"This is proof whoever started the fire was targeting Monica," Luke confirmed.

"Yes, and if you hadn"t mentioned the possibility, there"s a good chance I would"ve missed this. Exposures this close catch on fire all the time. I never would"ve thought to check over here. My primary focus would"ve been the main structure. This changes my report."

Well, son of a bitch. It was one thing to suspect Monica had been the target, but it was another altogether to learn the truth.

"I appreciate you taking the time to bring me out here to show me this."

They waited to finish their conversation until he and Brad climbed back down the ladder.

"I was hoping you were wrong," Brad said. "It"s quite devious to burn down another person"s residence just to target their neighbor. I didn"t want you to be right."

He hadn"t wanted to be right. There was no telling what lengths Fletcher would go to and that was unnerving.

Luke"s ringing phone interrupted them. Pulling it out of his pocket, Luke frowned when he saw who was calling.

"Excuse me a moment." Luke stepped away and answered. "Is everything okay?" Ryker rarely checked in during the day unless he asked for a report.

Fire alarms blaring through the speaker caught him off guard.

"Ryker?"

"Monica"s missing."

He couldn"t have heard his friend correctly. There was no way.

"I"m sorry. What was that?"

The alarm was only getting louder, instead of the fading that would signify a person was exiting the building.

"Monica is missing. She didn"t come down with the rest of the staff when the alarms started going off. I went up to check while Dom stayed in the lobby but there"s no sign of her."

"I"m on my way."

He couldn"t comprehend anything other than Monica was missing. She was supposed to be safe. Ryker was stationed downstairs in the lobby, and Dom was outside watching the entrance. Building security wasn"t allowing anyone upstairs unless their information was given to the front desk. Her place of employment was as safe as they could make it. But the building housed more than just Monica"s company and one of the floors was under construction.

It was his biggest fear coming to life.

"I"m sorry, I need to leave." Luke wasn"t talking to anyone in particular and he didn"t care if he sounded rude. Monica needed him.

"Was that a fire alarm I heard going off?" Brad rushed to keep pace with him.

"Yes," he replied in a clipped tone. "It"s going off at Monica"s office building. They can"t find her, so I need to go."

"I"ll come with you."

Luke wasn"t about to stop and argue; that would require wasting precious time he didn"t have. If the fire marshal wanted to join him, then so be it. An extra set of hands was never a bad thing.

He was racing across town when Brad spoke again from his passenger seat. "Do they know if it"s an actual fire or did someone just pull the alarm?"

Luke tried to think back to what Ryker had told him. He was ashamed to admit that after his friend uttered the word "missing," he hadn"t paid much attention to anything Ryker might have said.

"I"m not sure. I don"t think Ryker gave me that information, but honestly, I was only concerned about the first sentence. Monica"s missing is the only thing I could comprehend."

"What"s the address? I can see what information I can find out before we get there."

Luke rattled off Monica"s business address and then went back to focusing on his driving. He was only five minutes away, but traffic was at a standstill. Hadn"t that been the reason Monica"s client canceled earlier? That seemed like so long ago.

"Small fire on one of the floors that's under construction," Brad explained a few minutes later. "The bulk of the fire was taken care of before the first company arrived and they are in the process of completing overhaul now. The chief was just about to call me. They're thinking it was purposely set."

"Son of a bitch!" Luke slammed his fist against the dashboard, hitting it so hard that he was sure there would be a fist-size hole in the plastic.

Luke used his Bluetooth to call Ryker. As soon as his friend answered, he launched into a tirade of questions. "Any word? Have you notified the police that she"s missing? Did you call Caden?"

Thankfully Ryker"s normally playful tone was completely serious. "We haven"t located Monica yet. I"ve spoken with the police officers on the scene and Dom is in communication with Caden. We contacted everyone as soon as we knew something was amiss."

But was it enough?

"Traffic is a bitch right now but we"re almost there."

"Who's we?"

"Brad the fire marshal is with me. He was showing me what he found at Monica"s townhouse when you called. He's already spoken to someone on the scene. This was intentionally set."

Ryker let out a string of curses that would make even the most seasoned sailor blush.

"So much for this place being locked down and safe. I should"ve forced her to let me stay upstairs."

His friend wasn"t the only one kicking themselves in the ass for that. He had been trying to compromise, and in the end, it cost him.

"I"ll be there soon."

Luke disconnected the call and once again cursed his luck as he sat in traffic while his girl was God knows where.

"Pull over here. We'll get there faster on foot."

He didn"t need to be told twice. Luke swung the truck into a gas station parking lot and turned off the engine.

The five minutes were more like ten as they cut corners through alleys. By the time they got close enough to the building, they could see the firefighters picking up the hose.

"It couldn"t have been too bad if they're packing up already," Brad said, but Luke didn"t give a shit about the fire. He needed to find his friends and figure out what they'd learned. With any luck, Monica had shown up.

It was Dom who found him first, with Ryker seconds behind, dragging along a crying Amelia. He should"ve known his luck wasn"t that good. One of them would"ve called if they found Monica.

"I never should"ve left the building for lunch. If I had stayed, she wouldn"t have been alone."

Or they would"ve kidnapped Amelia or worse. If whoever abducted Monica didn"t want any witnesses, they could"ve killed Amelia on the spot.

He couldn"t say any of that though, so instead he patted her on the shoulder. "It"s not your fault. Monica wouldn"t want you to blame yourself." Then he turned to Dom. "What does Caden have for us?"

"He"s in communication with Tex. They're tracking her location. Based on how fast she"s moving, they believe she"s on a plane. Caden"s going with the assumption they chartered a private jet. No way they could convince Monica to willingly walk onto a commercial plane. Plus, they left her purse, so she has no ID."

"Are they able to find the plane and check if they logged a flight plan?"

"Tex is checking. But I can see if they have anything new for us." Dom stepped away to make the call.

"I"m so sorry." Luke had almost forgotten Amelia was standing with them until she spoke up.

Ryker spoke up before he could. "You have nothing to apologize for."

He let his friend console Monica"s secretary. His main focus needed to be on finding Monica.

Luke knew things were bad even before Dom spoke. It was written all over his friend"s face.

"Three flight plans were logged for private planes at a nearby airport. None of them are Fletcher, but Tex is accessing the security feed to narrow it down. He could"ve used an alias. In the meantime, he has three teams on standby for the locations. He"s also monitoring Monica"s tracker to get a better idea of where they might be headed. Once he has a location for where Fletcher is landing, he will deploy the necessary team."

Luke had no idea how Caden knew this Tex, but he was certainly a great man to have in their corner. But none of that explained the look on Dom"s face.

"What aren"t you telling me?"

"There"s been a prison break."