Chapter 50

Aaron checked his watch, about to give up in frustration. He needed to get back to the team rather than go rogue on this investigation the way he was doing. Then, on screen, a man wearing a dark hoody and jacket walked through the door of the shop.

Aaron frowned. Sat up. Leaned forward.

The man wore wraparound sunglasses even though it was dark outside. Aaron was pretty sure he recognized the figure from last night.

Son of a bitch.

He watched as the guy printed first a small photograph and then a large poster that Aaron could identify even from this distance. The figure kept checking to the side to make sure no one was watching the pornographic image as it came through.

Aaron frowned. Who the hell was that? He looked familiar.

Janelli?

"Take off the glasses, dickhead." He gritted his teeth then froze as the guy dipped the shades to read the control panel.

Aaron stood up so sharply the chair flew across the floor.

He pulled out his cell as he strode to the front of the print shop. "Do not go into that room," he ordered. "It's officially part of a crime scene investigation until I tell you otherwise. I will haul you off to jail if you fail to comply."

A much-chastened Lyle nodded sullenly, but Jeanine gave Aaron a perky thumbs up as she spoke to one of the CSI techs downloading data from the copier.

Aaron went out the front door and dialed as he started to run toward the courthouse.

"What's up?" Seth answered his call.

"Colin Leighton, Hope's assistant. He's the motherfucker who shot at me last night. Do you have eyes on him?"

"Negative. He and Hope are both in the judge's chambers, and we got kicked out."

Shit.

Aaron heard Seth arguing with the clerk to open the door.

Aaron sprinted as fast as he could while still listening to the conversation. He fumbled for his comms and slipped them into his ear, dodging pedestrians and tourists alike.

Seth swore. "They aren't in the judge's chambers. Judge is unconscious at her desk. Still breathing. Must have gone out via the courtroom. Call an ambulance," he yelled at someone obviously there with him.

Aaron felt as if his heart was about to explode. They could leave via any exit. Or Colin could kill Hope on the spot—but the prick had had plenty of opportunities to do that so he must want her alive for some reason. "Kincaid take the front entrance. Seth and Black go out the rear exits. I'm going to check out the prisoner entrance."

Aaron had never run this fast in his life and his lungs were on fire. He got to the side of the building and levered himself up to look over the security wall and railings.

Nothing.

He glanced around. Across the wide busy sidewalk, he spotted Colin shoving Hope into the back of a yellow cab. Aaron pulled his weapon and ran, ignoring the way the civilians scattered in terror.

"FBI! Stop."

No clean shot.

Colin dashed around to the driver's seat and threw himself behind the wheel, starting the engine and pulling into traffic. A minivan screeched to a halt just in time to prevent a collision.

Aaron ran after the cab and spoke into his comms. "He's in a yellow cab heading north."

Aaron kept running, hoping to catch him at the next red light, but the fucker piled through, almost sideswiping a compact. Aaron aimed at the back tire, but crossing traffic and civilians in the area made it impossible to get off a clean shot.

He dodged cars that slammed on their brakes and honked their horns at him like he was a lunatic.

He pumped his legs faster, but the cab accelerated away and turned a corner. Then it was gone.

A few seconds later their black SUV with emergency lights pulled up beside him. He jumped in. Tried to catch his breath. Hopper and Black were already inside. Kincaid was driving.

"Take the next left. He's driving a yellow cab." He reeled off the license plate and cab number. He dialed Frazer. "Colin Leighton abducted Hope from the courthouse. I found him on the surveillance footage at the printers, and I'm almost certain he's the guy that shot me last night." He ignored Frazer's reaction. "I need a BOLO for that cab. Get locals to call it in, but don't attempt to stop it."

"You're in pursuit?"

"We lost him—I was on foot—but we're still looking. On Staniford Street." There were multiple tunnels or bridges or even ferries Leighton could take to get away, assuming he left the downtown area.

"I'm going to get Alex Parker on Leighton's communications. Presumably this is related to Leech?"

"That would be my guess, but you're the profiler." Aaron barely kept his temper.

"She's my friend too, Aaron," Frazer snapped. "If you don't see him in the next two minutes, get to his apartment and search for clues. Anything that might tell us what the hell is going on and why he's taken Hope. Wear gloves, but speed is of the essence. I'll get you the address as soon as I've spoken with Alex about tracking his communications."

Frazer hung up.

Aaron was shaking. So much for combat training and the gray zone. Hope's life was in the balance, and he was a wreck. The thing he was supposed to make sure never happened had happened to the only woman to get past his guard in years. Which was exactly why you did not get personally involved with your principal!

Fuck.

"We'll find her." Kincaid eyed him via the rearview.

"I messed up." On so many levels.

"You figured out Colin was a threat while we stood outside the goddamn door like a couple of morons," Seth Hopper gritted out. "You would never have let her out of your sight. This is on me."

What did it matter? Hope was at this prick's mercy until they could find her. Was Colin Leighton in league with Julius Leech? Nothing else made sense.

"Her cell phone?" Aaron asked suddenly.

Hopper handed it over. "Found it on the courtroom floor."

Shit. He should have implanted a sub-dermal tracker or something, but she'd never have gone for it. He touched the phone screen. Opened it because he'd memorized her password without her permission. Knowledge was power in their business and collecting data was pure muscle memory.

He read the messages from Colin, but there was nothing non-work related.

"We'll find her," Kincaid said from behind the wheel taking turn after turn. But there was no sign of the cab.

All the determination in the world wouldn't stop a knife attack if they were too far away to help.

"Think Ella Gibson is involved?" Hopper asked. "She and Leighton seemed tight."

"Good thought. Let's see if we can track her down." He dragged his hand through his hair then concentrated on what he did best. Looking at things from every angle. "Frazer wants us to check out Colin's apartment for clues."

The address popped through on his phone. He checked the map. "It's not far from Hope's place." But something was niggling at him. "Even if we figure out why he's doing this it won't bring us any closer to finding Hope. We know he took her, and he must have planned for that. Hopper, call Frazer."

"What are you thinking?" The guy was already dialing the number.

"Turn off the emergency lights, and let's do another trawl of the neighborhood. Don't just look for cabs. Check the driver of every car. We might get lucky." He dialed Cowboy and gave him a brief rundown of the situation. "You and Demarco take two of alpha squad and head to Leighton's apartment and search for any evidence of where he might go—be careful though." There was no suggestion of boobytraps, but Colin Leighton was an unknown factor. "Tell the rest of alpha squad to use Hope's car and to await instruction. Pack all the gear we might need for a hostage rescue." He hung up.

"What would you do if you were trying to get out of town without being seen?" asked Seth.

"Depends where I was going, but I'd have a second car that I'd have switched to already then take backroads out of the city avoiding any cameras and toll roads. Wearing a hat and glasses to fool any I'm not aware of." The same way Colin had done at the printers, except he wasn't disciplined enough not to screw up.

Aaron remembered how Hope had flopped into the back of the cab. "It looked as if Hope might have been drugged, which reduces the chances of him transferring her to another vehicle without people noticing…unless he has underground parking?"

Black checked. "Nope. Street parking at his home address at least."

"So, the fact he took her in the day suggests he might not risk changing cars, but he could switch plates easily enough and disguise the taxi number with tape or a magnetic strip, which would be my next move. Then—assuming he's taking Hope to Leech… Shit, fuck, they could be anywhere." He pressed his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose and squeezed. Think. "If it was me, it would be an isolated property with some sort of building and, knowing Leech's penchant for the good life, probably a luxury home or a really nice cabin. There would be a garage—probably attached or close enough he wouldn't be seen by neighbors walking from there to the house—so he could hide his vehicle. Close to a private airfield probably. Leech doesn't want to get caught. How many of those are there?"

"About seven within a two-hour radius. Nearest is Crow Island Airpark but that's only a small strip with Cessnas and microlites and shit."

"Frazer said to tell you he's serious about that offer from the BAU when you leave HRT," Seth said, still having an open line to the profiler. He frowned. "You can't leave HRT."

If Aaron didn't rescue Hope before Leech hurt her, he wouldn't be staying with the FBI. He'd joined to prove a point. And while he loved his job, if he lost Hope then he didn't deserve to be in the elite organization. He kept his mouth shut, but from the way Kincaid eyed him in the mirror he knew what he was thinking.

Aaron checked the map, and his eyes caught the town of Lincoln. "Ask Frazer what are the chances Leech and Leighton would meet up at Sylvie Pomerol's farm?"

"He says it's possible but unlikely."

"Get someone out there anyway. Fuck!" Aaron yelled. He was supposed to be the cool logical one, but he needed something to go on.

"Frazer has something."

Hopper passed his cell to Aaron, and he put Frazer on speaker. "Parker managed to narrow down the cell signals of Colin Leighton's phone."

Aaron frowned. The guy wasn't that stupid, surely? Not after pulling off something so complicated and clever.

"His registered phone has been turned off, SIM card removed or destroyed. But a burner that bounced off a tower near Ella Gibson's apartment at 4:30 a.m. also bounced off a tower near the courtroom around the time Leighton was in the courthouse today."

"That's it." Excitement raced over Aaron's skin. "Where is it now?"

"Near Fenway Park."

Kincaid started heading that way. Fast.

"No sirens," Frazer cautioned.

Kincaid turned the sirens off but gave a low whoop through each intersection and eased through before once again going as fast as he was able.

Aaron's skin itched with the need to move. To get to Hope and beat that motherfucker until his knuckles bled—the way Brendan had beaten Leech the day he'd murdered his brother.

He should call Hope's brother-in-law to let him know what had happened, but would the local cops help find Hope or get in their way? He wasn't sure.

"If you catch sight of Leighton, you need to follow him covertly." Frazer's voice echoed metallically from Seth's cell.

What the fuck?

"You think he'll lead us to Leech," Aaron realized.

"Don't you?" Frazer shot back.

Aaron stared out of the window as a boulder settled in his stomach. "Probably, but my mission is not to capture Julius Leech. It's to protect Hope Harper."

Something he'd already failed to do.

"Which do you think Hope would prefer? Rescuing her now and losing our best chance at tracking down the serial killer who butchered her family? Or rescuing her AND recapturing Leech and arresting Colin?"

"It doesn't change my mission," Aaron repeated stubbornly. Then he swore. "You're right. It makes sense, but I do not want the marshals or locals fucking this up, so make your peace with that. Otherwise, we will box this motherfucker in on the highway, and Leech will have to be caught the old-fashioned way. And we are not losing that cab—which we will if he realizes that burner is a liability and dumps it." He dragged his hand through his hair. "My team is in pursuit, but I'm gonna talk to Romano about using some of Charlie team and sending up the drones he has with him to follow that cab."

"Good idea. Parker has found a satellite feed we can use for the time being, but that's only in play for the next hour or so."

Aaron looked up at the overcast sky. That meant Parker had probably hacked a satellite that used RADAR technology to see through clouds.

"Can Parker send me the tracking data and the sat feed?"

"I'll ask him, but there's a delay in the feed due to image processing time which means we are always going to be a few minutes behind, but combined with the cell data?—"

"Assuming Colin doesn't turn it off or toss it out the window."

"Aaron," Frazer said softly. "She's going to be all right."

"You don't know that."

"No, but I know Hope, and she's a survivor."

"Let's pray you're right." He didn't know what he'd do if Frazer was wrong. He already felt as if he were dead inside. No wonder Hope was gun shy of relationships.

Frazer hung up.

Aaron called Romano without letting himself think about Hope as anything except a missing principal. He couldn't function if he thought about how much danger she was in. He should never have let her out of his sight. Maybe he'd been kidding himself this whole time, and his ex had called it. Maybe he really wasn't good enough to call himself a Hostage Rescue Team operator.