Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

Willow

"Axel, Durango texted he'd was leaving over thirty minutes ago. It doesn't take that long to get here. I called him, but it just rings and rings. Eventually, it goes to voicemail."

"Yeah, I'm worried, too. I'm going to walk the route and see if I can find him. Keep the door locked, and don't let anyone in, no matter what. Understand?"

I nod. If Axel is willing to leave now, even he thinks something is wrong.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Samantha says. "Maybe he stopped to grab us dinner."

I would love that to be true, but it's not. He ordered groceries yesterday, and there's plenty of food here.

I keep trying Durango's phone. Finally, someone answers.

"Hello?" It sounds like a child.

"Hello? Is Durango there?"

"Who's that?"

I bite back the sob that tries to come out. This isn't good. "Where did you find this phone?"

"It was on the ground," he says.

"Honey, where did you get that phone? Let me see it?" a woman's voice says. "Hello?"

"Hello, I'm looking for the man who owns this phone. Do you see a tall, muscular guy nearby?"

"Uh," the woman says. "No, I'm sorry. I don't."

"Can you tell me the cross streets where you found the phone?"

She rattles them off, and I write them down on the pad of paper in the kitchen.

"Oh wait, there's a tall, muscular guy looking around and coming this way."

"It might be Axel."

"Axel?" the woman asks. "Yes, that's him."

"I'm Axel, what's going on?"

"The woman on this phone asked for you. Here, we need to go."

"Hello?"

"Axel, it's Willow. The boy answered Durango's phone and said he found the phone around there. But the woman didn't see any man."

"Shit, this is Durango's phone? Okay, I'm going to call Reed. Call me immediately if he shows up."

"I will."

I set my phone down, and my body breaks out in a sweat as I imagine what Tyler has done with Durango.

"What happened?" Samantha asks.

"Some kid found Durango's phone. Axel has it now. But there's no sign of Durango anywhere."

She wraps her arms around me. "He's a big guy who can defend himself. Maybe he chose to run and dropped his phone. And you know him. He wouldn't run and lead anyone back here. I'm sure he'll walk through that door as soon as he can."

I nod, wanting her to be right. The alternative is too awful.

I turn around to face Samantha. "I swear, if Tyler hurts him, I'll?—"

"Why would Tyler go after Durango? If he knows where you are, he'll come now that you are alone, essentially."

"Tyler likes control. Getting rid of Durango would be one way to control me." The idea of anyone getting rid of Durango is too much.

"Stop it. First of all, I doubt Tyler knows you're here. But if, somehow, he was able to follow us, he'd come here for you. He's angry about the videos. And why would he go after Durango? If he were watching the house, he'd have seen both Durango and Axel here. Both huge men who could crush him."

Deep down, I know she's right, but it's hard to think logically.

My phone rings. "It's Axel."

Durango made sure we all had each other's numbers before he left for the office.

"Hello?"

"I'm on my way back. My boss, Reed, and another colleague will be with me. They want to see the photo of the guy following Durango earlier."

"I can send it to you."

"My boss also has questions for you."

He ends the call, and I wait with Samantha, lost in my thoughts. Finally, there is a knock. I verify it's Axel and open the door. An older man follows him inside. The man has a mix of brown and silver hair.

Behind him is a guy closer to Durango's age.

"Willow, Samantha, this is Reed, our boss, and CT. He works with Stormy's other group but is passing through today. Guys, this is Willow and her friend, Samantha."

"Axel tells me you might have seen a man who kidnapped Durango?" Reed asks.

I nod. "Only through Durango's phone."

"Let's sit down," Axel says, then leads us all to the kitchen, where we all sit.

"I FaceTimed Durango to let him know he forgot his keys. While he was holding his phone up, talking to me, I spotted a man close behind him. He took a photo of that guy and sent it to me." I pull it up on my phone, hand it to Reed, and CT leans over to see it.

He hands the phone back. "I need you to send that to me." He rattles off his number.

Axel pulls Durango's phone from his pocket. "I want to see if he got any more photos, but it's password protected. I guess calls get through but nothing else. Any chance you know his password?" he asks me.

Reed has his phone to his ear before I can answer. "Coff, I can't explain now, but we need the password to Durango's phone."

He nods and glances at Axel. "Ten Seventeen."

My heartbeat picks up as I watch Axel type the numbers in and his phone unlocks. "That's my birthday," I say.

"Yeah, it worked. Thanks. I'll call you back and fill you in as soon as I can." Reed ends his call.

"Dammit!" Axel says. "There's nothing else here."

Reed types furiously on his phone. "I've sent the photo to Trip and told him this is the top priority."

"I'm worried this might be related to my ex. He figured out where I was and threatened me. My roommate and I came here to be safe. Maybe he followed us and we didn't realize."

"What's his name?"

"Tyler Bentley."

Reed types fast. "All right. I asked Trip to look into him next."

"He already did," Axel says. "Durango asked him to, and he got back to Durango with information earlier today."

Reed frowns. "And do you know what Trip told him?"

"He told me Tyler's name came up clean, but he has some family who has had legal trouble. White-collar crime, nothing violent," Axel says.

The front door opens, and Axel is the first one up. "Durango?" he calls.

"Nope. Harding. Sorry to walk in, but the door wasn't locked. I'm here to see Durango."

"He asked you to meet him here?" Reed asks.

"No." Her eyes take in the three men and then land on me. "I was concerned after our last call. What's going on? CT, I'm surprised to see you here."

CT steps forward. "I'm on my way home from an assignment and had a layover in the city. I wasn't expecting Durango to go missing."

"What? He's missing?" Harding asks.

"We think he was kidnapped. He snapped a photo of a man following him earlier," Reed says.

"Dammit. He called me a couple of hours ago and said he thought he was being followed." She walks up to the table. "Let me see the photo."

Reed pulls it up and hands his phone to the woman.

She closes her eyes. "He sent that photo to me this morning. I ran a search, and nothing came up. That's what I told Durango before I ended the call. But I sent it to a colleague to double-check, and he just got back to me."

"Did you get a lead?" Reed asks.

Harding turns to Reed. "Yes. The man in this photo looks like someone we have identified who is working with a dangerous man who was likely involved in our last assignment."

Reed sighs. "For God's sake, please speak plainly."

Harding glances at me and Samantha. "I'm afraid I can't because they don't have clearance."

"We'll leave," I say as I stand.

She stares at me. "Are you Willow?"

Axel steps between us. "Yes. She's staying at Durango's. This is her friend, Samantha. Willow, this is Harding. She's someone we work with."

Well, that was a vague introduction.

Harding smiles. "He mentioned you." She turns her attention back to Reed. "When did you last hear from Durango?"

I step forward. "He texted me just after four that he was walking back home."

Harding gives me a nod. "Thank you. Now, if you two don't mind leaving us alone…"

Samantha doesn't move.

"Samantha, let's go."

"Fine." She gets up, and we walk to Durango's bedroom.

The truth is, if this is related to his work, it's not something I can really help him with, and I certainly don't want to get in the way.

The moment I step into his bedroom, I get a whiff of his cologne. I cling to that moment, closing my eyes. He'll be fine. He will come back to me. He has to.

"Willow, they will find him," Samantha says as she rubs my arm.

I nod because that's all I can do right now. When that child answered Durango's phone, my chest ached because I knew something was wrong.

Samantha goes to the door and opens it a crack. She leans near it, listening.

While I should give them privacy, this is about Durango. I need to know what's going on, so I step up next to her.

"Dammit!" Harding says. "I spoke to him after four. He was walking home and thought he was being followed. I made him promise to call you, Reed. I had to go."

"I'm sure he thought he could handle everything on his own," Axel says. "You know how Durango is."

"You are all his team, and he should have called one of you," Harding says. "He told me no one was around. Obviously, you were because you are all here. Well, except for Moose."

"I need to ask you about that later," Reed says. "After you left, Moose stormed out of the office, saying he needed to clear his head."

"Yeah, I don't think I handled that as well as I could have," Harding says.

"Okay, Trip has the footage from the bodega on the corner near where his phone was found," Reed says.

I glance at Samantha. "Impressive," she says. I lean back toward the door.

"There he is," Axel says.

"Who is that woman?" Reed asks.

"Sorry, I don't recognize her," CT says.

"Let me see," Harding says. "No, it couldn't be."

"What?" Axel asks.

"I can't be certain because she's looking down, but it looks like this woman, Nancy, who was a suspect in our last assignment. But last I knew, she was somewhere in Belarus."

"Apparently, she's here now," Axel says. "Can you trace her whereabouts?"

"On it," Harding says.

It goes quiet for a minute.

"It's not Nancy. An agent is following her, and she's still in Belarus," Harding says. "Something isn't adding up. I'm going to that bodega to question the cashier directly."

"Wait," Axel says. "Watch this. After the woman walks by, check out this van."

I want to run out there to see the video for myself, but they won't show it to me.

"Durango walks out of the video, and a moment later, a van drives by," Axel says.

"That might be a stretch," CT says.

"It's all we have," Axel says. "And it has a logo on the side."

"Top Pizza," Harding says. "We can check it out, but CT's right. There's nothing in this video to connect Durango to that van."

"Call it my gut instinct. Come on, CT. Let's go check it out," Axel says.

Chairs scrape against the kitchen floor. "Dammit, I can't leave Willow and Samantha unprotected," Axel says.

"I'll stay," Reed says. "I'm waiting to hear from Trip. He is looking for more footage on other security cameras. Maybe Durango will shake these men and show up here."

"Thank you," Axel says.

We step back from the door in case Axel comes to tell us he's leaving. But he doesn't. The front door opens and closes.

"I'm going to the bodega. I'll let you know what I find out," Harding says.

A moment later, the front door opens and closes again.

"Huh, well, I guess we can leave this room," Samantha says.

I take a deep breath. She's right. We walk into the kitchen and find Reed sitting at the table.

"Hey, everyone left to check out leads," Reed says. "Willow, did Durango mention anything to you about his last assignment?"

I frown. "No, he doesn't talk to me about work." I sit down at the table while Samantha gets herself a glass of water.

Reed nods. "I figured as much but thought I'd ask."

"Do you think his disappearance is related to his job and not my ex?" I ask, even though I heard their discussion. I'm hoping Reed might tell me more.

"Based on some video footage, that's what we believe." Reed sets his phone down and leans forward. "Hey, we're going to do everything to find him. But Durango is skilled in escaping situations. Hold on to that."

I curl my legs up and wrap my arms around them as tears well in my eyes. They have no idea where he is, and it sounds like he might be on his own to escape.

"Why did they take him?" I ask.

Reed picks up his phone again. "I believe it's because they think Durango has information they want."

"What happens once they get that information?"

"Trust me, Durango won't just tell them unless he has a plan. He'll stall. And we will find him."

He seems so sure about it all. I'm not. It's not that I doubt Durango's skills. It's that when people play dirty, you can't fight them. I found that out the hard way with Tyler.