Chapter 61

The last thingJake saw was the fear on Dana's face, then the video call disconnected. He couldn't get the image out of his head. Dana, with the shadow of a man hovering near her car window. His face was too blurred to make out, no matter how many times he rewatched the screen recording.

Jake already called Hartwell three times, and he was doing a great job of pacing a groove into Dana's hardwood, but otherwise, he was utterly useless, and it was killing him.

Jake hit redial again. And again, Dana's voicemail greeted him. Each syllable of her voice hammered him with paralyzing fear.

Jenkins had made it clear she was done assisting Jake in this matter. And with his FBI access suspended, the only search engine he had at his disposal was the old-fashioned public internet. A quick search of Matthew Spector had come up empty. But if the guy was really Homeland, that wasn't surprising.

Jake knew he could knock on Claire's door. The girl could have him on the dark web in a matter of minutes, but he didn't want to worry her. She'd already lost so many people she cared about. If something happened to Dana…

Jake shut down the thought, commanding his mind not to go there.

A few more minutes of fruitless web searches, unanswered phone calls and useless pacing and Jake found himself at Claire's bedroom door anyway. He knocked lightly. "Claire? I need your help."

When there was no response, he knocked louder. "Claire. It's important."

He turned the clear glass knob, but the door was locked. The solid oak of the antique door made kicking it in unappealing, but the old skeleton lock was another story. The simplistic mechanism was comprised of only two parts: lever and deadbolt. An Allen wrench would easily get the job done, but thankfully Jake didn't have to go that route. Dana displayed a collection of antique skeleton keys in one of the many ornate curio cabinets adorning the cluttered corners of her home.

Jake grabbed the ring of keys from the case and was back at Claire's door, clicking it open in a matter of seconds. But unlocking the door only unlocked more problems.

Claire was gone.