Chapter 18

"We need to split up," Nick said, holding a satellite imagery printout of the area. "Aside from this shopping center and the older cluster of homes across the street, it's heavily wooded, getting more rural as the main road leads out of town."

Gray's stomach dropped. The road also led to a main artery, which meant Ivan Rogers could be anywhere with Lena. Heading toward Canada. Heading south into New York City. Traveling east toward Connecticut. Would they keep Lena here for their own sick purposes or move her? West had finally gotten the records of Ivan's private flights, but the team was still in the first stages of analyzing that data. The Shadow Ops Team couldn't fly to multiple cities, hoping that's where Ivan Rogers was. They needed solid intel. A course of action. A goddamn plan. Just because Ivan sold women from various cities in his sex-trafficking ring didn't mean he'd take Lena there either. Not when he was on the run and wanted her that badly.

"How the hell did you get sat imagery so fast?" Luke asked in surprise, looking at the map Nick was holding.

"West had one of his guys bring it over to Ford's house. He pulled it up as soon as he got a ping on Lena's cell. His team is looking over satellite images from the past few days to determine if there's been an uptick of movement in the area. Vehicles. Trucks hauling merchandise."

Gray's stomach dropped. The only merchandise Ivan moved was women.

"Given it's slightly rural, there's a chance we could get lucky and find a cluster of vehicles on a side road that aren't usually traveling that route," Nick explained. "That doesn't help us see the homes in those forested sections, however. We need boots on the ground for that. Let's divide up and search ourselves, driving down all these sideroads. Ivan doesn't work alone. He has a vast network, and if he's here, there's likely a team of guys with him."

"There were numerous vehicles at the home Lena was held at before," Gray said, his voice low.

"Exactly. Spotting something like that again could be a big tip off as to where he's holed up."

Luke looked up from the printout, eyeing Nick. "And her cell hasn't pinged again since earlier?"

"Negative," Nick said with a frown.

"Given the highway this road leads to and the multiple cell towers they'd pass on the way, they damn well might still be in the area," Gray said. "Or else they turned off her phone, and we're fucked," he added darkly. That was a thought he hardly wanted to consider, because then they'd rushed over here for nothing and Lena was being taken farther and farther away from him with each second that passed.

His eyes caught on a pickup truck at the far edge of the lot, the man in the driver's seat looking right at them. Gray opened his mouth to tell his teammates when his phone buzzed. He muttered a curse as he got a new text, noticing that truck started its engine and slowly drove away.

"Can you read those plates?" he asked, nodding toward the truck. It wasn't speeding out of there but still felt suspicious. The lot was mostly empty. Why was he watching them?

"Hang on," Luke said, rummaging through his bag and pulling out a pair of binoculars. The men all kept go-bags in their trunks with changes of clothes and basic gear. At the moment, Gray was thankful as hell they did. Luke rattled off the plate number as Nick scrawled it down, the truck pulling onto the road.

Gray's phone continued buzzing, and he scanned over the texts.

Anonymous: You have 24 hours. $50 million or you never see the girl again.

Anonymous: I'll provide you the number of an offshore account to wire the money. Clock's ticking.

Anonymous: Maybe I'll send her offshore when I'm finished with her.

Anonymous: Best pussy I've ever had.

"Fuck!" Gray shouted. He turned, punching into nothing but thin air. He wanted to beat the shit out of someone. Wring that guy's neck and then burn his entire enterprise to the ground. Destroy every molecule in his body. If Ivan dared hurt Lena, Gray didn't care if he himself ended up behind bars. He'd murder Ivan Rogers along with all of the men terrorizing her.

"What's wrong?" Nick asked, looking up from the plate number he'd just written down.

Gray held up his phone, letting his teammates read the texts, when the other men's phones began buzzing as well. Luke swore as a photograph of Lena appeared, and Gray nearly choked as he looked at the image. Lena was still bound to the bed, terrified, but this time a man's hand was holding a knife to her throat.

"He's going to kill her. Ivan threatened to slit her throat, and it looks like he goddamn might," Gray said, his voice rising. "He'll dump her body offshore afterwards."

"He's goading you," Luke said. "Trying to get a rise out of you to throw us off. She's restrained and helpless. He's more concerned with photographing her to taunt us than doing anything else at the moment. He wants his money."

"You don't know that."

"He could've easily hurt her by now. Assaulted her. Killed her. Why all the texts? The photos? It's just a sick, twisted game to him."

Gray briefly calmed, remembering Lena's words from the initial kidnapping. Ivan had enjoyed playing with her. Drugging her. Was that what this was about? Another twisted power play by Ivan? He thrived on other people's fear. He'd built an entire career of selling flesh. Innocent women. His taunts could just be meaningless drivel at this point, meant to upset the team into thinking he'd already assaulted Lena. But what was his end game?

Gray had no doubt he'd eventually rape and kill her. He could only hope neither had happened yet.

"How old is this photo?" Gray asked urgently.

Nick shook his head. "Don't know. It's probably in the photo properties. Does that come through on a text? I don't know if the data is accurate."

"Call West," Luke said.

The other men continued talking, Gray's mind racing. It had been nearly an hour since anyone had heard from Lena. An entire fucking hour. In the thirty minutes after she'd texted Jett that she was on her way, she'd been abducted. And it felt like they were barely any closer to finding her. Sure, they'd discovered her vehicle, but the priority was Lena herself. She was missing, and he wanted to claw his own heart out thinking about whatever pain she was enduring. When he found her, and Gray swore that he would, he'd do everything in his power to show her just how much she meant to him.

"What if they drove right past this area?" Gray asked as he looked down the road, fresh concern coursing through him. "We could be standing around while they're getting away."

"West didn't get any other pings on her cell," Nick reminded him. "Maybe they wised up and turned it off, maybe not. Do you really want to take your chances with leaving when we could be searching the surrounding roads and forest? There are multiple one-lane roads around here, leading to secluded homes. That's similar to where we found Lena and Kaylee before—a house off the beaten path, used for Ivan's sick purposes."

"Let's search the surrounding area," Luke said in a clipped tone. "We need to find him ASAP before this comes to a head. Has anyone texted him back? Or is the number spoofed so that we can't even reply to his bullshit?"

"Jett texted him," Gray said, his voice low and deadly. "He's leading ‘anonymous' to believe we're cooperating and coming up with the funds to spare Lena's life."

"Perfect," Luke quipped. "Because if Ivan thinks we're playing his game, he'll never see us coming." Luke's phone buzzed just then, and he lifted it to his ear, his gaze sharp. "Got it, boss. Putting you on speaker."

Jett's voice came over the line as the other men gathered close. "We've got a description of the vehicles from the parking lot," Jett said. "Ford obtained the surveillance footage from outside the grocery store. West will get into the local traffic cams to see if they passed your current location. If not, they're likely still in the area."

"You got the plates, boss?" Luke asked.

"Affirmative." Jett rattled them off, and Gray felt his blood run cold, looking at the plate number Nick had just written down.

"The truck—" Gray cut off as all of the men began running, jumping into their vehicles. Luke was still talking to Jett, informing him about the pickup truck they'd just spotted, but Gray barely heard a word.

"It went south!" Nick shouted before climbing into his own vehicle, slamming the door shut behind him.

Luke's tires squealed as he peeled out of the lot. Jett ended the call, saying he'd get an update from West. "We've got to be close," Gray said, drumming his fingers on the door. "Hell. He was driving slowly so we wouldn't be suspicious. He couldn't have gotten far at the rate he was going."

Ford pulled up to a guy stopped on a motorcycle, asking if he'd seen a pickup truck come through. The man pointed toward an intersection farther down the road. And there it was. A lone vehicle off in the distance heading toward the forest.

"That can't be him," Gray said with a frown.

"Only one way to find out," Luke said, revving the engine. He gunned it down the road, Nick speeding up behind him.

Luke's tires squealed as he took a turn, and then he was racing forward again. Gray frowned as they got closer, his stomach dropping. It wasn't the same truck. "We need to get into the traffic cams to see which way it headed."

Luke's phone began ringing, and he pushed the button on his console to answer the call via his car's system. "It's West," a male voice said without preamble. "I just got another ping from Lena's cell."

"Tell me it's nearby," Gray said.

"Negative. They're headed east, possibly looking to get on 95 south."

"What?" Gray yelled as Luke slammed on the brakes. He executed a neat three-point turn on the rural road, revving his engine as he sped back in the direction they'd just come. Nick was turning around as well, racing behind them to catch up.

"Let's hope they keep her phone on," West said. "It's a stupid mistake, but one that benefits us. As long as they're in range of a cell tower, I'll know the direction they're headed. I'm running the plates through our systems as well, trying to find them on a traffic cam. We'll know if they enter or exit the highway."

"He's getting away with her," Gray said, anguished.

"Not exactly," West countered. "As long as he has both Lena and her phone, he's leading us right to them."