Chapter 24

Harry curled up on his bed, tears streaming from his eyes. Almost a whole week had passed since he’d last seen Rory. There were no leads to go on. The police were at a loss as to what could have happened. They didn’t know where she’d gone or where to look.

Lucia had taken leave because she was absolutely destroyed. Harry had shown up at work and done what he could to keep his head above water, but he knew if he didn’t get his shit together, he would be moved to a non-operator position and have to work his ass off just to get back on a team.

His phone rang, and he glanced at the screen, praying it was Rory. It wasn’t. Bear was calling. He thought about not answering, but he finally swiped his finger over the screen before it bounced to voicemail.

“Hey, get out of bed. I’m almost at your place.”

“Fuck,” Harry said.

“The whole gang is on their way.”

“Goddammit. I’m sulking, and I want to be left alone. ”

“Tough shit,” Bear said. “We’re going to spend the day looking for her.”

“Fuck. I’m not getting out of this, am I?”

“No. You’re stuck with us. So you’d better get used to it, buddy. We’re not going to let you sink. We’re lifting you up because we won’t let you down.”

“What if she’s never found?”

Bear’s car shut off, and he heard the door slam. Bear was heading up. “We’ve lost friends. And I know it hurts like a bitch, but you will recover. You will pick yourself up off the floor. You won’t move on, but you’ll move to find the person who did this and get revenge.”

The buzzer for the entry door sounded, and he let Bear in. He rolled out of bed and stumbled into the main room, waiting for Bear to say he was at the door.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Dude, you passed BUDs and all the other crap we had to go through. You can do this. I have zero doubts that you will prevail. You are stronger than you think, and you have us backing you up. By the way, I’m outside your unit. Let me in.”

Harry opened the door, and Bear pointed to the bathroom. “Go shower. I’ll let everyone else in and make some breakfast.”

Harry nodded. “Sure.” He didn’t know if anything Bear had said would come to pass, but he couldn’t give up on Rory yet. They weren’t in an official relationship, but he cared deeply for her.

After he finished in the shower, he heard the guys talking. It sounded like they were all there and ready to start looking. The scent of bacon wafted in, and his stomach clenched. He hadn’t eaten dinner the night before. He’d been skipping meals since learning that Rory had gone missing. If he kept skipping meals, he wouldn’t even be close to fifty percent. He had to maintain his strength.

He dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. When he stepped out into the main room, the guys turned to face him. Their expressions were a mixture of steely determination and sympathy.

“The biscuits are almost done. I’ve got the eggs going. You need to eat,” Bear said.

He nodded. “Thank you all for coming over here to help me look. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You are stuck with us,” Andy said.

Peach grabbed his arm and held his gaze. “I may not think relationships are necessary, but I don’t want her to suffer. We’ll find these bastards and take them out.”

Harry’s throat closed. His buddies offering to help him, to spill blood for him was almost too much. He loved them more than he thought possible. They were standing up for him and for Rory.

“We all brought computers,” Wild said.

“We’re ready to start looking after we eat breakfast,” Jax said.

“I brought food for lunch and snacks for later. We have enough to stick around and search all weekend if we have to,” Bear said.

Wild squeezed his shoulder. “We’re going to figure this out.”

“Thank you.” Harry’s voice cracked with emotions. He had to get it together.

Bear shoved a plate of food in front of him, and Andy handed him a fork. He dug in, eating everything. The other guys ate their breakfast, then settled around his table and at the bar connecting the dining room to the kitchen. They all took different places to look on the dark web to avoid overlapping their investigations. Hours passed, mostly in silence except for keyboards clacking, as they searched for any information on Rory.

At around two, they broke for lunch and a mental break. Frustration ruled. Harry wanted to punch something or maybe just go shooting. But Rory needed him to keep looking.

Peach groaned and dropped to the couch. His eyebrows bunched together, and then he shrugged. Harry didn’t ask Peach what that was about as he left the room to head to the bathroom. He was losing hope. They’d spent hours searching, and if he added up all the time the six of them had spent together, it would be more than a week of searching, and they’d found nothing. She wasn’t out there.

He finished in the bathroom and opened the door to the guys talking fast. He was in the doorway to his room when he saw Peach holding up an envelope.

“Harry, what is this?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. Where was it?”

“Between your couch cushions. It was poking me in the side. I pulled it out. It has your name on it.”

Harry shook his head. He had no clue what was in the envelope. “Maybe it’s mail I missed.”

“There is no address, just your name.”

“I don’t know. Maybe something the condo association gave me.” He nodded at the envelope. “Open it.”

Peach pulled the sealed tab, ripping the paper as the glue stuck. With the envelope open wide, Peach dumped something into his hand and then pulled out a sheet of paper. What the hell? Harry’s stomach tightened, and he held his breath as Peach held up a thumb drive and opened the folded piece of paper.

“Harry, I left this here because it’s evidence. My place was broken into, and I knew the drive would be safe at your place. If anything happens to me, look at Lieutenant Laelyn and Commander Toovey. The thumb drive has all the evidence. I shipped one copy to the FBI and one to a reporter in Washington, DC. Before moving here to San Diego, I found evidence of a human trafficking ring. I didn’t know that it was human trafficking at first, but I knew it was something illegal. I told my chain of command, and they blew me off. I was moved shortly after that and tried to put it out of my mind. Then I found evidence in a laptop computer I discovered at the Center. Lieutenant Laelyn and Commander Toovey are mixed up in this. Be careful, Rory.”

Peach let go a heavy sigh as he folded the piece of paper and then met Harry’s gaze. No one spoke as the weight of the situation settled on them. They were going up against a commander, not at all someone they could take on without help.

“Fuck,” Wild said.

“Dammit,” Andy said.

“We need help,” Jax said.

“Yeah, you think?” Harry shook his head as he stared at the piece of paper in Peach’s hand. “We need to make copies of that drive because if we hand it over to anyone, they are going to never let us see what’s on it.”

“Agreed,” Wild said.

“What do you think this will mean?” Bear asked.

Harry shook his head as he tried to get hold of his fear and panic. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling that if we tell the wrong person about this, they’ll kill Rory.”

“Agreed,” Wild said. “We need to move carefully from here on out. If this information is real, and it ties Toovey and Laelyn to a human trafficking ring, we’re all screwed. ”

Harry had a name, two names, but what could he do to get Rory back? By now, they would have done something awful to Rory. He was sure of it. But he wouldn’t give up. He had a path where he needed to search for her. Now, they just had to trace that path and find her. God help anyone who stood in his way.