Chapter Twenty-Seven

O livia and Brock continued to search the rest of the perimeter, having logged Susanna’s busted surfboard for evidence. As she searched in relative quiet, Olivia let her questions occupy her wordless search. What happened here? Did Susanna fight back when she realized that she’d been taken to a warehouse instead of the airport? Was there a struggle, breaking her surfboard in the process? Or had Alasdair broken it to assert himself as her new alpha? Whatever had happened, Olivia hated that he’d done it, and hated even more that he’d felt like Susanna needed to be taken. Olivia was always thorough, but her need for justice drove her to do an even more thorough search of the area.

Brock’s ringing phone took him away from helping her examine the bushes as he answered it in a hushed tone. “Hello?” He paused for a few moments. “Where did you say?” Another pause, then a hurried bit of thanks as he hung up. “Olivia! We’ve got something.”

Olivia straightened, snapping to complete attention.

“Alasdair’s sports car was spotted parked in front of the U-Haul rental facility earlier today.”

Earlier today? How much earlier? Olivia moved in closer to Brock, her eyes wide as she listened to the information. “Okay?”

“The guy rented a small U-Haul, and I guess he had someone driving his car out of the lot with him. They stopped by around four-thirty.”

“So…” Olivia stared at the ground while she let the information impart itself to her. “We’re possibly looking for a U-Haul truck.”

“The manager of the U-Haul store was very helpful.” Brock went on. “He gave a description that matched Alasdair’s exactly, and the U-Haul was one with a lily on the side of it. We may not be that far off! He would have had to come here and load everyone up, along with whatever else he was cooking up in this place. That would have probably taken an hour at most. Which means…”

Olivia could have kissed him at that moment. The only thing restraining her was the time limit they were now on. “There’s still time to catch him.”

She and Brock started toward the car at the same time. Olivia called out to the sheriff a few sentences on what they were doing before she launched herself into her driver’s seat. They left the scene in Carter’s team’s capable hands as Olivia roared the car’s engine to life.

“Has anyone spotted the U-Haul?” Olivia had barely clicked her seat belt into place by the time she started rattling off questions.

“I’ll find out.” Brock buckled in within seconds and his phone was in his hands .

Olivia steered the car out of the parking lot, not really sure which way to point it. Her gut told her to head to Charleston where Alasdair’s shipping company was, so that’s where she started. Charleston. She only hoped he hadn’t taken them somewhere else to throw them off the trail, knowing the FBI and the local police were here.

“We may have just missed them, but it’s worth a try.” She pressed the gas pedal to the floor, her engine roaring down the quiet streets and finding its way back to the freeway. “We may need to get the Coast Guard involved with this.”

“I’ll send it out for backup.” Brock held the phone up to his ear. Olivia let him make the necessary calls while she focused on the road. There was something else nagging at her, too. Who was the other driver with Alasdair? He’d driven to the U-Haul rental facility, but someone had to drive the car away while someone else drove the U-Haul. Alana, probably. But then again, where was Alasdair’s car now? It hadn’t been recovered at the scene. Olivia had torn the perimeter apart, but there was no sign of a red sports car anywhere around the building, and their BOLO hadn’t turned up anything.

Brock snapped his phone back down to his knee, turning against his seat belt to face Olivia. “Got in touch with the Coast Guard for backup. They said they saw the very U-Haul we’re after pulling into the docks. It might still be there.”

“Good.” Olivia pressed the gas harder. “It better be.”