Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Move! Hurry the fuck up!"

I didn't get the chance to move under my own volition—slowly or in a hurry before my hair was yanked and my body was jerked out of the car. It was either go in the direction of my hair or be scalped. Neither option was good, though I'd take being scalped over getting out of the car on a long dark stretch of dirt road with a maniac with a gun.

My knees hit the rocky ground. Pebbles and debris dug into my bare flesh, causing me to cry out in pain.

"Shut the hell up!"

With another vicious yank, I fell forward, my palms skidded on the dirt, and I lost my balance. Before I could scramble to my feet he started dragging me.

"Please," I wheezed. "I'll walk."

I was not above begging. I could feel the skin from my hip to my ankle being scuffed and chaffed, adding to the throbbing pain he'd already caused.

The man stopped, looked down at me. The early morning light caught the silver barrel of his gun, and a new fear ricocheted inside me.

He was going to kill me on the side of the road and leave me here.

This was how Smith would find me. In his torn t-shirt, bloodied face, road-rashed thigh, dead in a ditch. Then Zane would have to notify my father. I wasn't sure which notion I hated more—Smith finding me or my father losing his daughter after hearing me fight for my life from five-thousand miles away.

Why had I called him?

Why had I decided to get up, make coffee, and have a natter with my dad?

Why hadn't I stayed in bed?

"Are you listening?"

No, asshole, my ear is still ringing from your punching me in it.

"Just… just give me a second. I'll walk."

"Hurry up."

Again with the hair-pulling—this time it was in an upward motion. I'd barely managed to get to my feet when he started walking at a fast clip that had me fighting to keep up. Not only because my feet were bare but my head was swimming.

He pulled me farther off the road. The tall grass and saplings scraped my legs, rocks dug into my feet, every inch of me screamed in pain, and I was fairly certain he'd broken a few ribs with a power punch to my back. That was the blow that ended the fight, that punch that had me doubled over, unable to breathe. After that he had me.

"Listen, Billy?—"

He stopped so abruptly, I pitched forward, then I was stumbling back from the force of his fist connecting with my cheek.

Pain exploded.

"I'm—"

"Shut the fuck up."

This time I saw the punch coming, but I was too slow to do anything about it.

After that I saw nothing.

Kira Cain

"Holy hell," Layla muttered. "Go back, and slow it down."

I stopped the recording from Aria's across-the-street-neighbor's door camera and backed it up. A recording I hoped to God Smith never watched.

I replayed the video at half speed, and for the third time watched Billy Rice drag a limping, and beaten Aria out the front door, across her front lawn, then shove her into his car headfirst through the driver's side door. The gun to her temple was likely the reason why she hadn't yelled for help.

"She must've fought like hell," Layla whispered.

I had no doubt, and the blood covering her face, neck, and arms was proof she'd put up one hell of a fight before Billy got the upper hand.

"What else do you have?"

"Nothing. He used a plastic tag cover again so I don't have a plate number. So I'm running his neighbors and clients to see if anyone has a Rav4 registered. I have him on three traffic cams heading East but nothing after the 50 – 301 split. If he stayed on 301 I might've caught something near the outlets. The mall stays pretty lit. And I didn't get anything on the Bloomingdale camera on 50 either. With no streetlights, it being a new moon, means he drove through the interchange in complete darkness. I'm totally blind. I'm running every system I've got, but I need light to find the car."

My phone on my desk rang. Layla and I both looked down at it. I heard her blow out a long breath.

"Just tell him you're working on it and don't have time for a brief."

"Um. Have you met Smith? That'll never fly."

"Right now, he doesn't need to know what you have and especially what you don't have. Do not call him Smith, he's Five. Treat this like an op. All business, Seven."

Right.

All business.

Except it wasn't. This was Aria. The woman who I'd only known days but already adored. Not only because she was a kickass chick who had a great sense of humor, but I loved her for Smith. And now she was gone and I couldn't find her. I couldn't do a damn thing to ease the man who I considered a brother, the man who was undoubtedly beside himself.

"You got this, Kira," Layla encouraged.

I wasn't sure I did. I was the person the team went to for intel, I was the one with all the answers, and when it came to helping someone I loved, I had nothing.

Shit .

I answered right before the call went to voicemail.

"Five, go for Seven," I answered the call like I had for the first ten years I knew Smith and he called in for intel.

"What do you have for me?"

A whole lot of nothing.

"Systems are running, Five. I'll call with an update?—"

"I need something now," he growled.

And I swear it hurt my ears to hear that pained growl.

"Working on it, Five, so let me go so I can concentrate on what I'm doing and standby for SITREP."

"I need?—"

"I know what you need and you'll have it. Now wait for my call."

With that I disconnected before I broke down and told him I had nothing and I was sorry and I was heartbroken, and scared to death because I had nothing .

"Coop's in the unit. If you want to see, he's calling in now," Garrett called out as he passed by my office.

Layla was out the door in a flash. It took me longer because I had two laptops and a tablet to juggle.

By the time I hit the conference room, Coop's body cam was displayed on the large wall-mounted monitor.

"Holy fuck," I murmured in horror.

Every inch of the wall in front of Coop was covered in pictures. So many in some places it looked like there were several on top of each other. He turned right, more of the same. Another turn, the same. The last of the circle he was making was the door; that wall was blank. When he completed his three-sixty, three of the four walls were covered. There had to be thousands of pictures.

"Every inch is covered, floor to ceiling," Cooper unnecessarily shared.

Easton came into view and started inspecting the walls. Theo moved around Cooper to a table in the middle of the room.

"Can the team hear me?" I asked.

"Loud and clear," Coop returned.

"What's on the table?"

"Laptop. Four phones. Two tablets," Theo answered.

"Someone get those devices back to the office ASAP."

Theo immediately started collecting the electronics.

I didn't want to ask because I was afraid of what the answer would be but still I had to know.

"What's in the pictures?"

Cooper moved closer to a wall. The images came clear but still I squinted, praying something would jump out.

Women.

There were clusters of pictures of the same woman. Some clusters had a lot of pictures, some clusters only had five or six pictures. All candids. They had no idea they were being photographed. Cooper continued his slow shuffle, giving us time to look as he moved along the wall.

"Stop, go back. The woman in a blue blouse and jeans."

Coop pulled a picture off the wall.

"This one?"

"Yeah. Hold it still. The angle is… weird. Are there others of her?"

"Two more." Cooper pointed to them on the wall.

Same angle. Same couch and club chair in the background.

The camera angle was aimed downward. Billy would've had to have been on a ladder or taken that picture from an elevated position.

"Garrett, screen cap that for me and send it to me."

In less time than it should've taken, my tablet pinged with an alert.

I might've joked with the team that my skills were far superior than Garrett's but that was nothing more than me trying to get under Garrett's skin. The truth was, he was far better than I was. Though I'd never admit that.

"What are you thinking, KK?" Easton asked.

I didn't look up from my tablet—not that he could see me—when I answered.

"I'm running her through Patheon right now, but I'm thinking Billy Rice has cameras in his clients' houses. That angle says the camera is hidden someplace high."

"Sick fuck," Coop spat his understatement.

"Anything else you want me to bring back?" Theo asked.

I was busy running the image Garrett sent through my prized facial recognition software to answer.

"No. We need to leave the unit intact for the police."

"Got it!" I called out. "Her name is Pamela Hess. And…" I trailed off, switched screens, went to Billy's client list and scanned. "Jacob and Pamela Hess, Rehoboth Beth, Delaware. Primary residence Franklin, Tennessee."

"Theo, bring in those devices now," Garratt instructed. "Easton, go back to Billy's house and you and Cash search every inch for cameras inside his house. He either knew we were there yesterday or he's fucking clairvoyant. And there ain't no way he's physic so he knew. Coop, stay there, we need everything cataloged before the police get there and we lose access. Also, don't call it in until after you've talked to the manager."

There was a round of ‘copies' before the bodies in the storage unit started shuffling around to follow orders.

I felt Layla's hand on my shoulder.

I tipped my head back and looked at my team leader, my friend who had become my sister.

"We're gonna find her, Kira."

We had to.

For Aria.

And for Smith.