Page 94 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Wherever she was now, she had over an hour head start.

Kade’s phone buzzed, and he looked at the screen. Dayne. “What’ve you got?” he answered.

“Laia turned her phone back on. By the time we picked up on it, she was on I-80 heading west near Paterson. She turned it off again, but I put out a special alert on the minivan. If she’s spotted, she’ll be pulled over and detained until you get there.”

“Thanks, man.” With luck, a patrol car would spot her. If not, he had no idea where she was going. Only she did.

“We found a few properties we thought Colon might have been holed up at,” Dayne said. “All negative.”

Kade pressed two fingers to his temple, trying to massage away the pounding that had taken up residence inside his skull. Much as he’d been hoping otherwise, he hadn’t really expected that lead to pan out.

“I called all the guys,” Dayne added. “Eric’s on his way. Matt would be here, but Trista’s in the hospital about to give birth any second. Markus just left for his honeymoon, and Nick’s out of the country with Andi. The rest of us are on standby. Me, Deck, Brett, Evan. Just let us know the place and the time.”

Jamie was in deep enough with him as it was. Involving the rest of his friends was selfish. But a child’s life was at stake, and they all knew it.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll let you know.” His friends were all the best a guy could ask for, but he had to keep a healthy distance between them and the crimes he’d likely be charged with when this was all over.

Over. How would this all end? He couldn’t bear the thought of living the rest of his life without Laia and Rosa in it. What he needed most right now was an ace in the hole. Something, anything to give him a lead. Not knowing what was coming next made him feel helpless. One thing a military officer never did was leave things to chance. Every operation had a goal, and it was every officer’s duty to find the most strategically sound path to obtain that goal. Every officer needed intel to work with. Right now, he had squat.

Again, his phone buzzed, and he tugged it from his pocket.

No caller ID.

“Sampson,” he said, then stiffened as the caller identified themselves. “What can I do for you?”

Picking up on Kade’s agitation, Jamie stepped closer.

For the next thirty seconds, Kade listened, his blood pumping faster. “No, that’s not possible. Just tell me where they are.” He frowned at what the caller said next. “Fine,” he replied reluctantly. “I’ll be there in forty minutes.” He ended the call and rounded the hood. “Follow me,” he said to Jamie.

“Who was that?” Jamie asked.

“Maybe my ace in the hole.”

On the way to his destination, Kade made several calls.

Now that he was nearly 100 percent certain that he knew where Laia had gone, the plan had gelled in his head within seconds. Most of it anyway. The rest of it he’d have to wing. Not the most strategic approach, but it was the only one available to him. At least he and Jamie wouldn’t walk into this alone.

He hit the exit for Route 195, then punched it, flipping on the strobes. Cars ahead of him moved over as he and Jamie whizzed past at over ninety miles an hour. There was no time to put together a formal ops plan or go through official channels within his own agency, but the FBI took point on kidnappings, so Dayne and his colleagues were totally on board.

Good thing, that. Because there was no way he was about to let protocol or procedure or any other obligation get in the way this time. This time, he’d go with his gut.

Dayne, Eric, and the Colorado boys were already on their way north to meet up with him and Jamie at a rest stop off I-80. Taking this detour to pick up his passenger was a risk, but one he’d begun to think was well worth it.

Laia might have had a head start, but she wouldn’t want to attract attention and would probably be doing the speed limit. The FBI hadn’t received any notifications from the state police that she’d been spotted. Unfortunately, it looked as if she’d slipped through their fingers.

Keeping one hand on the wheel, he made the next critical call in his plan. Figuring out Josh’s code was one thing. Knowing what to do with that information hadn’t become apparent until he’d received that unexpected call.

“Manny, it’s Kade,” he said without preamble because there wasn’t time. “I have something to tell you, and you’re not gonna like it. How do you feel about a quick trip to Atlantic City?”

Chapter Thirty-One

This is it.

Before turning onto the narrow dirt road, Laia loosened her cramped fingers from the wheel. After getting off the interstate, she’d headed north on Route 209 into the Poconos, past Marshalls Creek, and half a dozen signs for fishing and hunting clubs and vacation cabins.

Small towns had given way to agricultural fields and the occasional house. Eventually, the fields and houses had disappeared and the only things visible on either side of the narrow two-lane road were tall coniferous trees.

She turned onto the dirt road. There was no house number, no mailbox, no signage of any kind. If she hadn’t been given precise mileage to follow, she would have missed the turnoff completely.