Page 100 of Marked

She scurried across the floor, her heart in her throat. At any moment he’d burst in and either tie her back up or finish her off.

Pushing open the thin wooden door, she flicked on the bathroom light. The lightbulb made a little popping sound, as if no one had turned it on in forever. The two-piece bath was less than helpful. Other than a plunger, a toilet brush, and a roll of toilet paper plopped on the tank, there was nothing useful.

Groaning, she turned in a small circle, tilting back her head to examine the ceiling. A gun sure as hell wasn’t going to drop into her hands, but god, there had to be something she could wield as a weapon.

She fisted her hand in her hair as anxiety climbed up her chest. Tears stung her eyes. Defeat settled in her belly.

No.

She hadn’t come this far to fail now. She wouldn’t let Kenneth take her away from Bella. Gently smoothing the abraded skin around her wrist, she drew on a deeper well of strength. Kenneth had to pay for what he’d done to Bella. What he’d done to her. And she wasn’t going down without a fight.

Cole, please find me.

CHAPTER 25

Goddammit he was stupid.

Cole wanted to shove Dare out of the way and take over at his computer. He should have insisted on meeting the informant with Sophia. Christ, what had he been thinking? He shouldn’t have assumed she’d be safe just because she had backup—probably from a fucking rookie.

He had her phone, so tracking that would be useless. All they had to go on was the video, and it wasn’t as if it had location coordinates.

Dare was usually quick at these things—at least quicker than Cole. But if he didn’t find a solution, like, yesterday, Cole was going to lose it.

“H-oooo-l-yyy shit,” Dare wheezed.

Standing behind his brother, Cole grabbed his shoulder and angled him back so he could get a better view of the screen. “What? What do you got?”

Dare tapped the desk. “That motherfucker is your guy,” he said, pointing to the man in the suit from the video Sophia had sent.

“Figured. Who is he?”

Dare brought up the window he’d opened moments before. “Kenneth Rogers, chief of police.”

Cole’s blood slowed. “Her boss.”

“Yup.”

Dallas came around the desk and whistled. “Holy shit.”

“That’s what I said,” Dare said, leaning back in his chair, clearly satisfied with his findings.

“So how do we find them?” Dallas mused.

Cole massaged the spot between his eyes. “We’re limited. It’ll be difficult to hack into the police system and track Kenneth’s phone.”

“Agreed,” said Dare. “Although not impossible. It’ll just be the most time-consuming way.”

Cole racked his brain, but only blankness popped up. Jesus, he’d never been so useless on a job. Normally, he was the one piecing things together and moving quickly.

Sophia’s life held more weight for him than he’d imagined.

“What’s the alternative?” Cole dropped his hand from his face and folded his arms across his chest.

“Our best bet is the warehouse. I know we’ve only got a video, but it was taken by phone, so—”

Cole clamped his hand on Dare’s shoulder. “You’ll be able to track it to where it was taken, right?”

“Yeah. I mean, unless there’s some kind of encryption, but I feel like the videographer wasn’t too sharp.”

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