Page 194 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

Nox would do nothing—not a goddamn thing—to stop it. In fact, he would be silently cheering it on.

“Touchin’ me or mine is a guaran-fuckin’-teed way to meet your goddamn maker. Whether it’s the man above or the devil below.”

That was one opinion Nox shared with the man who had cleaned his clock. While he could live with a physical bruise or two—as well as a bruised ego—he was thankful his clock didn’t have a broken nose.

Before he left Magnum’s house earlier, he gave Cait his cell phone number and asked if she could text him with any updates because he knew he wouldn’t get any from the man himself. Thankfully, she agreed.

Now he had to hope Magnum would keep his wife in the loop.

Straddling his bike in the motel’s parking lot, he wasn’t sure what to do next. He wasn’t sure where to go.

He thought about the Demon-owned businesses that still stood. Would they dare take Liyah to one of those?

He’d waste too much time checking them all out.Hell, they could’ve taken her into Ohio or West Virginia. If they did, they might still be traveling.

He pulled out his phone, hoping Liyah had texted or called him during the ride to the motel so he could laugh off this whole thing. What he saw—or more like what he didn’t see—did not make him laugh.

Liyah had not reached out.

Dread quickly filled his chest all over again and he decided to text Cait.Any word?

Nothing yet, was the answer he got in return.

“Fuck,” he muttered.Boys there?he asked next.

Yes, they just arrivedwas her response.

That should’ve helped him breathe easier, but it didn’t. He hated being in the fucking dark, not knowing what the hell happened.

Feeling utterly helpless.

He couldn’t just go back to The Plant and wait. He would lose his fucking mind if he did.

No, it was time to head to Shadow Valley and at least do something. He circled the motel’s lot and headed out. On the way to his police department, he kept an eye out for her car. He also rolled slowly past the community center. Her car wasn’t there, either.

Where the fuck else could she have gone?

As soon as he walked into Shadow Valley PD, he went directly to an unoccupied computer and looked up Liyah’s registration plate. He then filled out an entry in the commonwealth’s law enforcement network for a missing and endangered person, putting in her physical description, her car’s info and the plate number.

It still wasn’t enough, he needed to do more.

“Goddamn it,” he growled, almost coming out of his skin.

He kept picturing Liyah in Sadie’s place. On that bed. In that sleazy Ohio motel. Naked and abused.

He couldn’t shake it.

“Holy shit,” he heard.

Nox glanced up to see his supervisor staring at him wide-eyed.

“Let me guess. You showed up unannounced at Magnum’s house. You should put some ice on that.”

He wasn’t worried about his face, he was worried about Liyah. “Thanks for the medical advice, Sarge.”

Axel Jamison perched on the edge of the desk. “Did I ever tell you about the time Magnum’s pale counterpart knocked me the fuck out when I was over at Bella’s house?”

“No.”

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