Page 33 of Captive at Rescue Ridge

Annalee squeezed Archer’s fingers as tensions raised in the room.

“And we need to find the sweet spot of when to push and when to back off,” Travis said.

Which all made sense in the theoretical world. This was the real world, though. Owen was being held captive. Becca was there, too.

“What do we do next?” Annalee asked after sucking in a breath.

“My hope is that you’ll be contacted, and we’ll go from there based on what is demanded.” Travis checked his cell. Took a second to respond. “The ransom amount has been dictated.”

“The bastard hasn’t said where to drop the money or when.” Annalee threw up her free hand in frustration.

“Those instructions should come next,” Travis said.

“Should I reach out and ask?”

Travis shook his head. “The lack of clear instruction most likely means the suspect is shooting from the hip right now. The change in direction wasn’t planned.”

That made sense, considering all that had gone down in the last few hours.

Archer had a question. “Why shoot at us?”

“To scare Annalee into producing the evidence is my best guess,” Travis said. “Or to stop you long enough to take the gun themselves.”

“This seems like a good time to hand over the backpack so you can run prints,” Archer said, doing just that. Travis might not know the answer to Archer’s next question but it was worth asking. “Is this person working alone or with a network?”

Travis accepted the evidence. “Actions so far lead me to believe there’s only one or two suspects involved.” He lifted the backpack. “This might just give us their names.”

“My brother is a big guy, and he would fight anyone who tried to force him to do something he didn’t want to do.” Archer knew his brother, and there was no way Owen would voluntarily comply. “Is there any chance he’s…” Archer couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

“Our next step can be to ask for proof of life,” Travis said after setting the backpack down again.

“Should I go ahead and do that now?” Annalee asked.

“Remind me how long it’s been since you last heard from your mother.” Travis clenched his jaw.

Annalee checked her phone. “It’s been an hour and a half.”

Would asking questions be the equivalent of poking the bear? They were about to find out.

Gettinga taste of what it felt like to have real support caused Annalee to realize just how bad her relationship with her mother had been. And yet, she couldn’t give up on Becca. Her mother hadn’t been born bad. She just didn’t know her worth. Granny had said it was her fault. She’d stayed quiet when she should have spoken up about the physical abuse Becca had suffered at the hands of her father. Annalee hadn’t known her grandfather. Had never met the man. She would, however, like to punch him in the face to show him what it’s like to take a jab to the nose. Life had been hard. Granny said she’d prayed when she should have grown a backbone and stood up to her husband. Women weren’t taught they could do that back then. They were meant to keep their mouths closed and stay in the kitchen.

Annalee couldn’t imagine that.

Becca dated what she knew…abusers. She numbed herself when it got to be too much. And life often got to be too much for her mother. Cycles repeated themselves. Annalee had decided to be the first to break it. Dating or marrying abusers had ended with her.

Had she gone overboard by not trusting anyone?

Annalee didn’t want to analyze the answer to that question.

Right now, she wanted to figure out a way to provide peace to the Sturgess family, even if it only lasted a few minutes. They needed to know if their brother was alive. They deserved to know.

She picked up her phone a second time. “What do I say?”

“Write exactly what you think you should,” Travis said. “In your own words.”

Annalee caught onto the fact Travis wouldn’t want the text to come off like she was being coached by someone in law enforcement.

She reminded herself to breathe before typing.

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