Page 70 of Exposed

“Will do,” he said solemnly. “Are you at my computer?”

Nate tapped the space bar to bring it to life and a password box popped up. “Yeah, what’s your password?”

Dylan spelled it out, Nate punched it in and the screen came to life. “I just opened the program—how do I select the device to locate?”

Dylan gave him the next steps, his tone even and subdued. Nate selected the phone number of her encrypted phone and a map filled the screen with the words ‘One moment, we’re working on it.’

He sat back. There was no reason for her not to have her phone. She’d been careful with it, hiding it in the lining of her purse. He couldn’t see her leaving it behind on a day like today. Once the location popped up, they could swoop in, save Maddie, and arrest the sonofabitch. The message disappeared and a soft ping sounded from the speakers.

Device not found.

Nate froze, his gaze riveted to the screen. Terror nipped at him and his vision wavered. Ashley’s sharp intake of breath was the only sound.

What? How could that be? He’d put the device in when he’d given it to her. Dylan had tested it out and it had worked.

Ashley’s hand curled on his shoulder.

He didn’t look at her.

“What’s happened?” Dylan asked.

Nate moved his tongue, but no words formed. He pressed his fingers to the mousepad to try it again.

Ashley cleared her throat. “It couldn’t be found, we’re trying it again. Enter Carlos’s number after that. We should be able to locate that too.” She leaned across Nate and lifted the phone, took it off speaker and pressed it to her ear. They had a tracker on Carlos’s phone, but since they’d been on the ship hadn’t had the need to use it.

“Get on that license plate now. Did the warrant come through for Carlos’s yacht company?” She paused, listening to Dylan. “Excellent.” She disappeared into the office and came out with the warrant papers in her hand.

She came back to Nate’s side just as he finished entering her phone number and hit the search button. Again, the working message popped up. He rubbed the inside of his fingers over his jaw. His stubble made a scratching noise over his callouses, but it barely penetrated his concentration.

Please, locate her. Please God.

A lead weight settled in his stomach. The only reason for the tracker to not locate her was if it was way out of range or the device had been damaged. His muscles tensed. If Carlos had found the encrypted phone, she was as good as dead.

“Park somewhere you won’t be seen and watch. If it wasn’t Carlos that snatched her, someone must have done it for him.If he suspects her at all, he’ll want to question her. In the meantime, we’ll search his business.”

Disgust formed in his stomach. Yeah, he’d want to be there all right, to make her suffer for betraying him. He squeezed his eyes shut, pushing the rest of Ashley’s conversation with Dylan away. A soft ping from the computer snapped his eyelids open.

Device not found.

He typed Carlos’s number in.

Device not found.

The air leaked out of his lungs with the force of a boulder dropping on his chest. Pain exploded through his heart and he curled his fist over his jaw. Every cell in his body told him to move, to run, to hunt, and drag everyone off the street until he found her… but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen.

All he’d cared about from the moment Maddie called him more than a month ago was to keep her safe. He’d known she was playing with fire, that she wouldn’t stop until she had Carlos behind bars. She was dangerous and fearless, and stupidly, he’d thought he could keep her under control.

He snorted. He’d done nothing but get himself caught up in her hurricane of a life, and this time, Maddie—and his heart—would be destroyed.

It was all his fault. Maddie would die because of him and there was nothing he could do, no way he could locate her.

Jesus Christ. What had he done?

***

“Drive.” He motionedAshley toward the truck he’d just hijacked and climbed in the passenger seat.

He couldn’t sit idly. Helplessness curled its icy hand around his soul, taking his life one second at a time. If he kept moving, he could hold on to the hope of finding her. He’d come across Carlos again, and when he did he’d have his own interrogation tactics that would rival those Carlos was known for.

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