Page 127 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“Holy hell,” I said, and glanced at Langston and Porter. “Your friend is good.”

Langston grinned back at me. “There’s a reason I brought him.”

Zayde punched in the plate number, and the address the car was registered to came up. He punched the address into a map website and brought up a street-view image of the house. It was a bit rundown, like no one had been taking care of it.

“Address is a little west of Harbor Mills,” Zayde said. “Where’s that?”

“About forty minutes from here,” Avery mumbled. “One of the next towns over.”

I heaved out a sigh and crossed my arms.

“What?” Langston asked.

“I know that house,” I said. “It’s where Dallas grew up with his mother.”

“Do you think that’s where Ashton is?” Avery clutched my arm, a look of desperate hope in her eyes.

I hated to ruin it, but I knew the truth. Kyle was too careful to use such an obvious location.

I shook my head. “No. That’s too close a connection to Dallas. Kyle’s not stupid. He’d know that would be the first place we look once we found out Dallas took Ash. He’ll have him hidden away somewhere more secret.”

“I agree,” Langston said. “It only makes sense.”

Avery’s head dropped as the truth sank in, but the heartbreak on her face hurt me. I put an arm around her, pulling her close. She pressed her face into my chest, but if she cried or sobbed, I didn’t hear it.

“Hang on,” I said. “If you got into the park cameras, can you get into others?”

Zayde grinned up at me. “I like where your head’s at.”

“Huh?” Porter asked, his brow furrowed.

“He’s talking about camera-tracking, right, Cole?” Langston said, and I nodded. “Street cams, security cams for businesses. Stuff like that. Anything connected to the internet, Zayde can hijack. If we work it right, maybe we can follow the car through the feeds and figure out where they’re going.”

Zayde spent a long fifteen minutes searching through files and links, finally bringing up the county traffic light cameras. After rewinding the date and time in question, he clicked through the images until the truck reappeared.

“Got you, motherfucker,” Zayde whispered under his breath. “Where are you going?”

“That’s Delgado Road,” Trent said, pointing at the screen. “He’s headed for the highway. There’s a traffic light there. Bring that up. We can see which direction he’s headed.”

Zayde’s fingers flew over the keyboard, and a few minutes later, Dallas’s truck was on screen. The truck took the corner fast, nearly going up on two wheels, running the red light as he did.

“North,” Trent said. “Closest town in that direction is North Crest.”

“Screw it,” Langston said, slapping Trent on the shoulder. “Let’s hunt this prick. Are you good to go?”

“Hell, yeah.” Trent bumped fists with Langston. “Just like old times. Let’s go.”

Trent, looking like a kid who’d just been given the keys to a candy store, headed for the door.

Langston patted Zayde’s shoulder. “Keep working on finding that truck. Text or call us if you find anything else that will tell us exactly where that guy’s taking Ashton.” He pointed at Porter. “You stay here. Keep Avery safe. Understood?”

Porter gave a mock salute. “Ten-four, buddy.”

The room and reality itself were spinning out of control. Was I even here? How had I become useless so quickly? Langston had swooped in like some superhero with his sidekicks and was taking over. Again, that bitter and ridiculous jealousy sprang up, making my chest ache.

“You coming?” Langston asked.

I flinched, struggling to divert my thoughts from my resentment. “What?”

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