Page 15 of Stand By You
“Simons doesn’t have the resources that the Brotherhood Protectors do.”
She awkwardly pivoted and almost stumbled backwards but corrected her balance to look at him. “Come again?”
“We have Swede. He’s the best hacker computer guru around,” Nick explained. “He was able to pull this surveillance from satellite footage, so we were able to even follow these two as they left the zoo with Travis. They changed vehicles and we kept up with them until atmospheric interference disrupted the feed and we lost them. But we know they were driving a silver Subaru.”
Jillian slowly sat in the armchair. “Were you able to get plates off the second vehicle?”
“The plates were not registered to that vehicle,” Nick said regretfully as he went to the printer on her desk. Opening his laptop and began working so he could print out the photos for her to see. “They had to have been stolen. However, we will keep working until we find these two individuals and find Travis.”
“And Detective Simons? What is he doing?” she asked.
“He was part of our meeting for a short time, but his partner Kohl called him away for another case,” Nick said. “I really am not sure how much time and effort he is going to be able to give us. I suspect his case load is already heavy enough.”
Jillian nodded. “Then we have to get out there and do it ourselves.”
“Whoa!” Nick warned. “I don’t like where you are going. I can’t take you out in the field hunting down criminals to find Travis. You said it yourself yesterday. You’re a nanny.”
“I’m more than that, Mr. Bardou,” she said. “I’m the only mother that Travis has ever known and I will not let him down. That kid loves me, and I love him like he’s my own. I will risk my life to save him. Do you understand that?”
“I’d say you have already done that, Ms. Grant, but I do hear you loud and clear and if you want to put your life on the line to get Travis back, I will not stop you. I will be right there beside you.”
CHAPTER 5
“Haveyou seen these two men before?” Nick asked Jillian, handing her the printed photos.
She took the pages with trembling fingers and studied the images noticing how young the two men were and how casually they were dressed before looking back at Nick.
“Never,” she said. “Are these the two men you saw take Travis on the surveillance footage?”
“Yes. By the way they are dressed, we think they’re in their early twenties and are skateboarders,” he explained. “Have you ever taken Travis to the park and he’s been interested in watching that type of sport?”
“No.” She shook her head emphatically and handed the photos back to him. “We don’t even go to the park. He plays around the gated community or when he is at day camp.”
“I see. So, he wouldn’t know these two guys,” Nick said.
“Not at all,” she confirmed.
Nick thought for a moment. “If he was asleep on the taller one’s shoulder then I believe they must have given him something to knock him out.”
“You think they drugged him?”
“I do,” Nick affirmed.
Jillian chewed on her nail and stared at him for a long time before she finally spoke. “I can’t sit here knowing Travis is out there somewhere in the hands of those two or someone worse. I must get out of here and find him.”
“How do you propose doing that?” Nick asked. “You can’t drive.”
“You can.” She pushed herself to a standing position and hobbled toward the back of the guesthouse. “I’ll be back as soon as I change into something I can wear to go out in public.”
“You look fine to go riding in a car,” he said.
“Maybe to you, but I represent the McGinty’s and there is an unspoken code I must uphold,” she explained, turning around to look at him. “Even if I don’t get out of the car, I could be spotted by someone from the gated community…”
“Of course,” he said. “You know best.”
“We should start by visiting Carlos and talking to him.”
“If you say so.”
