Page 85 of Keeping Guard
“Not. Marrying. You. You won’t get away with this insanity, Dalton.”
He laughed. “I already have, love. Tonight, after we’re married, we’ll pay a visit to your father. I have the papers transferring the brewery to you and me ready for him to sign.”
She was so tempted to pull out her hanger stick and beat some sense into his brain. Not yet, though. Timing was going to be everything, along with surprise. When she was out of this room and he was distracted, she would strike.
Then there was Noah. She didn’t know if he was aware she was missing yet, but when he did find out, he would come for her. She didn’t doubt that for a minute. Dalton should be shaking in his boots, but she wasn’t going to warn him.
She was positive her father would know something was wrong as soon as he read her note. She’d banked on Dalton not knowing Noah’s name or who Robbie was to her father when she’d written that Robbie had come for her. Dalton hadn’t questioned Robbie’s name, and she’d breathed a sigh of relief.
The one thing she was counting on was that as soon as he read the note, her father would remember that she’d told him about Operation K-9 Brothers, and he’d call there and ask for Noah.
So, while she trusted that her father would understand her message, that he would find and tell Noah, and that Noah would come for her, she wasn’t going to wait around for a rescue that might never happen.
Dalton glanced at the champagne bottle he held. “I guess I get to enjoy this myself.” His gaze lifted to hers. “You know, we really could have had it all, you and me.” He shook his head as if he was disappointed in her. “But you didn’t follow the plan and now it’s too late for you to reap the rewards. I have to go pick up the preacher. Be a good girl until I get back,wife.”
“First chance I get, I’m going to hurt you where your future children live.” That was a promise she made herself as he walked out, trailing laughter behind him.
Noah frowned. “The tracing device on her is stationary but her phone’s on the move.”
“Which one do we track?” Jack said.
“I don’t know. Has he found the one on her or the app on her phone?” He had a fifty-fifty chance of being right, and he had to get it right. “He might think to check out her phone, but I don’t think it would occur to him to search her for a tracking device.” He hoped to God that was true. “Let’s go to the stationary one.” He entered the location on the truck GPS. “You know if he’s hurt her that I’m going to kill him, right?”
“Let’s see what the situation is before you go off half-cocked. Jail’s not a place you want to end up, trust me on that.”
“More of that story you’re going to tell me someday?”
“Yeah. When you can listen instead of bouncing around in your seat. I’d drive faster, but you don’t want the police, so we don’t want to get stopped. Especially since we’re packing.”
“I keep telling myself that he won’t hurt her, but I think he’s living in La La Land. He’s blown any chance of her father agreeing to anything Dalton wants, so what does he gain by pulling this stunt?”
“Revenge?”
“If it’s that, then he has nothing to lose, and she’s in danger. When we kicked him out of her loft, he’d told her they were going to Vegas to get married.” Did he still think that would get him what he wanted? “It could be revenge, but my gut tells me that he’s still out to get the brewery.” He prayed that was the man’s plan.
“We’ll find out soon.”
“Is where we’re going close to the airport?”
“Closer than Asheville is. Maybe he’s hiding out with her until it’s time to catch a flight.”
“The problem with that plan is that he’d have to drug her to get her on a plane. Otherwise, she’d be kicking and screaming. And carrying a drugged woman through the airport and trying to get her on a plane would invite too many questions.” Unless he’d chartered a private plane, but according to Jack, the GPS location wasn’t at the airport, so all they could do at this point was go to the designated location and pray that Peyton was there.
“We’re about thirty minutes or so away.” Jack glanced at the GPS map. “It looks like a rural area outside of Hendersonville.”
“What the hell? Her phone is moving back toward the location of the tracking device. They’re only a few miles apart now.”
“That’s weird.”
“Yeah.” He considered explanations that would make sense. “I think the stationary tracker is Peyton, and her phone’s in a vehicle. So, who’s driving it? Dalton or someone else? If it’s someone else, why do they have her phone?”
“Either Dalton left and now is coming back, or someone else is joining the party,” Jack said. “My preference is for the first. Another player complicates things.”
“No shit.” But if it was someone else, how did her phone get in the vehicle? All they could do at this point was guess, and he didn’t like not having intel. Going in blind was never good. Too much chance for an operation to go south.
Not that he was worried about dealing with Dalton. He could deal with the man by himself with one hand—hell, both hands even—tied behind him. Considering who he and Jack were, the bastard didn’t stand a chance. But throw another player in the mix, and not know who that was or what he was capable of, could definitely complicate things. Not that he was worried he and Jack couldn’t take down Dalton and anyone else involved, he just didn’t like not knowing.
He especially didn’t like Peyton being in the middle of a shitstorm, and he didn’t want to think of Dalton having his hands on her. Made him want to put a serious hurt on the man.
