Page 42 of Lone Star Wanted
Cassidy opened her mouth. Then closed it again.
A vivid memory flashed, uninvited and sharp. Kincade in her bed, his hands on her skin, the way he’d kissed her like the world had gone quiet around them. Then another. His mouth on hers in Becker’s office, hot and desperate, as if everything they’d buried had come roaring back to life.
She swallowed hard and admitted to herself that no, she wouldn’t have stayed away. Cassidy wasn’t sure if knowing that made things better or not.
Kincade’s phone buzzed, breaking the moment. He pulled it from his pocket, glanced at the screen. “It’s Jericho.” Without waiting, he tapped to answer and set it on speaker, stepping closer to the couch. “You’re on,” Kincade said.
Jericho’s voice came through sharp and fast. “Got lucky with Marlene’s phone records. Techs ran them through a new system Ruby’s crew is beta testing. Scans for bounced signals off nearby towers and backtracks the origin. We pinged the burner.”
Cassidy leaned in, pulse quickening. “And?”
Jericho didn’t make them wait. “We’ve got a location. An old trailer off Barton Road, just outside town. If Marlene’s mother is still alive, that’s our best bet as to where they’re keeping her.”
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Chapter Eleven
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“I’ll meet you there,” Jericho added to Kincade. His voice was sharp and steady as ever. “Already heading out.”
The line clicked off.
Kincade slipped the phone into his pocket and turned to Travis. “You stay put.”
Travis frowned. “I can help—”
“You’ve got your face on APBs across the state,” Kincade reminded him. “Every rookie with a badge is one bad judgment call away from trying to be a hero. If you’re with us and we get spotted, someone could end up dead. Maybe you. Maybe even us because we’d be with you.”
Cassidy’s nod was quick and firm. “You being out there makes it harder for all of us. Just for now, stay safe. Let us do this.”
Travis let out a breath, clearly not liking it. But he finally agreed. “Fine. But call me the second anything changes.”
“We will,” Kincade assured him.
They said their goodbyes—quick, quiet, no time for anything else—and stepped out into the late afternoon heat.
Kincade climbed into the driver’s seat of the SUV with Cassidy taking shotgun. He tapped the GPS screen, and the route Jericho had already programmed lit up. A direct pathout of Blanco Pass and onto a narrow county road that twisted toward the outskirts of town.
Kincade’s jaw tightened as he scrolled through the satellite overlay. There it was. An old, weather-beaten trailer tucked back beneath a scrim of mesquite and cedar, barely visible from the main road.
Exactly the kind of place someone might stash a hostage.
If Marlene’s mother was there, they were going to get her out. And if someone else was waiting, they were going to deal with that, too.
As they pulled onto the main road, Kincade’s eyes scanned the rearview. No movement. No vehicles too close. Still, the weight pressing down on his shoulders didn’t ease.
“Keep an eye out,” he said. “Could be Moran or Becker has someone trailing us.”
Cassidy angled her side mirror and turned her head to check behind them. “Yes, that’s something they would do. They don’t trust us, and they don’t want us getting too close to the truth.”
Bingo. And that meant one of them might be willing to kill to stop them.
She glanced down at the GPS, then at the passing streets. “What about a tracker? What if they slipped one on the SUV?”
“They didn’t.” He spared her a quick glance. “This vehicle’s rigged to neutralize any unauthorized tracking signals. It’s one of Ruby’s upgrades. She doesn’t hand over keys without layering in half a dozen countermeasures.”
Cassidy nodded slowly, but her fingers drummed lightly on the armrest, her body still tense. Kincade couldn’t blame her about the tenseness. They were heading straight toward danger.
