Page 71 of Clear Blue Sky

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Nelson checked his weapon before easing from his truck and heading toward the cabin where Marcus had been staying.

“Nelson,” his father called from somewhere behind him.

He turned.

“They’re gone,” his father said.

“Give me the location.” Nelson wasn’t going to let this go. He needed it to end.

His father raked a hand across his head. “We lost them.”

“You what?”

“They split up half a mile from the hotel.” His dad shook his head. “They pulled into the convenience store parking lot down the street and hopped into four vehicles. We weren’t prepared for that. We were only able to follow two.”

“Jesus,” Nelson muttered. “And where are those two?”

“Marcus and Chuck are heading up Assembly Point.”

“That’s where my house is.”

His father nodded.

“You have no idea where the other two are?”

“We don’t.”

“And Roxy? Is she still here?”

“No. Leslie took her to Blue Moon. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be showing my face out in the open,” his dad said. “I tried calling you to tell you what was going on.”

Nelson pulled out his cell. “I need to warn Brandi.”

His father’s strong hand came down on his shoulder. “I just got word from Mom.”

Nelson’s heart dropped to his toes. He stared into his father’s unwavering gaze.

“Her detail was taken out. She’s missing.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Nelson kicked the gravel. “How the hell did that happen?”

“We played into—”

“It was a rhetorical question, Dad.” Nelson turned and planted his hands on his hips. “They have to be taking her to my house.” He turned on his heel. A strong hand curled around his biceps. “We can’t go in without a plan.”

“I’m not going to just stand here and do nothing. They have my girl and what they really want is me.”

“They want you dead and if you go in there half-cocked, they are not only going to kill you, but they will kill her too.”

“Fuck.” He knew his father was right. He could handle his life ending, but he couldn’t allow them to take Brandi’s. That wasn’t going to happen on his watch.

“Marcus knows you care about Brandi. He’s expecting you to run in all hot under the collar. But what he doesn’t know is that Mom and I are here. He doesn’t know that the man who was watching Brandi was from a JSOC team.”

“He might know that Ethan was compromised and is talking with the FBI.”

“That’s true, but that doesn’t change his plans with you. Thinking all that through, in his mind, he can still get away with it because according to what we’ve gotten from Ethan, one of the contingency plans was to use the short relationship she had with him as fuel to some jealousy you might have had,” his father said.

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