Hidden Away (KGI #3)(40)

“Half hour, sir. They’ll be boarding in the next few minutes.”

Garrett scanned the waiting room to see four other people all watching him like he was the shoe bomber. He smiled through gritted teeth. “Bad breakup. Girlfriend dragged me down here for a vacation and dumped me for the first dude she saw in a Speedo.”

The two men grimaced in sympathy while the two women looked like they thought it was no wonder.

He tossed his credit card onto the counter and hoped to hell Sam hadn’t already discovered the last charge and frozen the account. The agent hastily shoved a printed boarding pass over the counter and then went to secure the routing ticket onto Garrett’s bag.

“You say I have thirty minutes? When is last boarding call?” he asked.

The agent checked her watch. “You have twenty minutes before final boarding. The plane takes off in thirty.”

He nodded and walked back outside, where he pulled out the sat phone. This time Donovan actually answered the phone.

“We have a problem,” Garrett began.

“We?” Donovan echoed. “I don’t see a ‘we’ in this equation.”

“Fuck you,” Garrett growled. “I need your help.”

Donovan sighed. “What else is new? What, did you forget your bathing suit? Oh wait, no, the sunblock right? Give me a minute. I’m actually mustering real sympathy for you here. I might even manage to squeeze out a tear or two.”

“Are you done yet?” Garrett asked impatiently. “Sarah took off.”

There was dead silence.

“She gave you the slip?”

Garrett closed his eyes and braced for what was to come.

Donovan laughed in his ear. “Let me get this straight. All you had to do was stay close to a beautiful woman. Watch over her. Even cozy up to her, if that’s what it took. And she gave you the slip?”

Garrett could hear the fool wheezing through the phone. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and closed his eyes. “I’m going to beat your ass when I get home.”

“Ah man, I wish I could be there to see this one,” Donovan said. “So what are you going to do now?”

“It’s not what I’m going to do. It’s what you’re going to do. I’m hopping a flight home. I need you to find out where the hell Sarah has gone. She took a boat off the island but her trail was cold when I got here. I need to know if she flew, swam, took a boat or what. I’m counting on you to find out, Van.”

“Well hell,” Donovan grumbled. “I like how you take an assignment and I do all the work.”

“Oh and by the way. You can’t use Resnick or his resources. I don’t want him to know about any of this.”

Again there was a long silence. “You want to explain to me why you’re holding out on the man you took the assignment from?”

Garrett checked his watch. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time. I’ll explain when I get there. In the meantime, if Resnick knocks, you play dumb. And find out where the hell Sarah is.”

He cut the connection and turned to go back into the terminal. What he needed was about twelve hours’ sleep. He wouldn’t sleep a wink on the plane. He hated commercial flights.

GARRETT pulled into the driveway of his house and frowned when he didn’t see Sam’s or Donovan’s truck parked. Sophie’s SUV was under the carport and he pulled in behind it. Where the f**k was everyone? He was tired from the flights, pissed over the entire deal, and he’d called Donovan as soon as he’d landed in Nashville to tell him he was on his way home.

He needed to get in, get whatever info Donovan had and get the hell back on the road. Hopefully this time, one of the Kelly jets would be available, because damn, this going-through-security-hoops at airports was for the birds.

He opened the front door and stepped inside. “Hello? Anyone home?” Where the hell was everyone?

Frustration frayed his already worn patience. He didn’t have time for this.

“Garrett?”

He turned in the direction of the kitchen to see Sophie standing in the doorway, her face pale, her hand palming her enormous belly. He strode across the room, concerned by her pallor.

“Hey, you okay, sweetheart?”

She clutched at his shirt when he got close and swayed unsteadily on her feet. “No. I mean, yes. I’m in labor. I need you to take me to the hospital.”

Oh hell. “Where is Sam?”

She frowned. “I don’t know. He’s not answering his cell. He went over to Ethan and Rachel’s but when I called over there no one answered. I was just about to call Marlene when I heard you come in.”

Seeing the anxiety etched in her expression, he put his arm around her and squeezed reassuringly. “It’s okay. I don’t want you to worry. Have you got your bag packed?”

“By the door,” she said.

Suddenly she went still and gripped his hand with enough force to cut off his circulation. Damn, but for a little woman she packed a mean grip. She closed her eyes and took in several light breaths through her nose. Shouldn’t she be taking deeper breaths or something?

Panic hit him in the stomach like a baseball bat. Give him a f**king war, but a pregnant woman in labor? He was clammy just thinking about it.

When the contraction passed, she started for the door and he hurried beside her. He bent down to retrieve her bag and reached for his cell phone at the same time. This was a hell of a time for Sam to go MIA. What the f**k was he thinking? Sophie could have been completely alone. She had been alone until Garrett showed up.