Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries, #5)(79)

Before Ball could ask Rex what he meant, his phone vibrated with a text.

He looked at the short video his handler had sent. It was Everly. She was in the stairwell, about to walk out into the lobby. She looked right up at the camera and signed something.

Swearing, Ball replayed the video. He concentrated, trying to remember his lessons. He missed a few words, but her meaning was loud and clear.

He kidnapped Elise again. He might be watching. I’m meeting him to try to get her back.

Look in the woods. Maybe near Seven Bridges Trail. I love you.

She loved him. Motherfucker. She loved him.

Ball didn’t deserve her, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to take her. She was his. She’d managed to look past his assholery when they’d met and had chipped away at his cold exterior piece by piece. She was exactly what he’d been looking for. As both a work partner and a life partner.

She’d left the apartment to go after her sister, knowing there was a chance she might not succeed and could possibly lose her life. But she’d done it also knowing without a doubt that he’d be right on her trail.

Fuck yeah, he was.

Pulling her phone out of his pocket, he put in her password. They’d shared them the other night, deciding that since he’d literally been inside her body, it was only fair that they knew each other’s passwords. He’d laughed then, but he wasn’t laughing now.

“What’d she say?” Rex asked.

“She thinks maybe her sister might’ve been taken into the woods near Seven Bridges Trail. I’m checking her phone now, hang on . . .”

Ball opened her texts and saw one from an unknown number. He audibly gasped when he saw the picture she’d been sent. There was no accompanying text, but then again, the picture spoke for itself.

He understood why she thought maybe Elise was up in the Broadmoor area. The trees around Elise in the picture looked familiar. Yeah, they were simply trees, but something about them reminded him of that hike. And if the kidnapper had been following her then, it was likely that he’d bring her back to somewhere familiar.

He forwarded the picture to both Rex and Meat, then clicked on her call history.

There. She’d accepted a call from an unknown number about half an hour ago. He wasn’t too far behind her.

“Can I help you?” a woman asked from down the hall.

Ball turned and saw an irritated and frightened-looking middle-aged woman standing in her doorway. She hadn’t answered when he’d knocked on her door earlier. Knowing Rex was still listening, Ball put Everly’s phone back in his pocket and turned to her.

“Yes. I can’t find my girlfriend and her sister. Everly and Elise Adams? They live right down there.” He pointed to their door. “They weren’t home when I got here. Have you seen or heard anything?”

The woman looked relieved. “I remember you now. You’ve been here quite a bit.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I didn’t see Elise this afternoon, but I saw Everly. I only noticed her because I thought it was weird that she got home, then immediately left again. My apartment’s on the parking-lot side, and my desk is right in front of a window. I work from home, you know, and I like the fresh air when it’s cool outside. Anyway, I saw her come home and park. Then not ten minutes later, she was walking really fast toward her Jeep.”

“Which way did she go?” Ball asked, the adrenaline pulsing through his veins.

“Right. She turned right. She even screeched her tires, which I thought was odd, because Everly is normally a very thoughtful and careful driver. You know, because she’s a police officer and all.”

“Thank you very much. I’ll just go and see if I can’t catch up with her then,” Ball told the woman.

“So she’s okay?”

“She will be. Thanks again.” Ball turned and headed for the stairs and put his phone back up to his ear. “Got that?”

“Yeah. Going left would’ve taken her to the interstate, and there’s no telling where she would go from there. But turning right means that she headed up toward the Broadmoor area. Not too many places to go up there.”

“Right. I’m on it. Tell the others to meet me at the Seven Bridges trailhead. If I find something else on my way, I’ll be in touch.”

“Will do. Over and out.”

Ball clicked off the phone and jogged through the lobby toward his Mustang. All sorts of scary scenarios went through his head as he headed for his car, but he forced them away. Everly wasn’t a naive teenager. He wasn’t happy that she willingly walked into danger, but he understood. Getting to Elise was her first concern, and she obviously thought she could hold her own against whoever had taken her . . . at least until he got there.

She was counting on him.

And he wasn’t going to let her down like Riley Foster had let him down once upon a time.

Within two minutes, he was pulling out of the parking lot and heading in the same direction Everly had gone. He drove slowly, looking for anything and everything that might be a clue. Her car, a van like the one Elise was originally kidnapped in. Anything that would help him.

He almost missed it.

He had to do a U-turn and go back to the grocery store. It was busy, and cars were constantly pulling in and out. But at the back of the lot, he saw a white Jeep Grand Cherokee. Everly’s car wasn’t all that unique, but he had to stop and check it out.