Finding Carly (SEAL Team Hawaii #5)(93)

Jag hadn’t slept. Neither had any of his friends. Even the women had pulled an all-nighter at Kenna’s condo, worrying and calling anyone they could think of to spread the word about their missing friend.

The Honolulu Zoo was opening in minutes, and he, Aleck, and Mustang were on their way. Jag was more than ready to talk to some of Sparks’s coworkers to see if they could get any more insight on the man. Baker had spent the night digging deep into the bowels of the Internet for every scrap of information about Sparks he could find.

What he’d discovered hadn’t made them feel any better. There had been a restraining order taken out on Gideon several years ago, but his last name was misspelled, which was why no one had found it before now. A nineteen-year-old girl, who’d grown up in foster care—and who looked eerily like Carly…blonde hair the same length, blue eyes—had requested the order after dating Gideon for a few months, then breaking it off. The order had claimed he was stalking her since their breakup, and she was scared for her life.

The restraining order even mentioned Shawn by name. The woman had also been scared of Gideon’s friend, of how much influence he had over her ex-boyfriend.

Baker also found out that Sparks and Keyes had spent a lot of time together in the weeks before Shawn died. Their phones had pinged in the same places almost every night, credit card receipts proved they’d eaten and drank at the same bars.

Baker had apologized to Jag over and over, but Jag didn’t blame the man for not finding the missing pieces before now. Sparks had hidden his tracks amazingly well. He was either extremely smart or very lucky.

But with every minute that passed, Jag’s anxiety rose. It had been too long since Sparks had grabbed Carly. It wasn’t likely she was still alive—and the thought made Jag want to throw up and fucking kill Sparks with his bare hands. The thought of him touching Carly was repugnant.

When Mustang pulled into the parking lot for the zoo, it was instantly apparent that something was going on. There were two ambulances and almost a dozen police cars in the lot, parked haphazardly.

Mustang had barely stopped his truck before Aleck and Jag jumped out and were running toward the entrance.

An officer stopped them and wouldn’t let them through the gates. Jag was about to lose his shit, and probably do something that would jeopardize his career at the same time, when Mustang held out his phone to the officer.

“Take it. It’s a Detective Makanui Lee. He wants to talk to you.”

The policeman looked confused, but thankfully took the phone from Mustang.

Jag barely held on to his composure.

After just seconds, the officer handed the phone back to Mustang and nodded, stepping back. “He authorizes you to go in, but says to stay out of the way,” he warned. “Don’t get involved in the current investigation.”

Jag still didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but he didn’t hang around to ask. All he cared about was getting to Sparks. He ran inside and headed for the lion habitat. It didn’t escape Jag’s notice, however, that it was the same direction where all the commotion seemed to be coming from.

He stopped short at the yellow police tape that had been strung outside the tall fences surrounding the lion enclosure. Aleck stopped an EMT who was headed back toward the parking lot with an empty gurney. “What’s going on?”

“Someone went insane and entered the enclosure. The lions apparently didn’t like someone encroaching on their space and…well, you can imagine what they did.”

Jag’s breath hitched in his throat. Not Carly. God, not the woman he loved.

“Is she alive?” Mustang asked, obviously on the same wavelength.

“It was a zoo employee, could tell by what was left of the uniform. Accessed the premises with his own key and security code, before opening hours. And no, he’s definitely not alive,” the EMT said with a shudder. “We could barely even tell it was a ‘he.’ Those lions were pissed way the hell off for some reason. I don’t know if they were provoked before he went in or what. Cops have already requisitioned the security cameras, so they can provide more info. Anyway, I’m guessing things are gonna be shut down here for a while. The other zookeepers are still trying to wrangle the agitated cats away from what’s left of their morning meal.”

The man was super chatty, which Jag was thankful for. This obviously wasn’t a normal call for him, and he was probably still trying to deal with what he’d seen.

The EMT walked away, and Mustang held up a hand. “We don’t know that it was Sparks.”

“Of course it was,” Jag said, his shoulders slumping. “Who else would it be?”

“But why?” Aleck interjected. “There has to be a reason he’d decide to kill himself. He was pretty fucking smart. He fooled Baker, the cops…all of us. Why would be take Carly, do whatever he did with her, then kill himself? He certainly wasn’t feeling guilty about what he did.”

A spark of hope flared within Jag. “The only reason I can think of for Sparks offing himself…is if he fucked up and she somehow got away.”

Mustang nodded. “I agree.”

“She’s alive,” Jag whispered, scared to say the words too loudly. “He fucked up, she got away, and he knew he was going to get caught.”

“And didn’t want to spend his life behind bars. Decided to go out his own way,” Aleck speculated with a nod.