"I know," I said, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind. "I'll have to make sure I'm back here by Friday night." I glanced at Griffen. "Can you talk to Harvey and find out how the fourteen days works? Do I have a full forty-eight hours?"
"I'm on it," Griffen agreed.
Scarlett gripped my hands in hers, tugging them to get my full attention. "I won't let you do this, Tenn. This isn't your problem. You can't risk everything to help me."
"I can. I'm not letting you do this on your own. We'll find him and make it back in time."
"But what if something happens? What if the car breaks down, or we're in an accident, or—"
I pressed my hand over her mouth, stopping her panicked words. "We can do this. We'll wait until we have a solid lead, and then we'll go, grab Thatcher, and be back here before the deadline."
Scarlett ripped my hand from her mouth and looked wildly around the room, her eyes settling on Royal. "Tell him this is insane. Tell him he has to stay here."
Royal just shook his head, a wry smile on his face. "I could try, but it won't do any good."
Scarlett dismissed him and turned to Griffen. "Help me. Anything could happen. It's too big a risk. He barely knows me."
I was curious to see what Griffen would say. He'd warned me Scarlett could be trouble. Now, her problems had a very real chance of stealing everything I ever thought I wanted. Everything my father had used to manipulate me. Griffen looked at me for a long moment before shifting his glance to Scarlett.
"Here's the thing," he said as if he'd been reading my mind, "our father set the will up like this to control us. He loved the idea of us dancing to his tune even after he was gone. I can't change the will. I can't take away the risk. But I won't try to control my family. Tenn is his own man, and he knows what he wants. If he thinks you're worth taking the chance, then I think he should go for it." Griffen returned his eyes to me. "Just make sure you get your ass back here by Friday at midnight."
Hawk interrupted before I could speak. "Coop has a ping on the phone. The call came out of a cell tower in Winchester, Kentucky. Looks like they really are headed our way. If you waited—"
"No," I cut in. "Not with Thatcher in the mix. If his father was reckless enough to take the kid with him, we can't trust that he'll look out for him if things get sticky." I looked to Scarlett for confirmation.
"I wish I could say you're wrong. Elliott loves his boys, but Elliott's kind of love doesn't hold up under pressure. If they run into trouble, he'll try to look out for Thatcher, but if it comes down to protecting his son or saving his own ass—" She squeezed her eyes shut as untold images of disaster flashed through her mind. Shaking the terrifying thoughts away, she finished, "He'd swear he'd save Thatcher, but he wouldn't. He'd mean to, but he doesn't have the spine to follow through."
"Then let's go pack. The sooner we get moving, the sooner we can bring Thatcher home." I stood, pulling Scarlett up with me. To Hawk, I said, "Can Sinclair Security keep an eye on that phone? Update us if they get another hit?"
"They're on it," Hawk said. "Coop is punting it to Lucas' team. Most of his hackers are out in the field right now, but one of his best is recovering from an injury—"
At Griffen's look of concern, he said, "Floyd, broken ankle, nothing serious." Then, back to me, "Floyd's on Thatcher and Elliott full time until you bring the kid home. He'll find them. He's already got a line on Elliott's burner phone. Trust me, if you're on the run, you don't want Floyd tracking you. Man's a bloodhound. I'll get him your info so he can send you updates."
"I wonder," Hope said absently, her eyes on the teacup in her hand, "if the missing art has anything to do with your father's murder. We keep thinking it's personal, but as we work our way through everything he left behind, the only really odd things are his murder and the missing art."
"Missing art and missing cash," Griffen added. "If he sold it, we still don't know what happened to the money."
"We can figure that part out later," I said, impatient to leave now that we knew where we were going. It was still early enough in the day that we could get to Kentucky by late afternoon if we left right away.
"I know," Hope said, "but if they're related, this might be even more dangerous than you think. Be careful."