Huh, Royce thought, Christian Jakes had been hiding something big, it just hadn’t been feelings for Briar. What had the man been thinking, acting as agent in charge for an op he had a personal connection to?
Briar’s eyes narrowed. “Did you say Tatiana?” she asked.
Gomez cocked her head. “Yes, Hank Seller’s sister’s child. Tatiana Cross, aged fifteen, was last seen heading to swim team practice in Newport Beach over six weeks ago.”
“Tatiana,” Briar suddenly said, standing up from the chair she’d taken. “Tia could be short for Tatiana. We need to find out. Can someone talk to her family, find out if her nickname is Tia?”
“Consider it done,” said Richardson, pulling out his cell phone.
Briar turned to Royce. “Tia has the same color eyes Hank did. I didn’t put it together when we spoke to her but…”
Royce had been struck by Tia’s unusual eye color too. They were hard not to be distracted by.
“And if Tia is their niece,” Briar continued, “and she was being used as a pawn to… force Jakes to give up information—”
“What about Hank, though?” Royce asked standing too. “Why kill him?”
Briar shook her head. “These guys are vicious killers, it’s what they do for sport. What if Hank gave up Jakes before they murdered him… maybe Hank was the first weak link? The Spiders kill Jakes’s husband and then kidnap their niece to keep Jakes in line, using him to keep the heat off of their activities. It worked before because when Hank died, the op basically collapsed. But the MC still needed something more, some way to force Jakes to either protect them, or feed them information.”
Goosebumps popped on Royce’s arms. The thought of his family being on these shitheads’ radar was unacceptable.
“We need to get to Raine’s.”