Chapter Fifty-four
Her cell phone rang again just a few moments after she’d called Sloan the first time. “Honey,” his calm voice eased her apprehension. “I’m with a SWAT team now. It’s a long story; I won’t get into it. We can be at the airport in the same time as it takes you to get there from the house.”
“But, Sloan, would he head for the airport? That would be the first place we’d be looking for him.”
“Not if he flew in a private jet. My take is he’d have to get Kean off the island right away because he’d know we could shut down all exits in a very short time. In fact, I’ve already issued the Amber Alert and it’s being put in place as we speak.”
“Thank God.”
“I took those pictures of Kean at the barbecue on Sunday and I’ve given his likeness to the team, and they’re being sent to every known exit point from the island, including marinas and helicopter companies. There’s a cruise ship that docked earlier at the Honolulu pier located in the harbor. We’ve sent agents there too.”
“Thank God! I’m a mess, I can’t think straight. Sloan, I think that Libby came back and took him. She’s working for Paul and, after being at the house earlier, she’d know her way in and out.”
The silence from Sloan was nerve-wracking. “You think so? How about checking the video feed from after we left the house and see if you can make out the person. Unfortunately, I have the cameras pointing at the Amans’ place, but on the center cam you might just be able to pick up anyone sneaking around in the yard.”
“Good idea! I’ll do that and get back to you.”
“I’ll go with the team to the airport and let you know what we find as soon as we arrive. And, baby. Don’t be scared. Paul only wants him to force you to do his bidding. He won’t hurt him.”
“I know. It’s the only thing keeping me breathing.” She hung up the phone and ran to the front room, meeting Don as he returned after his search.
“Did you see the kitten?” She asked him just in case his theory about Kean searching for a runaway cat could be true.
“No. I called for both Kean and the cat. Woke up Sam and Janna and they’re out there searching too. Did you get in touch with Sloan?”
“Just hung up. He’s headed for the airport, and he’s initiated an Amber Alert so everyone is on the lookout for Kean.”
“Why in the world would he do that? The kid’s obviously taken off on his own, no doubt chasing his cat.”
“You don’t understand, Don. His father threatened to take him away from me and I’m sure he’s kidnapped Kean.”
“His father? Shit, why didn’t you say something earlier? I’d have gotten the agency involved right from the get-go.”
“Sloan’s taken care of that now. I think a woman called Libby is in on the abduction. She works for my husband.” Alia held out her phone to Don, showing the PI’s website.
“How could she have been here earlier? This says she works out of Chicago.”
“Les brought her over.”
Don looked completely dumbfounded. “What? How does she know Les?” Confusion lit up his face and he shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs.
“Right. You don’t know this part. It seems that she’s been in Honolulu tailing me and got into a little fender-bender. So she took her car into Sloan’s garage for repairs and when Roy fell, they used it to take him to the hospital. Then Les and Libby brought Kean back here.”
“So you figure she’s taken Kean.” He scratched his head. “I’m thinking you might want to call Les. He has a way with women, and if I know him, he’ll have gotten her phone number. In the meantime, I’ll play back the video feed and see if we picked up anyone near the premises earlier.”
“Thanks, Don. Sloan suggested checking that too.” Alia swallowed hard, controlling the hysteria hovering on the edge of sanity and whipped her phone from his hand. “I’ll call Les now. I’m so rattled, I never thought of it. Do you have his number?”
She frantically began hitting the numbers on the screen until she’d screwed up the second time, and he took the phone from her and hit the right ones himself. Then he pushed speaker phone and held it up.
Les answered on the second ring, his voice raspy from just being woken. “Yeah?”
“Les, do you happen to have Libby’s phone number?”
“Hold on, I’ll ask her.”