“Yeah. Counting by threes like crazy. She’s pretty upset.”
“Shit.” I stood, taking the last bite of my burger.
“Look, man. I know… You’ve missed a lot of work and things might be getting a little tight for you. Are you okay?”
“Not even close, man. I’ll figure it out.”
“Will you…let me help?”
I gritted my teeth, hating the idea of asking him, but I needed it. “Yeah. I’ll let you know.”
The door burst open and Marshal strode through, his eyes narrowed. “Got it.”
He flipped open his iPad. “List of names of all the buses leaving that night within a four hour window of seeing her. There weren’t many.” He handed me his iPad. “Recognize any?”
I scanned the list, and my vision landed directly on a name. Alice Milla. I knew she’d pick something withResident Evil! I analyzed the list a little longer until I found the destination of bus number 11345. “Nope. Nothing.”
So, she went to Rena, Minnesota. Anger wanted to storm through me at the idea that she left, just up and freaking left, but I understood. Still sucked. She should have trusted me with this. That stung the most. Didn’t she trust me to come through for her?
“Shit,” Hunter said. “Nothing? Really?”
I gave him a curt nod, mentally memorizing the town name. Wonder how she picked that one? Wait a minute…I remember that name. She’d mentioned that months ago when I’d been asking her how she made it to Minnesota from Mexico.
Of course. She said it’d looked like a storybook town…
“If we’re having this much trouble finding her, we have to assume Nicco is as well.” Marshal let out a long sigh. “I called in a favor to have the video from a four block radius of that picture so I can keep searching.”
“Thanks, man.” I offered my hand to Marshal. “This Nicco guy, how the hell has he been doing this crap for so long?”
“There’s been a sting in place for a while now, it sounds like.” Marshal slid the cover over his iPad screen. “Mexico…things are different down there. Corruption all over the place. I can’t really get into details. Imagine worst case scenario.”
“But the minute he stepped on U.S. soil, there’s got to be something you all can do.”
“Yes. He’s linked to some things, mainly this whole situation with Sarah.”
“She can’t testify.” I stood up. “No. She’ll be a number one target.”
“Relocation?” Marshal looked at me.
“No. She’s…she needs stability. Consistency. Her life’s been fucked up enough. When I find—er—when you all find her, she’s coming home. To me. I don’t want to have her on the run for the rest of her life.”
“She wouldn’t be. She—”
“No. Marshal. Find this fucker and fix this.” Or I would, but I left that out.
Hunter eyed me, and I knew right away he caught on to my slip. Damn it. He was going to ruin this for me, wasn’t he? Then again, maybe he had some resources to help me go get her. Shit, maybe I shouldn’t bring her back, though. Not until Marshal’s team got Nicco.
My head was a mess. With Mom’s death, Damon holding on by a thread, and now Sarah, I wanted to dissolve into the floor. But I couldn’t. I needed to be strong for my…family.
Damon and Sarah. They were it. They were all that mattered.
Right now, Damon wasn’t going anywhere, and I needed to get to my girl. And this time, I wasn’t letting her out of my sight.
“Okay. Hang in there, buddy. We’ll get this asshole.” Marshal headed to the door. “Hunt, you, Angelina, and Lizzie still coming over for dinner?”
“Yeah. Should be.” He pointed to me and said, “We’ll see what shakes out with this. Okay?”
Marshal dipped his head but then dug out his phone and pressed it to his ear.