Because of him, his mother was being terrorized by an asshole out for revenge. He’d started this and he would finish it. He vowed that one way or the other, Jed Titan would cease to be a threat. Today.
The door to his office burst open. Dana rushed in. She had a small, black duffel in her hand.
“I don’t have a lot of new information,” she told him. “The police are keeping the kidnapping quiet as long as possible. Once the press finds out, they’ll be all over us. Later, that will be to our advantage, but not right now. The last thing anyone needs is Jed bolting. The cops think he’s still in the city somewhere. They told you that, right?”
He nodded.
She dropped the duffel on the floor and crossed to him. “I’m sorry about Kathy. I know she must be scared, but she has an inner strength. She’ll be okay.”
Garth stared into her brown eyes. “We don’t know that.”
“He won’t hurt her. It wouldn’t benefit him in any way.”
“That’s some comfort.” He pulled her close, then kissed her. “You don’t have to be here.”
“Hey, I’m a professional and I can be very useful. You’re lucky to have me at your beck and call.”
“That part I know.”
The door opened again. This time Skye and Izzy hurried toward them.
“We just heard,” Izzy said. “Lexi wanted to come but Cruz made her stay home and relax. This totally sucks. You’re going to get him, aren’t you? I can’t believe it. I should, but I don’t.”
“I’m sorry,” Skye said quietly.
Both women embraced him, hugging him close.
“Oh, Garth,” Skye whispered. “You must be so scared.”
“She’ll be fine,” he said automatically, because now that was what he had to believe.
“The police will find Jed,” Izzy said.
“They won’t have to.”
Izzy and Skye stared at him. Dana didn’t look surprised.
“You’re going after him?” Skye asked.
“Not a question you want to ask,” Dana told her.
“You’re in on this?”
“No, but I will be.” She stepped back and pointed to her duffel. “I came prepared.”
Dana wasn’t coming along, but he would deal with that problem later.
“I don’t like this,” Skye said, folding her arms across her chest.
Izzy wrinkled her nose. “Imagine how I feel. You’re waiting for Nick, aren’t you?”
Garth didn’t want to say anything, but he didn’t have to. Izzy knew Nick better than Garth.
“He’s driving in from the ranch,” she said, then nodded slowly. “Okay, but we just got married and I’m pregnant. I don’t want anything to happen to him.”
“Nothing will,” he said, meaning it. This was his fight.
“No offense, but…” Izzy turned to Dana. “You’ll keep him safe?”
“Yes.”
“My stomach hurts,” Skye murmured. “You probably want to talk about your plan. We’ll go and leave you to it, but you have to promise to tell us the second you know anything.”
Garth nodded. “I will.”
They left.
Dana picked up her duffel. “You can yell at me while I get changed.”
“Why do you think I’m going to yell?”
“I saw your face when I said I was going with you.” She paused at the doorway to his private bathroom. “Someone has to make sure you don’t go to jail over this. Jed is the only one I want behind bars. Nick has to stay safe-I promised Izzy. So that leaves me to watch your back.”
She looked determined, but he wasn’t intimidated. “I’m capable of getting Kathy out and staying on the right side of the law.”
“It’s not about being capable. It’s about being pissed, which you are.”
“I won’t sacrifice you.”
She smiled. “Nice sentiment, but I’m the only professional in the room. I’m coming with you, Garth. That or I’m calling the police and telling them your plan. Then you’ll have to get by them as well as by me.”
Frustration tightened his chest. “You’re damned annoying.”
“You’re not the first man to tell me that.”
He clenched his teeth. “Fine.”
“Good.”
He looked pissed enough to throw something, Dana thought, but she wasn’t backing down. This was too important. They hadn’t come all this way to lose Jed now. She knew Garth believed he was in total control of his emotions, but she wasn’t so sure. Jed had kidnapped Garth’s mother. No one could think rationally through that.
She walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Three minutes later she’d changed into black jeans and a black T-shirt. She walked out with a bulletproof vest and handed it to Garth.
“Are you wearing one?” he asked.
She picked up the second one she’d brought. “Jed’s a wild card. We’re not starting out stupid.”
“But we may end up that way?”
“Maybe. Do you know how we’re going to find him?”
Even as she asked the question, she had a feeling she already knew the answer. Garth wasn’t the type to leave anything to chance. She respected his need to protect what was his. It might not be her, but that wasn’t his fault.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked.
“Sure. I’m on a leave of absence.”
“I have a GPS tracking device on his car. I had it put there after he shot at you.”
“Impressive.”
“You don’t sound surprised.”
“I’m not.”
“It’s against the law.”
She smiled grimly. “Not today.”
LESS THAN AN HOUR LATER, they were parked by a ratty hotel near the highway, their car concealed from the room windows by a van. Dana looked at the run-down cars in the parking lot. Only one stood out. A late-model Suburban belonging to one Jed Titan.
“I’ll go ask the desk clerk which room he’s in,” she said, reaching for the door handle.
Garth grabbed her arm. “Wait a minute. You think he’s going to tell you? Just like that?”
“I can be very charming.”
He didn’t look convinced.
“Someone has to ask and I would rather it was me,” she said. She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out her ID. “Does it sound better if I say I’m the only one with an official badge? Let me talk to him. You can explain to Nick why he’s staying in the car.”
“What?” Nick yelped. “I’m here for backup.”
“Not anymore,” Dana said as she got out and walked to the front of the motel.
It was the kind of place made famous in the movies and not in a good way. Places like this catered to the desperate and those on the run. The guy behind the counter wore a short-sleeved shirt stained with sweat and had stringy hair tied back in a ponytail.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said around his cigarette. “You need a room for an hour?”
“No, thanks,” she said and showed him her badge. “I need information.”
He held up both hands. “We run a real clean business here.”
“Uh-huh. That’s why you rent rooms by the hour.”
“The customer’s always right.”
“Then I’m your best customer. The guy in the Suburban. What room is he in?”
The clerk looked at her badge, then shook his head. “That’s private information.”
Dana put her badge back in her pocket. “Don’t make me show you my gun.”
The clerk sighed. “Seventeen, but I don’t want no trouble.”
“Stay out of my way and you won’t get any.” She started for the door, then paused. “How much did he pay you to call if anyone came asking for him?”
“Two hundred.”
She stared at the guy.
He shifted in his chair. “Seventy-five.”
She dug out two twenties. “Here’s another forty. Give me a two-minute head start, then you can call.” She narrowed her gaze. “I want the two minutes. Don’t try cheating me. I’m mean to the bone.”
The guy nodded. “I’ll spot you three.”
She returned to the car. “Got it,” she said. “It’s downstairs, on the end. The doors are solid enough but the locks look flimsy. You feeling macho enough to kick them in?”