Brain Storm, Cat Gilbert [read books for money TXT] 📗
- Author: Cat Gilbert
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Book online «Brain Storm, Cat Gilbert [read books for money TXT] 📗». Author Cat Gilbert
“Great. How are we supposed to find him?” Jonas asked, not expecting an answer. “Maybe we should drive around, scope things out. Obviously, he’s in the area since this is where Taylor picked him up before.”
It seemed as good a plan as any. Mac pulled out from the parking lot and headed down the road in the direction of the airport while Jonas called Trinity to let her know everything was okay.
It was thirty minutes later that the buzzing stopped. I had lost Brown. I had Mac turn around and within minutes, I had him back. At the next intersection, Mac took a right and within minutes, I lost Brown again. Having Mac go back the other way, I picked him up again a few minutes after we passed the intersection where we had turned right. Incredible as it seemed, a pattern was emerging.
Hot or Cold? I asked. All I got in reply was a single ping.
Twenty minutes later, we had it narrowed down to three buildings. Warehouses filled with cargo and services companies, close to the main terminals. As Mac drove slowly up and down the rows between them, Jonas pulled his gun out and laid it softly in his lap, ready for action in case we blundered into something. Five minutes more and we were there.
“That’s it,” I told them. “He’s in there.” I pointed to an end unit on the third building of the complex. “That has to be it, but it looks deserted.”
“They probably have the cars inside, behind the bay door,” Jonas said. “It’s a good set-up. They can come and go and not be seen out in the open.”
“You’re sure this is it?” Mac asked as we circled around the back of the building.
I nodded. Brown had been so enthusiastic in his pinging, I’d had to tell him to back off several times, but he’d reached a new pitch each time we’d come close to the unit. The effort of communicating with him was taking its toll on me. My head was pounding, and I was physically exhausted.
“Tell him to sit tight. We’ll be back for him.” Jonas looked over at Mac. “She’s wiped, and we need time to plan how to get him and what to do after we have him.”
I could almost feel Brown’s disappointment when I told him we were leaving, but I was too tired to care. He was safe, and we knew where he was. It would have to do for now. Unable to keep my eyes open any longer, I laid my head against the seat back and let sleep take me.
* * *
I WOKE UP with blurry vision and a knifing pain behind my eyes. I stayed still until things came somewhat back into focus, hoping the pain would recede as well, but that wasn’t to be the case. Groggy, I sat up and swung my feet over the side of the bed.
“Welcome back.” Squinting, I saw Trinity sitting in the corner of the room, nearly hidden in the shadows.
“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes, willing the pain away without success.
“Ten in the morning,” she replied, switching on a lamp, which actually caused me to tear up. “You’ve been out nearly 18 hours. Mac and Jonas had to carry you in.”
Blinking, I let my brain try to process the fact that I’d lost nearly a day, but it wasn’t up to the task. I felt like I’d been drugged, and I was having a heck of a time not rolling back into bed and pulling the covers up over my head.
“Take these.” She thrust a glass of water into my free hand and shook a bottle of aspirin at me. I eyed the bottle with its child proof cap in disbelief. I’d never be able to get that off. I held out my other hand instead, palm up, waiting.
“Baby,” Trinity said, sounding amazingly put upon, as she twisted off the lid and threw the pills into my outstretched hand. I closed one eye and watched her through the other one as she wrenched the lid back on the bottle. Someone was in a bad mood.
“Are you getting up or are you just going to sit there?” Lucky for her I couldn’t stand up yet, or I would have punched her a good one. I felt like I’d been run over by a truck and Trinity was standing here giving me grief.
“Where is everyone?” I asked instead, choosing to ignore her.
“Mac and Jonas are out. Working,” she snapped it out, obviously displeased. “Grams is getting some rest. We’ve all been taking turns watching you.” She flopped back down into her chair. “I thought you were dead when they dragged you back in here and then you wouldn’t wake up. Mac wouldn’t let us take you to the hospital, so we all just sat here, watching you, waiting to see what happened next.”
She was scared, I realized, as she reached over and picked up the phone. Bad enough to want to risk a hospital and Mac had overridden her. I was sure that hadn’t gone over well.
“She’s awake,” she said into the phone. She listened in silence for a beat and slammed it back into the receiver. “They’re on their way back. Mac said to get some food into you.”
My stomach recoiled at the thought, but it had been a long time since my last meal, which if I recalled had been french fries. I needed to eat. And I needed to move.
I nodded agreement, and getting to my feet, shuffled to the bathroom and closed the door.
Hot showers and painkillers were wonderful things. Thirty minutes later, the pain behind my eyes was down to a dull ache and my brain, while still not 100%, was at least functioning.
I opened the door to find Mac and Jonas had joined Trinity in the room. Room service had arrived, and a covered tray sat on the table. Now that my head felt better, my stomach was thrilled to see food had arrived. I gave a nod to the guys and headed straight to the tray, happy to discover a steak with all the trimmings hidden under the cover.
“Fill me in,” I ordered as I pulled up a chair and picked up the steak knife. Trinity had ordered mushrooms to go with it, and I gave her a grateful smile as I dug in. She must have decided I was going to live, because she managed a smile back, which completely disappeared from her face when she turned back to Jonas. Oops. Mac must not have been the only one to side against her.
“We’ve gotten a lot done while you were napping,” Mac started up. “We rented another car, and a van, which we’ve been using for surveillance on Brown. As far as we can tell, he’s still in there.”
“He had a visitor last night, though,” Jonas chimed in. “Hughes showed up for a while, which verifies that you had the right location.”
I nodded as I forked up a particularly nice bit of steak. I had been pretty certain, but it was good to know for sure. Nothing like breaking in to rescue someone and finding the place empty.
“Trinity and I went house hunting this morning. Found a really nice cabin, up in the mountains, fully furnished. Nicely isolated, two ways into the property and a place to park the RV. We took it for a month.”
“Realtor?” I asked, pausing in my assault on the baked potato.
“Nope. Private classifieds,” he answered me, smiling at my nod of approval.
I’d found a lot of people through real estate companies. Not that they talked, but all you had to do was pull the comps of rentals and sales for the time period you were interested in. Then it was just a process of elimination until you had your answer. Private rentals were another matter altogether. Once the ad was pulled from the paper, it was tough to find someone who didn’t want to be found.
Once we had Brown, we needed someplace to take him. We couldn’t very well bring him to the hotel, and I didn’t want to leave the immediate area until we figured out our next move.
”I’ve made a list of things we need to get in order to hole up there for a while,” Trinity put in. “The utilities, internet, and phone are in the owner’s name, so we’re good there.”
“Good work, guys,” I said, pushing my plate away, amazed at the amount of food I’d devoured. Mac had been right. I’d needed it.
“What about you?” Jonas asked. “You okay now?”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, but I was feeling better by the minute and was anxious to get underway.
“If everyone’s ready, why don’t we get started on the move. Trinity, Mama D and I can take the van to get supplies and Mac, you and Jonas can move the RV and take one of the other cars. We’ll come back for the extra one later.”
As it turned out, everyone was more than ready. Trinity went to wake up Mama D and gather the rest of their things while I packed up my own stuff. Mac and Jonas sat quietly, watching me throw my things into the suitcase I had opened on the bed. As packing was pretty much a mindless occupation, I went back over the information I’d gotten since I’d woken up. There
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