Deck looked at McFarland. “Where would he take her?”

“How would I know?” McFarland asked.

Deck moved and McFarland was on his back on the floor with Deck’s knee in his chest and his hand fisted in his collar.

“Where would he f**kin’ take her?” Deck snarled.

“I don’t—” McFarland began.

“It’s f**kin’ Emme. He’s pissed at you and he’s got f**kin’ Emme,” Deck clipped.

“Oh f**k,” McFarland breathed as it belatedly dawned on him, the f**king moron.

Deck took his knee out of McFarland’s chest, lifted McFarland a foot up then slammed him back into the floor.

“Talk!” he ordered.

“Probably… we’ve got… well, this place. Off the access road a mile up Navajo in Carnal, into the hills, goin’ toward the hiking trails.”

Deck knew it so he wasted no time straightening, yanking McFarland up with him and pushing him off.

“You,” Deck pointed at McFarland. “Call Shaughnessy, report this, all of this shit, f**kin’ everything. You,” Deck pointed at Wade then at the couch. “Sit your ass down.”

“Shaughnessy!” Wade squealed. “Like, the cop?”

“Man, I cannot call Shaughnessy,” McFarland said at the same time.

Deck pulled his gun out of the holster at his hip and both McFarland and Wade’s eyes both went to the gun and grew huge.

He pointed it at McFarland. “You, Shaughnessy.” He pointed it to Wade. “Ass. On. Couch.”

McFarland fished his phone out of his pocket.

Wade ran to the couch and planted his ass on it.

Deck breathed deep as his blood ran so f**king hot, it was a wonder he didn’t burn inside out.

Prosky had Emme.

Just turn the dial.

Prosky had his girl.

You’re everything to me.

Emme had been taken.

I can’t go through it again, Jacob.

Deck heard McFarland’s voice saying, “Yes, this is Dane McFarland. I need to speak with Captain Shaughnessy.”

Deck holstered his gun then pointed his finger between the two of them. “You leave, he leaves before the cops get here, neither of you leave the hospital without a limp and you’ll also be leavin’ behind your balls ’cause I’m gonna cut them off and shove them down your throat. You get me?”

McFarland, phone to his ear, instantly nodded.

Wade swallowed and asked, “Seriously?”

“Confirm you get me!” Deck thundered.

“Yeah, yeah… totally,” the kid said, lifting his hands into a don’t-shoot position and shrinking into the couch.

Deck wasted not another second. He turned on his boot and left.

Sprinting down the stairs to the parking lot, his phone to his ear, Chace answered, “I don’t clean up messes. Please God, tell me you do—”

Deck cut him off tersely, “Jon Prosky has Emme.”

You’re everything to me.

Fuck!

“Where are you?” Chace asked with urgency.

“In my truck,” Deck answered, angling in. “McFarland’s turning over. He’s in his condo with a high school kid named Wade. They’ll be here when the cops get here. Now where are you?”

Just as he suspected, there was no hesitation before Chace replied.

“Wherever you need me to be.”

* * *

Emme

An hour later…

I was staring at the payroll reports when it hit me.

I needed a burrito. Badly.

I heard boots quickly coming up the wooden stairs outside my office as I reached for my cell.

Whoever it was could wait for the two minutes I needed to call Jacob and tell him Rosalinda’s was up after we picked out our Rottie. The puppy could stay in Persephone while we got takeout.

My thumb was hovering over Jacob’s name on my screen when my door smashed open.

My head flew to it and I saw Jacob standing there wearing an expression I’d seen before on two faces I loved.

My heart stopped beating.

At the look on his face, it took effort but I pushed out of my chair, opening my mouth to speak, but I got nothing out.

This was because Jacob rushed me. I got myself together to take a step back but it wasn’t fast enough. Jacob was on me and I was crushed in his arms so tight I couldn’t breathe.

I’d felt that before too.

“What’s happening?” I wheezed.

Jacob heard my wheeze, pulled back but clamped a hand on either side of my head, bending deep so his face was in mine, his eyes scanning my features.

That look in his eyes. That look I knew.

I swallowed.

“What’s happening?” I whispered.

“You been here all day, baby?” he whispered back, his voice gruff with emotion.

“Yeah, except I went to lunch at the café with Zara like I told you I was gonna do,” I answered.

His eyes closed slowly.

Then one of his hands slid to the back of my head and he yanked my face into his chest. He held me there as his other hand went to his back pocket and he pulled out his phone.

“Jacob, is everything okay?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Yeah, baby, it’s okay.” Jacob’s voice was still gruff. “It’s all good.” Then he wasn’t talking to me when he said, “Chace. Not Emme. She’s at her office. Don’t know who he’s got but it’s not Emme.”

I felt my body go solid.

What was he talking about?

Jacob kept talking.

“Yeah, I probably should have given her a call,” Jacob said, his voice weird. This weirdness being that it seemed he was admitting to doing something stupid, something he never did, so the tone was unpracticed and didn’t sound right in his voice. “Gotta go, man. Emme heard that. Gotta explain then I’ll be back on the hunt.”

The hunt?

“Right. Later,” Jacob finished.

I planted my hands in his chest and pulled away as he shoved the phone back in his pocket.

I looked up at him. “Please tell me what’s happening.”

Both his hands settled on my neck and he bent again so our faces were close.

“For some reason, the ringleader of McFarland’s crew came back to town and lost his shit. Seein’ as McFarland’s hung up on you, when I got word that he took a woman, I made assumptions and thought it was you.” His fingers squeezed my neck. “It wasn’t you, baby, so I gotta get out there and help them find out who it is.”

I nodded, not knowing how to feel about the dire news of yet another woman being kidnapped in the county. I just knew the phantom of fear that he still held in his eyes I didn’t like all that much.