Page 129 of Last Chance

“What happened?”

“Based on what I saw on the security footage, we were pistol whipped by Lorenzo Reyes.”

And just like that, the fog cleared. “Janie?” Sawyer struggled to sit up, his gaze taking in his teammates. Janie was nowhere to be seen. “Where is she?”

“Gone.” Brody reached down and hauled Sawyer to his feet.

He swayed a few seconds, then steadied. His stomach lurched as though it planned to turn itself inside out. Luckily, his stomach stayed in place. “What do we know?”

“Not enough.” Logan motioned for Sawyer to join him at the counter where he’d set up a laptop. Janie’s sat phone and GPS jewelry were on the counter as well. “Watch.”

The burning need to get out there and start looking for the love of his life boiled up inside Sawyer. “We need to go,” he snapped. Standing here watching security footage wasn’t on his agenda. He needed to find Janie. Now.

“Go where?” Max rested his hand on Sawyer’s shoulder. “If we had more than a general direction, we would have hauled you into an SUV while you were still unconscious and followed Janie. We don’t have enough information yet.”

“Settle.” Brody pointed at Sawyer. “We’ll get her back. First, you need to see this.” He nodded at Logan, who set the camera footage in motion.

Although he itched to get moving, he made himself watch the footage Logan had set up to run at a fast speed. His hands clenched into fists as he watched events play out, stunned at Janie’s boldness in protecting him from further harm.

As he continued to watch the action unfold, he noticed her left hand. On reflex, he patted the inner pocket of his jacket and discovered it was empty. “She took one of my knives,” he murmured.

Logan straightened. A slight smile curved his lips. “She armed herself. Tough lady.”

“If the Reyes men don’t discover the weapon,” Max said.

Sawyer’s eyes narrowed when on the screen, Lorenzo Reyes slapped Janie. “He’s mine.” Anger burned through him at the thug’s treatment of her.

“If you get to him first,” Logan murmured. He stopped the video feed a minute later when Maria and her family hustled Janie from the building.

“Did we get a plate number on that SUV?” Sawyer asked.

“I called it in to Zane. He’s hacking into traffic cams as we speak.”

“We’re on a short clock. Hernandez has no reason to keep Janie alive once he has her in his hands.” The thought of Janie not being in this world made Sawyer sick. He needed her.

“We know what’s at stake, Sawyer, but we need a direction,” Brody said. “As soon as we have one, we’ll head out.”

Not good enough. Janie was everything to him. He turned to Logan. “I asked you to search for Vatos Locos holdings in the area. Did you finish the search?”

His friend nodded. “There are several in the Middle Tennessee area.”

“Are they close together or scattered?”

“Scattered.”

Finding a direction didn’t seem too hard a task. The question was how far out were the holdings and how many traffic cams would confirm the direction? Time was short. Janie’s life could literally be measured in minutes if she was in Hernandez’s hands now.

A chance. A slim one, but a chance. He’d take it.

Jesse handed him a capsule and a small bottle of water. “Take it. No arguments. You have to be functional, and I can all but see the pain in your head.”

He swallowed the capsule and eyed the medic. “What about you?”

“Already took the meds for myself, too.”

Sawyer turned to Logan. “Talk to me.”

“Speculation only. It’s not productive.”