Page 130 of Last Chance

“Talk.”

“They took your woman for a reason.”

Sawyer stilled. He thought back through what they knew and what they didn’t and realized his friend was correct. “If all they wanted was to snip off a loose end, they would have killed Janie, not gone to the trouble of taking her with them.”

“Why do they want her?” Logan prompted. “If not to silence someone who can identify Hernandez, what do they want?”

“Why is she valuable to them?” Brody asked.

“Two reasons. One, she’s a direct link to the team who killed so many of the gang members.”

“And the second reason?” This from Max.

“Money.”

His teammates glanced at each other, then back at him. “Explain,” Brody said.

“David has a gambling problem. He owes a chunk of money to the gang.”

Brody frowned. “Janie’s a new small business owner. Does she have the money necessary to bail her brother out of debt?”

“Yes, and no. She has money left in trust from her Granny Irene. One stipulation, though, was that she couldn’t give it to David. Granny Irene left David a lump sum, and that’s all he was to receive. If Janie tries to give more money to her brother, the will stipulates the rest of the money left in the trust goes to charity. She and her brother will both end up with nothing.”

“Does David know that?” Jesse asked.

“He should.”

“Doesn’t mean his wife knows the truth,” Logan said. “Especially if he didn’t tell her everything.”

“Or if David used Janie as a bargaining chip to get more time to come up with the money to pay off his debt,” Max said, his expression grim.

“David is still unconscious, so we can’t demand the truth from him.” Sawyer dragged a hand down his face, coming up with solutions and discarding them almost as fast as they appeared. “If they took Janie for money, I’ll give them every penny I have.”

“You know it doesn’t work that way,” Brody murmured. “They’ll take the money, then kill you and Janie both.”

“With me by her side, Janie has a chance to survive. Alone, she has no chance at all. I don’t care about the money. I love her, Brody.”

“Think with your head, not your heart. Paying them won’t solve the problem.”

“I don’t have a better solution. Do you?”

Silence descended on the group.

Logan’s phone signaled an incoming message. He grabbed his phone and scanned the screen. “Zane sent the traffic cam footage.”

“Put it on screen,” Brody said. “Let’s see where the vehicle went.”

Once again, Logan set the footage to run at a higher speed.

One shot caught Janie in the backseat with Lorenzo. His arm was wrapped around her neck. Lorenzo was biting her.

Without thinking, Sawyer took a step toward the laptop, his fist clenched.

Jesse grabbed his arm. “Hold,” he snapped. “We need to see it all.”

“I’m going to kill Reyes.” Sawyer’s voice came out harsh. No one had the right to hurt Janie, especially a no-good thug like Lorenzo Reyes.

“Later. Right now, we need every bit of information we can get from the footage to save your woman.”