Page 44 of Out of Reach

“Sterling,” Hawk answered.

“Hawk.”

Hearing Jude’s voice, Hawk juggled the water bottle, plane ticket, and his ID, finally stepping out of line, forcing Mal to follow.

“Jude? Talk to me.” He could hear Jude breathing.

“Hawk. Help. I need help.” He was whispering.

“Are you in LA?”

“Shhh, be very quiet,” he whispered.

“Jude, please tell me where you are,” Hawk said, lowering his voice, his heart trying to beat out of his chest. Something was wrong. Jude didn’t sound like himself, and why the hell was he whispering? “Are you in LA? I got your text.”

“No. I’m…I’m in Miami. He’s taken me to Miami.”

“Who? Ricci?”

“No. Sam,” Jude whispered. Hawk’s heart sank to his shoes. “And…and I think he’s drugged me. It’s hard to move, and I keep falling asleep.”

Hawk suppressed his moan of despair. “Where in Miami are you? I’ll call the police.”

“I—” The line went dead.

Mal had been watching him as he talked, and when Hawk lowered the phone from his ear, Mal raised his brows in question. “Well?”

“Prescott’s got him drugged up and in Miami. That’s all I know. He may have just caught Jude on the phone.”

“Shit,” Mal began to pace.

“It’ll take us nineteen hours to drive to Miami,” Hawk said after Googling the information.

Picking up their bags, they started walking back toward security while Mal dialed Slade yet again.

After a minute of talking, Mal relayed to Hawk what their boss had said. “Miami’s where we think Prescott’s ship is docked.”

“Goddammit!” Hawk shouted, dropping his bag and looking for something to punch.

“Control, man,” Mal said, grabbing Hawk’s arm. “You’ve got security looking at us. Slade said his pilot’s laid up, but he thinks he’s got another one lined up. It’ll take about two and a half hours to get to Miami by plane. He wants us to get over to Teterboro Airport. It’ll take us around half an hour to drive. Come on.”

Picking up his bag again, Hawk walked with Mal toward the front of the airport where they rented a car. Within minutes, Mal had them on Grand Central Parkway headed for I-278 E and New Jersey.

“The ship’s scheduled to leave in the morning. We’ve got plenty of time,” Mal said.

“But what is Sam doing to Jude in the meantime?” Hawk asked, nervously cracking his knuckles.

“You said he was drugged.”

“Yeah. That’s what Jude said. He said he could barely move and keeps falling asleep.”

“Probably to keep him from trying to run. That’s a good thing. Prescott will likely have him sleep through moving him to the ship.”

“What if he decides to ship them out earlier?” Hawk worried. Thinking about Jude drugged and helpless was making him crazy. How the hell he was going to endure the flight to Miami, he didn’t know. At least they’d be on a private jet, which would limit the waiting.

“Very unlikely. Prescott’s got to have everything scheduled to the minute. He’s not going to be able to make sudden changes like that, and in his mind, he has no reason to.”

“Unless he caught Jude on the phone with me,” Hawk said.