Page 89 of Striker
His mind played tricks on him with several blonds. Desperately wanting to believe he’d find her sitting in the corner with a coffee, happy and relieved to see him. She’d laugh and explain she’d dropped the phone or lost it.
Please, God.
He’d fall to his knees if that was true. If he could just put an end to the worry and sickness in the pit of his gut right now.
If he found her alive.
They walked inside the brightly lit café. The place was packed, and buzzing as if everyone had been given a free shot of espresso.
“She’s not here, man.” Viper’s sympathetic tone irked the hell out of him.
“Thanks for the observation.”
“I’m going to search the parking lot. Maybe there’s a clue.”
Atlas gave a sharp nod and joined the line at the counter. A minute later he reached the front.
“What can I get you?” asked a jovial kid who couldn’t be more than twenty.
“I’m looking for a woman. Do you have a sec?” He opened his phone and pulled up the most-recent news release regarding Molly’s earlier disappearance. “She might have been here in the last couple of hours.”
The kid leaned forward, squinting at the screen. “No, I’m sorry. Haven’t seen her.”
Another barista approached, an empty coffee cup in her hand. “Excuse me,” she said. “Did you say that girl’s missing?”
He gave one nod. “I believe she is. She was supposed to come here?—”
“There was an accident out front about . . . I don’t know,” she said, looking at the other barista. “An hour and a half ago? Two hours? I didn’t see what happened, but people said a woman was pulled into a van.”
His pulse quickened. “Who? Are there any witnesses here?”
She frowned. “I don’t think so. The police came, but people said her car was taken before that. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”
“Thank you.” He pivoted and ran outside.
Viper was at the side of the building standing on the street. He motioned for Atlas to come closer. “Looks like there was a recent accident. There’re pieces of a broken headlight and other debris.”
Atlas jogged over. A streetlight illuminated tire tracks. “The barista told me there was an accident. Witnesses saw a woman being taken.”
Viper’s eyes went huge and his jaw locked. “Fuck.”
“Police came, but there was no sign of the vehicle. They must have taken her car and dumped it.”
His friend nodded slowly, his face pinched in consternation. “We can’t ask for video footage from the café. They won’t give it to us without the authorities.”
“No shit.” He swiped his hand over his beard.
“But we can hack into the surveillance,” Viper continued. “Havoc will be at the hotel any minute—he might even be there now.”
“Yeah. All right.”
He hated to leave the area, but it wasn’t as though being near where she’d been taken could somehow bring her back.
Tearing his feet from the concrete, he followed Viper back to their SUV. His hand shook as he buckled his seatbelt. His nerves were frayed beyond repair.
“Dude.” Viper’s imploring gaze punched through the dim interior of the vehicle. “We’ll find her. All we need is a positive ID on one of the assholes who took her. A plate number even. We’ve got this.”
He wanted to be hopeful. To hang on to the fact that they had at least something to go on now. But the realist in him fought back. Finding the bastards who’d taken Molly was only a small piece of the puzzle. They had to get her back. Alive.
