Page 24 of Knox
Chapter 12
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KNOX SAT WITH THE TEAMin the bullpen, eyeing the big screen.Emily had pinged Quinn’s cell phone, tracking her movements from several days ago.Quinn had walked down the block where they’d seen the footage of her, and then she’d been driven away in a vehicle—likely against her will.There was no chance she’d leave her car running on the side of the road and simply disappear.
Fucking terrorist assholes.
Emily and Logan stood side-by-side at the front of the room, Logan typing on a laptop as Emily briefed the team.“From here,” she said, pointing to an intersection several blocks away from Quinn’s car, “her phone next pinged at the outskirts of the city.The last ping was from a cell tower several miles away,” she said, showing them the location.
Knox frowned, studying the map.
“That road heads right to a small airport,” Gage said, his brows creasing.
Knox looked over, his heart racing.He could hear his heartbeat thudding in his ears, his entire existence suddenly narrowing to the point.Quinn.Her missing cell phone.An airport.
Emily nodded, slanting a brief glance his way.“Yes.The final ping from her phone was at a cell tower there, half a mile from the airport.”
Knox’s stomach dropped.
Logan looked up from his laptop.“There’s nothing from her phone after that.No texts.No further pings from other cell towers.At that point, it was either turned off, destroyed, or taken out of the service area.”
Knox blinked, shock coursing through him.“Wouldn’t they eventually turn it back on?Say they flew to L.A.or wherever.Wouldn’t the towers there pick it up?”
Holt muttered a curse.“That’s a small regional airport.It’s possible they took her somewhere to catch another flight.”
“Who the hell are these guys?”Knox asked, growing angry.“The terrorists we’ve already ID’d?We have their photographs and names.We should be able to ID her kidnapper.Can’t we track their movements?Follow their cell signals?We need to head to the airport!”
The room was silent.
“Only some of them were arrested over the weekend,” Knox continued.“We need to find out who’s missing and start from there.Do they have driver’s licenses?Passports?They fucking took Quinn against her will, and we’re just sitting on our asses!”
Xaden came hustling into the bullpen, his own cell phone in hand.“I just spoke with the Seattle PD.They’ve got the vehicle we found the empty crates in secured at an impound lot.Coop and I will head over there now to meet with detectives and thoroughly search the vehicle for clues.Forensics detectives can take samples to see if Quinn or anyone else was inside the trunk.”
Knox swallowed, bile rising in the back of his throat.It felt like the room was beginning to spin as nausea briefly overtook him.His hands fisted as he sucked in a deep breath.Someone shoved a bottle of water his way, and he took a few gulps, centering himself.
Fucking hell.Not only was Quinn gone, but she’d been forced into a goddamn trunk.Was she alive?Hurt?Was she the one who’d written the wordhelpon the side of a wooden crate?
He had no idea what horrors she was enduring, and all of the options made him sick.
“What about Quinn’s vehicle?”Logan asked.“It’s obviously not still sitting on the side of the road.”
“Quinn’s car was towed to another lot,” Xaden said.“A tow company picked it up Friday night.We’ll start by searching the self-driving vehicle and then move to hers.I’m not certain we’ll find any additional clues in Quinn’s car.”
Knox’s gaze slanted his way.“No.She willingly exited her own vehicle and followed that man down the block.We saw it on the footage.No one was near her car until it was eventually towed away.”Guilt churned through him.He should’ve been with her that night.He should’ve called and checked in to make sure she was okay.If Quinn had told him she was following a goddamn suspected terrorist, there was no way in hell he’d let her go through with it.What had she been thinking?
“Do you think she was trying to track him?”Emily asked, nervously biting her lip.“She had cameras and tracking devices.”
Knox looked over at her.“I think that’s exactly what she was doing.”
“I had a missed call from her that night,” Cooper told them, looking chagrinned.“I didn’t think much of it at the time, but it was after I’d walked her to her car.I assumed she’d have left a message or kept calling if it was important.Maybe she saw something suspicious and followed him on her own.”
