Page 112 of Betrayed

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Logan poked at the Chinese takeout someone had shoved in front of him half an hour ago. Fifteen hours. It’d been nearly fifteen hours since Miles took AJ, and the police had nothing. No signs of where they could be, no clues as to what he was planning. Nothing.

Despite not eating most of the day, Logan couldn’t stomach another bite of the fried rice, so he pushed it away and laid his head down on the conference room table.

They’d set up the command center in the conference room off of the detectives’ squad room hours earlier. Logan had been there most of the day. The walls were closing in, and he was getting antsy.

Zara was curled up in a chair in the corner trying to get a little rest. Logan hoped she was actually succeeding. As soon as they had anything, they’d all jump back into gear.

The door opened, and Logan spun around. Maybe they had a clue.

Will came through the door and shook his head. “Wanna go for a walk?”

“What and risk missing something?”

“We won’t miss anything. But I know you, and you need to burn off some steam.”

Logan rolled the chair back and stood. “You aren’t wrong.”

The two friends went through the bullpen where Will told Adam they were going to wander around the parking lot.

Once outside, Will stayed quiet, but Logan’s brain was spinning at a billion miles a second. His thoughts were running so fast, he couldn’t grasp a single one. But they all revolved around what he’d done wrong.

“I really screwed this up, didn’t I?”

Will shook his head. “No, Miles did.”

“But I could have—”

“Stop. You can’t do that.”

“How can I not? I watched him take her.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I assumed the worst. I should have intervened. I should have assumed the worst in the other direction and tried to save my wife’s life. They could be in Arkansas or New York or who-knows-where by now. I may never see her again.”

The thought hit Logan hard, and he stopped walking, unable to move or breathe.

Never seeing her again wasn’t an option. It couldn’t be. He had to find her. He had to save her from this supposed friend.

He had to hold onto the fact that Miles had made it clear he wanted AJ for himself. Surely that meant he wouldn’t kill her … at least not right away. But it did mean he would likely do other things to her.

Heat rushed through Logan, and he clenched his fists. He couldn’t tolerate the thought.

Will’s hand rested on Logan’s shoulder. “Hey. We’ll find her.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. We keep praying. Miles will mess up at some point. I know it.”

Logan looked up into the clear night sky. “Lord, please. Help us find her. Bring her home safely. Make Miles slip up and do something to reveal himself.”

After thirty minutes in the car, AJ had managed to work the zipper of the hoodie all the way down. Somehow Miles hadn’t noticed. Or if he had, he didn’t care.

But now they were miles out of town. She didn’t even know where they were. She’d been so focused on the zipper she hadn’t really paid attention. But if she could get away, find anyone who could help or even a place to hide, she’d be able to eventually get home. She needed to survive, and the best bet for that was getting away from Miles.

Miles turned the car down a long, tree-lined driveway.