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So, they were back to her being run off by something Knox said. And the only thing he’d said that she might even have a tiny problem with was…
That’s when he heard a phone that wasn’t his. He’d know that ring tone anywhere.
Tenley was gone, but her phone was here.
No way would she have left her phone. And as he made his way back to the bedroom to grab it, he saw the strap of her go-bag poking out from underneath the bed.
Even if she would’ve left her phone, she definitely wouldn’t have left her go-bag. She guarded that thing like it was an infant.
OK, now he was worried. Something was really wrong here.
Grabbing the phone off the nightstand, heart in his throat, Knox snarled a greeting at the caller.
“I quit watching her for one day—fucking one—and you fell down on the job,” the caller snarled right back. “What the fuck?”
This was getting weirder by the minute. “Ren? Where the hell is Tenley?”
“You were supposed to watch out for her!”
Knox threw his hands up in frustration. “Most people don’t stalk their loved ones twenty-four-seven, Ren. That’s unique to you.”
“And it’s been effective for years. Until you.”
Normally, he wouldn’t snap at Tenley’s go-to guy for all things illegal, dark, and morally questionable. Tenley trusted him, and that’s what mattered. And also, he was scary and if Knox learned anything in prison, it was to not piss off the scary people. So, it was against his better judgement, but totally out of his control when he snapped, “Can we talk about how fucking great you are after you tell me where the fuck Tenley is and what the hell is going on?”
“She missed her check in call with me last night,” Ren explained through what sounded like clenched teeth. “I didn’t follow-up immediately because I knew she was with you and figured you were keeping her safe.”
Knox fought the urge to scream at the guy. “Use your words, Ren. Are you trying to tell me you don’t know where she is, either?”
“When she hadn’t responded by this morning, I checked the security cameras around your property. I saw her let your dog out at six. She was on the porch. That’s the last time I saw her, because the cameras cut out for approximately ten minutes.”
He glanced down at Layla and rubbed his aching forehead. “The dog’s here. So, somewhere between letting the dog out and back in again, she disappeared?”
There was a loaded pause on Ren’s end before he sighed and mumbled, “Why couldn’t she have picked another criminal and not some pretty civilian? No, jackass, I’m saying that right after she let your dog back in, she was grabbed by someone who knew enough to shut the security cameras off.”
“Thadeus,” Knox said. “It has to be, right?”
“I don’t think so. At least, not him personally. Thadeus showed up at your door last night, and again this morning, but he was in the main house during the time she disappeared.”
Knox frowned. “How the fuck do you know that?”
“I hacked the computer in his home office. Saw him on his camera jacking off to Russian octogenarian porn. It was disgusting. Why?”
Well, that brought up a lot of questions he’d never want the answers to. “Um…no reason. So, if it wasn’t Thadeus, who the hell was it?”
“I assumed someone on the board might make a move to keep you away from today’s board meeting, but her going missing was a surprise. I don’t like surprises.”
Ren’s voice dropped an octave on the word surprises, and if Tenley wasn’t in danger, Knox would’ve felt bad for the guy—or woman—who’d surprised Ren.
“I saw that John Richter made a sketchy wire transfer yesterday,” Ren continued, “and I figured it was to take out a hit on you. I have no idea why they’d grab Tenley. It makes no sense.”
Knox idly wondered if Ren would’ve ever told him he thought Richter had put a hit on him, or if he would’ve just let John fucking Wick show up at his door. But he imagined that didn’t matter at the moment. “We can figure out the why later. How can I find her?”
He heard clicking on a computer keyboard over the line before Ren said, “Based on the time she went missing, if someone got her in a vehicle and drove the speed limit, which I assume they would’ve to avoid drawing attention to themselves, by this time, they could’ve only made it one, maybe two towns over. They don’t want her dead, or they would’ve dropped her on your porch.”
The thought alone turned Knox’s blood to ice.
“So, they’ll want to hold her someplace where there aren’t any neighbors,” Ren went on. “Abandoned warehouses, farms, closed businesses…those types of places make great hideouts for kidnappers. Do you know anyplace like that about two towns over?”
