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She glanced at door, not wanting to have to go out there to even get her bag but she didn’t have much of a choice. She shut down her computer, then slid out of the room, thankful that Hailey had gone back out to be with her mom hours ago. Tyler had brought her something to eat, which honestly just made her fall harder for him, but it was needed since she’d skipped breakfast to dive into things earlier. Now, with it being past noon, she needed to get a move on in order to scope things out.
Daytime made it easier to see where she was going, but it also made it easier for her to be spotted, which was why she had to change. Her best defense was to appear to be exactly what hewanted. That would make him more likely to simply attempt to take her rather than to harm her if discovered.
She saw heads turn her way, the anxiousness in the eyes belied even the irritation of who she was it seemed, and she paused just for a moment to tell them, “The rest of my team will be here in a couple of hours, we have a potential lead and I’ll be going to look into it in a few minutes.”
She didn’t wait for questions. She slipped out the door and hurried to her car, grabbing up the pink bag from the trunk, despising the very sight of it.
“What’s going on?” Tyler asked, following her down the hallway as she moved back towards the twins’ room, his eyes narrowing on the bag. “What is that?”
“The best way in,” she answered him, well aware of the stares from the rest of the family coming down the hallway. “It’s my specialty. I’m good at what I do, no matter what family I’m from, my job is to protect, and that’s what I’ll do if I find Isabelle.”
“Justine…” he said, and she gave a slight shake of her head before moving into the room and on into the twin’s bathroom to change out of her slacks and blouse and into the items from the bag. She paired the short skirt and crop top with the slightly heavier chunky boots, which allowed her to slip her drop gun into a little holster inside it. Not knowing what she was about to walk into meant being prepared. Hell, not even Dynamite’s group had discovered the gun when they searched her, and she’d had to take the shoes off for them even.
The new haircut helped frame her face even better as she pulled the rest back into two braided pigtails, and she slicked on enough makeup to hide the tiredness on her face but not look overly done. The only jewelry she put on was a cuff bracelet that wouldn’t make any noise and a pair of earrings that disguised her earwig. She looked like she was heading for a night out which worked well depending on how she came across Grimes.
She tossed the rest of her things back into the bag before putting her real clothes into her backpack, adding her laptop to it, before turning on her earwig to check that it was working before heading out. “Moe, do you copy?”
“Loud and clear. Same distress signal?” he asked, and she confirmed it even as her stomach churned at the thought of having to use it. Hopefully her team would be closer than when Dynamite’s group came after her the first time. She’d gotten herself out without help, which was good considering the nearest team was fifteen minutes from her when that happened. She just wished she’d been closer to get to her asset on time.
“Same as always,” she told him, before taking her bags to head out, certain there’d be more questions from the family, but she wasn’t in a headspace to answer any of them. She pushed open the door, her feet nearly faltering seeing Tyler still in the hallway, filling it and the way his brow rose taking in her outfit beneath her jacket made her heart flutter.
“Just?” he said quietly as his brows knitted together. “What the hell are you wearing?”
“Camouflage,” she answered with a shrug. “I need to go, now.”
“No, not like this,” he stated. “Whatever you’re thinking…”
“This is my job, Tyler,” she said staring hard at him. “I was handpicked for it. It’s not my first foray into this madness. I’ll be fine, but the sooner I leave, the sooner I can make sure that Isabelle is there and safe. So let me do my job.”
“I don’t like it,” he argued although he took a step back from her to let her pass.
If Tyler’s face was expressive, Caroline’s was comical when she spotted her. If the situation weren’t so serious, she’d laugh, but that would certainly not make things with the Andersons any better.
“Justine?” Grace said, her eyes widening in shock as she came back into the room. “What did I miss?”
“The agents from Seattle and I are heading out to follow a lead,” Justine explained evenly. “It’s best to come in under the radar with these things. We’ll let you know as soon as we know anything.”
“Please find my sister,” Hailey said, her face drawn, and Justine gave her nod and gentle smile before slipping out of the house and over to the agents.
“Going clubbing?” one of them asked, his brow rising, a glint in his eyes that she despised.
“You have two seconds to get serious or you can stay here and babysit more,” she warned, heading to her car. “I need you to follow me back to my hotel for me to drop off my car and then we’re heading out. If you want to play asshole games, not take this seriously, not acknowledge that there is at least one seventeen-year-old girl that’s likely been abducted by some sick wack job and potentially doing god only knows what to her, I’ll have no problem reporting you to your bosses,” she added when the smirk stayed on his face. “You have no clue what you’re about to walk into, I do. So…what will it be?”
“Sorry ma’am,” his partner said, giving the guy a nudge erasing the look from his face. “Which way to the hotel?”
“It’s straight shot down the road once you take a left out of here. You won’t miss it,” she assured him using the time in her car to get her shit together. The last thing any of them needed was her heading in with the recent past in the front of her mind.
She passed along the address when she got into the agent’s SUV, letting them drive while she looked over the satellite photos of the farm on her laptop. The more prepared she was the better for all of them.
They were a couple miles out when she had them stop, pulling off onto a side road that would conceal the vehicle. Withher binoculars, she surveyed the area, finding a van that set off alarms all around her. The house seemed quiet as did the large barn just beyond it, but all of the windows in the barn were boarded up, telling her Grimes hadn’t turned it into a second house, so to say, for his brother resulting in the massive electric bills associated with it. The padlock on the door was all she needed to know they were in the right place, but she pulled back quickly when someone headed out of the house to get into the van.
She turned the earwig back on, telling Moe, “We have activity. There’s an old white cargo van that’s pulling out now. Only one occupant that I can see in it.”
“I’ll let the rest of the team know. They’re headed your way now, but it’ll be a couple hours before they can get there still.”
“Understood. I’m going to go get a closer look. Don’t,” she added when Moe hesitated to confirm he copied. “I’m dressed so if I’m spotted I can play it off easily. Just make sure to listen for any distress calls.”
“Be careful, Justine. There’s no telling exactly what these guys are capable of,” Moe cautioned, and Justine fought to not laugh at the absurdity of the warning. Of the entire team, she was the one most aware of that. She was the only one that’d been in the midst of the vile, gotten close enough to touch the repugnant hands of the bastards they’d brought down.
