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“She’s been home for nine weeks, Grace.Nine. What kind of job lets you have nine weeks of vacation?”
“I don’t know, the FBI maybe? Or she may have on an extended leave, especially if she went through something on her last assignment that left her shaken,” his cousin suggested gently and that fit more than her having unending vacation hours. “It could explain why she didn’t say anything about what she did until it landed in her lap. From the sound of the agents outside, we’re seriously lucky that she was here to get a jump on things.”
“That was clear by how quickly she was able to get info from Isabelle’s computer.”
“I don’t know how they were able to find the report so quickly…what?” Grace asked as an odd expression crossed his face.
“Justine was at my place…for the first time overnight,” he added as her brow rose in surprise. “She stayed upstairs while I went down to see who was there but overheard Hailey telling me that Isabelle was missing. She asked me to send Isabelle’s phone number to her. That she had friends in D.C. that might be able to try and track a location on it. I didn’t want to think it necessary but figured it wouldn’t hurt anything. I texted herlater that they were filing a missing persons’ report, so she’d know I didn’t know how long I’d be here.”
“You think she had her team looking for it—that she was already certain it was a type of situation she’d dealt with when she got here, don’t you?”
“Her warning…the way she handled Dad…yeah, I do,” he said resting his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. “Which makes her being out there worse yet better at the same time. I don’t want her in any sort of danger but if she and her team really are the best…”
“You wouldn’t want anyone else out there looking for Isabelle right now. I get it. I’m just thankful that the two of you feel the way you do about each other, that the feud means nothing because it means that she’ll do whatever she can to bring Isabelle home to us. That’s all any of us want right now,” Grace said, and he nodded as the door opened and Jeremy popped his head around it.
“The agents out there said that the ones from D.C. are heading to wherever Justine went to check things out with a full tactical team. Said that she’d made contact with the men they think took Isabelle,” he said, and Tyler let out a quick breath of relief when it seemed he hadn’t overheard anything he and Grace were discussing before coming in. It stuck in his throat though knowing that if Justine had truly ‘made contact’ it likely meant she was now at their mercy with just two agents as backup until the others arrived.
“Thanks,” Grace said, and Tyler nodded his.
“Who’d have thought that Justine Crawford would be an FBI agent? I mean damn…she hardly looks any older than the twins do,” Jeremy said shaking his head and Tyler’s jaw tightened in irritation at the look in his eyes.
“It’s why she was chosen for her job apparently,” Grace stated calming him a hint as Jeremy let the look fade. “Theagents outside said that their team handles the biggest cases, tracks down the worst groups, so we’re lucky that Justine was here and could help. If she finds Isabelle and can bring her home…that’s all that matters right now.”
“Well I’m pretty sure she’s about to have half the sheriff’s department following her with their tongues hanging out after seeing her in that skirt. She might be a Crawford but she’s hot,” Jeremy said with a shrug and Tyler got up with a hard glare his way.
“Isabelle’s missing and you’re checking out the only person that could get her back? Seriously?” he seethed wishing he could deck his older by seven years cousin for that quip because Justine was his and no one else should be talking about how gorgeous and sexy she was but him. No one.
“I think you should go back out,” Grace warned, and Jeremy held up his hands, backing away with another shrug that made him want to hit him even more. “Calm down or everyone’s going to figure out what you’re really upset about, yeah?”
“Yeah,” he grumbled, wishing he was next to Justine wherever she was.
∞∞∞
Justine slid the little tube that looked like it was simply lipstick back into her pocket. In reality, it detected hidden cameras and thankfully, it didn’t seem like there were any in the barn. There were hints of movement around her, but she couldn’t see anyone else from her cell and she didn’t want to risk bringing Harvey and Wendell back inside if she called out for Isabelle.
Her best move was to get out of the cell and find the girl, figure out how to get them out of here without being caughtbecause she didn’t trust the two agents there as backup would get to them fast enough to help. It was better she rely on herself, especially since there hadn’t been any communications from Moe since she’d gotten thrown in here over an hour ago.
It was after four o’clock now. Her team had landed but they weren’t here yet and before they stormed the place, they’d do more reconnaissance to ensure the team could get in and out safely. Even bringing a SWAT team wouldn’t hasten their movements, in fact, it’d likely delay them further so they could come up with a breach plan. She didn’t know how long they truly had—not if they had some sort of plans tonight. While she might be safe enough that didn’t mean Isabelle was.
The lock on the bars across the opening of the stall was different from the padlock, but thankfully, she was able to reach it. It was more difficult to do with just one hand, but the lock-pick set that was hidden within the decorative hair comb that she wore gave her a fighting chance at getting it open.
It took over an hour for it to work, but the lock finally snicked open, and she pushed the bars open just enough to slip out then shut it back. With it closed, it wouldn’t be obvious right off in case they came back in before she could get out.
There were several girls in stalls up and down the walkway, most of them appeared to be drugged and barely conscious, and while she wanted to help every single one of them, they’d need medics or at least to be carried out, which meant leaving them for now. The sound of sniffling further down caught her attention, and she slid down, seeing three more girls in similar states as the other five, but the last stall was a different story.
“Isabelle,” she said softly, pulling the girls’ head up and relief swept through her seeing her eyes weren’t the same glazed, vacant stare as the others’ were. On top of that, her outfit while dirty, didn’t seem to be in the varying stages of torn shambles as the others wore.
“What? You’re…Justine?” Isabelle gasped, her eyes blinking, and she shook her head as though trying to confirm she was truly there.
“Shh,” she cautioned, glancing down the walkway towards the front of the barn before going to work on the lock of Isabelle’s stall door. “Moe, I found her…Moe. Do you copy?” she added not hearing anything on the other side as Isabelle’s brows furled tighter.
“What’s going on? Who’s Moe?” Isabelle asked, thankfully in a near whisper this time.
“He runs tech for my FBI team,” Justine answered her, seeing the girls’ eyes widen further. “Your sister was worried when she didn’t hear from you last night. She went to Tyler around six this morning to get him to help her tell your parents you were missing. Since I was in town, when the report was picked up, they asked me to go over and see what I could find out before agents from Seattle could get there.”
“My dad would never…”
“He wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t really have a choice,” she said as the lock slid open, and she slipped into the stall with Isabelle to check on her first. There was a bruise across her face, but other than that, she didn’t look bad. “I promise, I’m going to get you out of here. Did they hurt you more than this?” she added brushing the hair from Isabelle’s face to see the intensity of the bruising.
