Page 96 of Rekindle My Heart

“I heard a rushing sound, like water. Maybe they’re by one of the dams,” Amy added.

Ryan checked his watch. “I have to get to the station.”

“Wait. How will he know if you deleted the files? He tipped his hand. All the files are protected, and he’d have to sign in to access them. If he set up a monitoring system, we will have him with his hand in the cookie jar.”

“If it were me, I’d hack in and bounce it off VPNs like it was a rubber ball.”

“But does Sarge have that much skill?” Amy asked.

“Stevens sure as hell does, but are they working together?” Trey pulled up his computer while they talked. Probably looking for a connection between Stevens and Johnson. Lindstrom had the computer know-how, but he was chilling in Stillwater Correctional Facility at the moment.

Time was ticking. Ryan was one foot out the door when he stopped and turned back. “Don’t come to the station.”

“Why?” Amy asked, her expression puzzled.

“I should have thought of this. I bet he has a camera hidden at my desk. Hell, they probably hacked into my computer and are accessing my laptop camera. If I disable it, he’ll know I figured it out.”

“Okay. No talk of the case in your cubicle or by your computer.”

Ryan closed the door. Running down the stairs, his mind worked on ways he could use it to his advantage. But if he had malware, Johnson would know he was onto him.

Fuck. He had to find Erica and now.

He was pulling into the station when his phone rang. Fenley’s name popped up on his dash display. “Yeah.”

“We caught a break. I checked with dispatch. We got a call from Travis Stevens’s assistant. Seems his boat was stolen about two hours ago.”

“Really? Was he planning on a late-night cruise?”

“No, he’s out of town, but has a camera surveillance system on the boat. It flagged movement.”

Ryan’s ears perked up at this. Moving water in the background of the call. The horn—it was a boat horn. He’d heard them the day he was following Erica and Stevens.

“But we can’t put an APB out, or Johnson will know and…” He couldn’t bring himself to voice the rest of that thought because it was a very real possibility that it would end with Erica not breathing.

He glanced to the ceiling. Please don’t let that happen.

“We got lucky. He has a tracking system on the boat.”

“Thank God for rich people.” Ryan exhaled. “Where is she? I’m leaving now.”

He calculated how long it would take for him to get his cousin’s boat on the water. She might not have that much time.

“I’ve called in the sheriff’s department. They already have a boat docked. Don’t worry, I didn’t go through official channels.”

“We need a plan. If he’s on the water, he’ll see them coming.”

“I reached out to a few people I trust. We’ll meet you at the dock. Sending you the address now.”

Ryan looked at the time. It was cutting it close. If he didn’t delete the information off the drives in… forty minutes… would Johnson kill Erica? Would he anyway?

Twenty minutes later, Ryan was on the dock with two Sheriff’s deputies, Trey, and Amy. Two boats were docked. One was the county boat with the sheriff’s logo on the side, and the other was a fancy speed boat with a cuddy.

“Good, you’re here.” Trey pulled gear from a large duffle bag.

Ryan broke every traffic law on the way. “What’s the plan?”

“How are your swimming skills?” Amy asked and handed him a wet suit.