Page 86 of Rescuing Brinley

“If you give me the name of the detective you talked to, I can call him and see if he can get some off-duty officers to join the search.”

“Anyone know anyone with access to a helicopter?”

Shadow closed his eyes in gratitude. He didn’t know what he’d do without his team at his back. He’d be lost.

“Right, okay. Atlas, you’re in charge of organizing the search. Everyone needs to check in every fifteen minutes. The last thing we need is anyone getting lost out there.”

Shadow would’ve laughed at that if he wasn’t so upset. They all knew why Zamora had put Atlas in charge…he was the weakest link when it came to sense of direction. It was better for everyone if Atlas stayed back and organized things.

The next twenty minutes were spent sorting out logistics. Figuring out who would be going where and setting up the search grid. Shadow wanted to get the hell out of there and find Brinley, but he knew they stood a better chance of finding her if they were methodical about their efforts.

Right before they were about to head out, the phone on the table rang once more. Zamora answered.

“Shots were fired at the motel,” Tex said without preamble, his tone low. “Apparently Marden and Black decided not to surrender…and they weren’t going down without trying to take as many people with them as they could. They threw open the door to the motel and began indiscriminatingly shooting. Thankfully they had shit aim, and they didn’t manage to kill any of the officers or innocent bystanders on the scene before they were neutralized.”

Shadow’s blood ran cold. Even though he and his team and all the volunteers were ready and willing to do whatever it took to find her, in the back of his mind, he was hoping that either Tamika or the man she’d brought to Alaska with her would cave. Would admit to what they’d done with Brinley.

That was no longer an option.

“Fuck.”

“Damn.”

“Pieces of shit.”

Shadow agreed with his friends. He felt no sympathy for either Tamika or Marden. They’d gotten exactly what they deserved. But Brinley didn’t deserve whatever had happened to her. She was innocent in all this, and the need to find her was almost overwhelming.

He couldn’t even think about the fact that if it was so easy for Louis Marden to shoot at innocent bystanders at the motel, he probably wouldn’t have blinked about doing the same to Brinley.

He knew the odds of her being all right were low, and the chances of her being alive were even lower, but that didn’t mean he was going to give up. He couldn’t. She was his entire world. His everything.

She was out there. Somewhere. And he was going to do whatever he could to find her and bring her home.

“Go,” Atlas said. “As Zamora said, check in every fifteen minutes. Call in anything out of the ordinary you find. I’ll keep track and send backup if anyone finds anything that looks like evidence. Move fast but carefully.”

Shadow was glad to finally get going. Their target search area was huge, but at least they had a direction. A place to start. He was heading toward the door without remembering to tell himself to move. His team was at his back. He had to believe they’d be able to find Brinley. Because the alternative was unthinkable.

He loved her. And he was done holding back. When he found her, those would be the first words out of his mouth. He didn’t know what the future held, but whatever it was, he wanted Brinley by his side. How she’d become so vital to him in such a short period of time, Shadow didn’t know. He also didn’t care.

She was his other half, his better half, and he’d treasure her for the rest of his life.

He just needed to find her first.

* * *

Brinley wanted to stop.

Simply lay down and sleep.

But instinctively she knew if she did, it would be even harder to get up again.

Or she wouldn’t get up at all.

She’d managed to finally stand and walk about an hour ago, but every step was torture. She’d fallen several times, tripping over the uneven terrain. She hadn’t seen one car or even heard anything other than the wind in the trees or the occasional bird.

It wasn’t dark, but that weird nighttime color northern Alaska got this time of year. Where the sun never quite set all the way. She actually loved it, loved going for a walk at eleven at night and seeing people out running, walking, and enjoying the warmer weather and longer days.

But right now, even though she appreciated that she wasn’t trying to find her way in the pitch black, all Brinley could think about was stopping and taking a nap. Her throat felt like it was on fire and she couldn’t even touch the skin around her neck without shards of pain shooting through her body.