Road Tripped (Satan's Devils MC Utah #1) - Manda Mellett Page 0,47

they’ve been planning this for a while.”

“You might be able to tell more from an external look.”

“Any utility usage in the vacant property?” Piston asks.

There’s a pause, then, “Utilities are connected. Hold on, just getting into the electricity feed… Bingo! Yes, you could be right, Piston. Some electricity being used. Not a lot. Lights at least.”

“Could be security lighting, to make it look like someone’s home,” Snatcher observes. “But we’ll check it out, Duty. Text the address.”

The call is ended when it appears Duty’s got no more. Hopefully it’s enough. Piston’s got out his tablet and is calling up Google Earth. “We need to send up the drone,” he tells Snatcher. “Fuckin’ place is surrounded by high fences and trees.”

Snatcher takes his eyes off the road for a split second to look at the photo Piston’s holding on his lap. “Neighbours?”

“Houses are spread out, VP,” Piston replies, not sounding particularly happy.

“Okay. Tell Preacher where we’re headed, and we’ll go straight there. Get the drone in the air and go from there.”

Piston takes out his phone and puts a call through to the sergeant-at-arms driving the SUV behind.

“How can you be sure that’s even where they’ve got the girl?” Road breaks his self-imposed silence and speaks. “Surely they’d know their phone call could be traced?”

“We don’t,” Snatcher answers him. “But the parents were told not to go to the cops. Without their help, the kidnappers will hopefully assume they haven’t got the capability to trace a call. The number was a burner phone, so maybe they think they are safe as long as there’s no police sniffing around the parents’ home, or BOLOs put out for any sightings of the missing girl.”

“It’s worth checking out.” I supplement the VP’s observations. “Sure, to us, it’s obvious, but we don’t know who we’re up against. We suspect it was planned, that the kid’s routine was known, but it could still be opportunistic. It could be they’re not too experienced nor used to covering all bases. What’s obvious to us is still worth checking out.”

“Swift’s right. And back in Utah, they’ll still be looking for other leads. It’s up to us to get confirmation this is either the place or a bust for the purposes of elimination.”

“We’re not dealing with experts.” Snatcher takes over again when Piston finishes. “When we landed, I got more information. They’ve asked for too much. Stormy’s run the parents’ financials. Professional criminals would know to ask for less, where the parents have assets that can be liquidated immediately, or loans taken out. Whoever has taken the kid hasn’t done their research, or doesn’t know how this works. There’s no way in hell the parents can raise that amount.”

“On the other hand, they might know that,” Piston interjects. “They might have a vendetta against the parents and want them to suffer mental torture.”

“Which again means they could be new to the kidnapping lark, if it’s not the money they’re after but about causing distress.” I pause, then my voice hardens. “If they know they can’t afford to pay up, chances are the kid won’t see her parents again unless we get to her fast.”

Road stiffens as I spell out the consequences that failure of our mission could entail.

“We move quickly,” Snatcher agrees. “Because while I hate to admit it, Swift could have a good point.”

“Where the fuck do we start?” Road asks.

“We need more information. Like how many people are there, what their firepower is. If this is the right location, where precisely they are holding the girl. Finding where they’ve got her is one thing, getting her safely out, another. We don’t want to bust in all guns blazing to find she’s directly in the line of fire. The drone should give us some info. Hopefully, someone conveniently shows their face so we can identify them and start making sense of why she was taken.”

“Can I see?” Road leans over and gestures to the tablet Piston is holding.

Piston passes it over, and Road studies the house intently, then uses Google Earth to examine the area. “It’s not going to be easy, is it? There’s a garage where vehicles could be hidden and overhanging trees blocking the line of sight to the windows.”

“It’s all we’ve got, Road. We may need to get closer to have better visuals. The drone will show us the best way to approach.”

Another call comes in. Again it’s put on speaker. Duty’s been working hard and found us a place to park from where we can