Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,116

van, Troy rebound her wrists but left the ties a little looser this time, helped her up into the van while Hutchins took off with Sam.

“I’ll leave the tape off,” Troy said, “but you say a word or make any trouble, I’ll truss you up like a Christmas goose. You got it?”

She nodded. It wasn’t long before Sam was back in the van lying beside her. They could talk, but she didn’t dare say much. Keeping her voice below the level of the engine noise, she looked into Sam’s frightened face.

“Your dad will come,” she whispered. “All we have to do is wait.”

Sam blinked as if he were fighting tears and glanced away. She had a hunch he was thinking the same thing she was. How is Ben going to find us?

“He’ll come,” she promised. “No matter what.”

This time Sam nodded, and she thought he looked a little less afraid.

* * *

The eight o’clock meeting led nowhere.

“No word on the street,” Ben said as they sat down at the conference room table, each carrying a mug of coffee. “No one’s heard a fucking thing.”

“Same here,” Jake said. “Guy’s definitely lying low. I’ve called in some markers. Sooner or later, something’s bound to turn up.”

“I tracked down the kid who left the box,” Trace said. “He was a teenager who happened to be ridin’ his bike in the area. Said a guy paid him twenty bucks to deliver the box to the Neighborhood Center. From the kid’s description, the guy was Hispanic.”

“Santos?” Ben asked.

“Probably one of his lackeys.”

Alex raked a hand through his dark gold hair. Frustration turned his GQ good looks hard. “I took another shot at the employees Claire works with at the center. Either they’re all professional liars or they’ve never heard of Diego Santos or anyone who works for him.”

Ben’s fingers tightened around his coffee mug. “Then how the hell did they know she’d be home?”

Alex set his coffee mug down on the long mahogany table. “Might be they were watching her office. When she left, they followed her back to your place.”

“Makes the most sense,” Ben said. “But I was at her office morning and night, even drove by a couple of times during the day, and I never spotted anyone.”

“I know none of us are big believers in coincidence,” Trace drawled, “but maybe this once, they got lucky. Maybe they found out Claire was stayin’ with Ben. Maybe they got his address and just happened to be driving by, checking things out, when Claire showed up.”

Ben rolled it around in his head. Didn’t like it. Couldn’t make himself believe it. “Too many maybes for me. I’m going back out, prowl the streets a little more, see if I can dig up something we can use.”

“Keep us posted.” Trace rose as Ben pushed up from his chair.

“Call me if you find Santos and need some backup,” Jake said.

“Same goes.” Alex clenched his jaw.

“We’ll be there if you need us,” Trace finished.

Ben just nodded. Walking out of the conference room, he headed for the door.

It was getting late. He spent most of the night driving the streets on the dark side of Houston. In his black SUV, with his black hair and swarthy complexion, he could move around without drawing much attention. He set up meets with more of his informants. They showed, but said no one was talking. Santos was powerful, and a real badass. No one wanted to end up like Michael Sullivan.

Unable to face the empty house, Ben returned to the office. He slept a couple of hours on the couch in the employee lounge, but was wide-awake before dawn, restless to get started even as tired as he was. He made a pot of coffee, poured some into a go-cup and drove back to his house.

Maybe they had missed something. Maybe Claire had left some sort of clue. Maybe Sam had.

He fed Hercules and put out food for Pepper, but the dog refused to eat. Clearly the dog was as distraught over the missing boy as Ben was.

For nearly an hour, he searched the empty house, looking for something that would give him a lead. Trying not to blame himself, knowing if he went down that road he would be as useless to Claire and Sam as he had been yesterday before Jake had squared his ass away.

But the house was as void of clues as it had been before. Going back outside, Ben walked the area around the perimeter, then headed for