word Aiden didn’t know—one that got Enrico’s attention, and a frown. “They’re coming out.”
Aiden watched the open doors of a hangar. Clarke and Bridget strode out, walking like a couple. They might be close, but he could see the tension in both of them. If Aiden had to guess, he’d say Clarke likely held a gun pointed at Bridget’s ribs.
And they were headed for…
Aiden glanced at possible options of where they might be going.
“The chopper.” Enrico muttered a curse word and pulled out his phone.
Sure enough, Clarke walked Bridget to a helicopter. The rotors were already turning. Ready to go.
But where?
“Their phones are still in the hangar.” Enrico slammed his palm down on the dash. “No way to track them if they fly away in that thing. We need to get in there.”
“If we do that, airport security will come gunning for us.”
The guy next to Aiden shifted. “I thought we were following them so we can grab whatever they’re after?”
Enrico’s expression turned thunderous. “I don’t pay you to think. Good thing, too, because you’d have been fired a long time ago.” It was clear the implication of “fired” meant “dead.”
The guy stiffened. The driver spoke next. “I can try and follow the chopper?”
Enrico flashed gritted teeth while the driver flinched.
Aiden wanted to be amused by the fact Enrico had clearly inherited his brother’s less than stellar lieutenants. Or, given all the men he’d lost recently, he was now scraping the barrel with who he’d brought along.
However, given the number of guns in this car? Aiden decided not to laugh at Enrico’s misfortune. He’d only wind up getting shot.
Instead of being easy to dispose of, Aiden needed to figure out how to be useful. “You want to track her?” He asked it while his mind raced, and then he remembered something. Thankfully, he thought fast enough to not give away the fact he was stalling. Which, of course, he was. “I know for a fact she’s wearing a GPS tracker.”
“So track her.”
Aiden shook his head. Then he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. “I’ll get her location. Just give me a phone to use, and I’ll call the person who can track her. I’ll get them to tell me exactly where she goes.”
As he spoke, the helicopter took off and they watched Clarke and Bridget fly away.
Everything in Aiden wanted to bust out of the car and run after her. He would probably call her name like he’d done before. Looking like a lovesick fool—which was how he’d ended up in Capeira’s clutches in the first place.
“Give me a phone.” Aiden knew this was his chance to stay alive and get Bridget back from Clarke. “You want to know where they’re going? I can find out for you.”
Since the only number he knew by heart was the non-emergency number for the police station, Aiden called it and got Eric’s phone. When the fed answered with, “Special Agent Cullings,” all four of the men in the car stiffened. Enrico tried to play it off, but he wasn’t immune to being in such close proximity to a fed. Even just over the phone.
“It’s Officer Donaldson. I need to speak with Millie.” Desperation leached through his tone, and it wasn’t a lie. He could admit to himself he was desperate to get Bridget back. He didn’t like the idea of her being in Clarke’s clutches. What did that guy even want with her, anyway? Surely not the database still. He’d had the chance to get her password before and hadn’t taken it.
“Aiden?”
Relief washed over him at the sound of Millie’s voice. “I need you to look up Bridget’s GPS location and tell me where she is—where she’s headed.”
He didn’t have a “duress” phrase with Millie. The Last Chance PD had a code phrase, a generic sentence that, said over the phone or radio, meant the officer was in a situation where they were being forced to do something against their will, unable to say that in plain terms. A way to ask for help.
“Is everything okay, Aiden?”
He had to reply as though nothing was wrong, except his responses to the details of his request. The fact Bridget was missing.
“It will be when I’ve found her.” He tried to sound exasperated, not knowing what Millie knew. He assumed she was aware that at least one of them, if not both, had been kidnapped. He also had to play this in a way that was unsurprising to Enrico.
“Agreed. One sec, I’ll look