“Kar...” my sister starts, but before she can finish, I hang up the phone. Then I give in to the tears.
Knox
“Hollywood, what’s up, man?” I ask my old friend that I used to be stationed at Fort Hood with. We talk every now and then and catch up, so I’m not surprised he’s calling, but I am in a hurry.
“Hey, you still in Whiskey Run?”
The straight to the point question and tone of his voice puts me on alert. “I am. What do you need?”
“Sorry to just call and ask for a favor, but I need your help. I’m on a mission in Belize right now and have an issue that needs handled.”
The connection is staticky, but I can still understand what he’s saying. “Sure, anything,” I tell him.
“My sister-in-law is on the run, it seems, and from intel it looks like she’s being followed. It may be nothing, but this isn’t like her.”
My phone dings, and Hollywood continues. “I just sent you Karina’s picture and the hotel she checked into.”
“How do you...” I start.
“I have a tracker on her phone. My wife knows about the tracker on her phone, but my sister-in-law does not know about hers.”
“Damn, brother...” I can just imagine how this woman is going to react when she finds out. Fuck, I’m not going to be the one to tell her.
“Look, Karina was kidnapped years ago, and my wife went to save her, so yeah, it gives me a little peace to know where they’re both at.”
I hold my hands up even though he can’t see them. “I get it. No judgment here. So she doesn’t know I’m coming?”
“No, I need to know what’s going on, and I need her safe, Knox.”
“Yeah, no problem. I can go check on her. I’ll get back to you when I’ve got some intel.”
I’m at the office, and a meeting with the rest of the team is about to start. Bear and Sam has been through some shit the past few days, and they’ve called us in to catch us up. I can’t stop thinking about my call with Hollywood, and I open the image of his sister-in-law Karina on my phone. The breath about whooshes out of my lungs. The beautiful dark-haired woman is staring back at me with dark eyes and long lashes. Her puffy lips are a ripe pink and bowed. She’s smiling, holding hands with a little girl. I recognize her as Hollywood’s daughter.
I close the image and open the text with the name of the hotel on it. It’s in a bad part of town in Knoxville, and I’m pretty sure it’s one of those hotels you can rent by the hour. The meeting seems to take forever, and a part of me feels guilty for flaking out when one of my brothers is having problems, but the need to get out of here is immense. As soon as it’s over and Bear leaves, I follow behind him.
I stop in front of Dylan’s desk and wait for him to come out of the conference room. He’s our in-house tech guy and is the best at finding any information we need. I write down Karina’s name and the little bit of information Hollywood told me about her on a piece of paper and set it down in front of him. “Can you text me everything you know on this name right here?”
He picks it up. “Sure, I’ll text you. Anything I need to know about?”
I shake my head. “Not yet.”
I make it to the hotel in twenty minutes and stop at the front desk. “Hi. Can you tell me what room Karina Anderson is in?” I know most hotels don’t give out that type of information, but this is about as seedy of a motel as there is. I don’t think the people working here have the morals to keep information.
“I can’t give you that information,” the man says behind the desk as he rubs his fingertips together, basically asking for cash.
I pull my wallet out and hand over a twenty-dollar bill. “What room?”
He’s itching to take the money. “There’s no Karina Anderson here.”
“Beautiful woman, brown hair, big brown eyes, definitely doesn’t belong in a place like this,” I describe to him, thinking maybe she used an alias.
“Room fifteen. She’s a nice piece of ass. I’ll give you the twenty bucks back if I get to go second.”
I react before I can think twice about it. I put my hand around the man’s neck and pull him to me. There’s no way for him to know that I could end his life with one touch to a certain part of his neck. I wouldn’t even feel guilty about it. “Stay away from her and stay out of her room.”
He claws at his neck, and I toss him away from me before turning and striding down the hall. I follow the room numbers and stop outside her door. I take a few deep breaths because I don’t want her to see me agitated even though I’m completely on edge and I have a feeling I will be until I see her and know she’s okay.