Speaking of JJ…
“I think you’ll have company on your trip,” she said, speaking directly to Reese. “When I called RT for housin’ options, he mentioned he was sendin’ someone down there ahead of y’all. A Decker Bromwell, I think. Said he’d be waitin’ at the airport.”
“Good. We could use the help.” Unless this was the guy who had failed already. If so, it was probably a waste of manpower.
As far as Reese was concerned, the more boots on the ground they had the better, but he preferred someone capable. Although he wouldn’t stop until they found Juliet Prince, he wouldn’t deny he hoped they found her sooner rather than later. As it was, they’d been at it full throttle ever since Kylie’s funeral, and they had little to nothing to show for it.
Sure, Z was busy perfecting their facial recognition algorithm, and they’d compiled a list of people they knew to have associated with Juliet at some point in her life. Thanks to social media posts mostly, they’d documented quite a few people they were keeping an eye on to ensure she didn’t seek their help, but so far, those had turned up nothing.
Hunting door to door was their only option. And if that didn’t work … well, Reese was fairly certain it was going to come down to drawing Juliet out from her hiding spot.
Truth was, he wasn’t quite ready to see what that entailed. Whatever it was, it didn’t sound good. For anyone.
Two hours later, they were boarding Sniper 1 Security’s private jet.
It had taken less than an hour for the team to get everything in order, another half hour to swing through and grab go-bags and whatnot. JJ and Charlie had stayed behind, agreeing to get access to the camera feeds Z was monitoring so they would know what they were dealing with.
“What’re we waitin’ on?” Reese asked Brantley as they sat on the tarmac.
“We’ve got one more comin’.”
Reese sighed. “You couldn’t talk him out of it?”
Brantley glanced over, frowned. “Who?”
“Travis? I assume he’s joinin’ us?”
Brantley relaxed again, stared straight ahead. “Actually, no. He and Gage are sittin’ tight. I promised to keep them in the loop.”
Reese knew his shock was evident. Never would he have predicted Travis would back off of this. Sure, the man had calmed some since Kylie’s funeral, what with the tree-planting ceremonies and all, but Reese knew he hadn’t stopped completely.
“You tell him where we’re goin’?”
“I did.”
That was the first mistake.
It all made perfect sense now. There was no reason for Travis to make the trek as long as he knew where she was. He understood Brantley’s need to ensure Travis realized how hard they were working on this. After all, they all felt responsible because they hadn’t caught Juliet back when she’d kidnapped Kate. However, Reese knew Travis. He figured it was safe to say he knew the man better than Brantley did. Had to do with the fact he had worked for Travis for so long, spent time with him and his family over the years while Brantley was still in the navy. And what Brantley didn’t know was that Travis had gotten pretty good at keeping his hands clean in matters such as this one.
He would bet good money Travis was already on the phone with Max Adorite. Reese still fully believed that man was going to interfere in this investigation, and they’d be lucky to find Juliet Prince’s body when all was said and done.
And while he didn’t give a shit what happened to Juliet, he did not want to see anyone go down for it. Not Travis, not Brantley, not anyone close to them. Not even Max. Everyone who knew Max knew what the man was capable of. But just because he hadn’t been caught up to this point didn’t mean he’d be home free forever.
With a sigh, Reese glanced at Brantley. “Who’re we waitin’ for then?”
“Magnus,” Brantley said so softly Reese hardly heard him.
Reese knew he shouldn’t look at Trey, but he couldn’t help himself. The man had no idea he was about to be thrust into a situation that might not be comfortable for him. No one knew exactly what had happened on New Year’s Eve when he left Moonshiners at the same time as Magnus Storme, but it wasn’t difficult to draw his own conclusions.
“There he is,” Brantley announced.
All eyes went to the door, remained there until Magnus appeared, a four-legged partner with him.
“Glad you could make it,” Brantley said, half standing and holding out his hand to Magnus.
“Glad I could, too.” Magnus shook Brantley’s hand and nodded toward the dog at the end of the leash in his other hand. “This is Adira. She’s my most reliable tracker. If anyone can help us, she can.”
Reese’s attention shifted to Tesha, who had been snoozing on the bed Reese had brought for her. Now she was sitting, head lifted, eyes locked on the newcomer.
“Don’t worry,” Magnus said, as though reading Reese’s mind. “She’s good with other dogs.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “But is Tesha?”
Clearly he heard him because Magnus answered with, “Absolutely. These two ladies were introduced long ago. In fact, Adira’s helped with some of Tesha’s training.” He lowered his voice, commanded Adira with a single word. “Greet.”
Tail wagging, Adira trotted the few feet to Tesha, then leaned in and nuzzled her nose before sitting once more.
Tesha was instantly up, her full body wagging as she whimpered at Adira.
“Home,” Magnus instructed.
And just like that, Adira turned into a lovable pup, yipping and hopping like she’d been born to play with Tesha.
“I’m impressed,” Brantley told Magnus.
“You should be. I’m damned good at what I do.”
Reese barked a laugh as he caught the way Magnus was looking at Trey when he spoke. When Trey’s gaze slammed into Reese, he clamped his mouth shut, trying to hold it in.
This was going to get interesting.
Especially since Brantley chose that moment to inform Trey that he was now partnered with Magnus while Baz would be working with Decker Bromwell.
Yep. Very, very interesting.
*
“You did that on purpose.”
Brantley looked over at Reese. “Did what on purpose?”
“Invited Magnus.”
“I assure you, I had no ulterior motives,” he lied, glancing back at his brother briefly.
Reese sighed, probably thinking that, of all the people he knew, he’d never expected Brantley to be such a meddler.
In his defense, he wasn’t necessarily meddling. More like paying Trey back. Being older, Trey had picked on him endlessly growing up, and now that Brantley was in a position to give back, he couldn’t resist.
Or it could be the fact Brantley’d seen something different in Trey recently. Initially it had been what he believed was depression. Since he wasn’t a doctor and couldn’t very well make a medical diagnosis, he’d been keeping an eye on his brother. And the one thing he noticed that did bring Trey out of his funk … well, it happened to be the dog trainer.
So.
Here they were.
Turning his head toward Reese, Brantley said, “Tell me what you know about Max Adorite.”