Well, Aunt Maggie knew. Alice was too young. Was Jenna brave enough to tell Noah? Could she say the words and deal with his reaction if it was anything other than complete acceptance and mutual agreement?
The answer was a resounding no. She couldn’t. Not right now. She was feeling fragile enough as it was.
Noah gently tipped her chin up and studied her face. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Jen. In fact, you did a lot right. Dumping that tracker into the diaper bag was a stroke of genius. Hacker will find the signal to the one you have, then he’ll know how to find Maggie and Alice. We’ll get them back.”
She nodded because she didn’t trust herself to speak.
“What is it, honey?”
“Even if you find them, even if you kill Owen Fisher, the Flanagans will still think I know where the wallet is. They’ll never stop hunting me, Noah. If I don’t find that money, they’re never going to stop.”
He hugged her tight again. “I’ll stop them. I promise.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I’ve got the signal,” Hacker said, tapping on his computer as he looked at the screen on the scanner.
Jenna’s eyes met Noah’s. He smiled to reassure her. She smiled back, but he knew she was still scared. He wasn’t scared, but he was worried. Alice had been through so much already. She didn’t deserve yet more crap. The knot in his stomach hadn’t gone away, but he managed to push it deep and focus on the job. Because that’s what he did.
The guys had arrived about an hour ago, dragging in bags of chips, subs, wings, and soda. No beer this time. Haylee and Scarlett were still at work, but Brooke was there. Noah had checked with the neighbors to find out if anyone saw anything earlier, but most of them worked or were out running errands when Fisher pushed his way inside and abducted Maggie and Alice.
Mrs. Barlow had been turning onto the street when she saw a white Chevy Tahoe with a man in a baseball cap and an older woman who held a child on her lap. She’d noticed because she’d been shocked that anyone would drive around without a car seat. She hadn’t realized the child was Alice though, because her face had been buried against the old woman’s shoulder. She was positive the car was a rental because she’d seen the sticker in the window that identified it as such.
Hertz, she’d said. Or maybe Budget. Or Avis.
Didn’t matter because the information was still golden. A white Tahoe rental was a lot more specific than he’d expected. Noah could have kissed Mrs. Barlow, but he’d settled on thanking her instead.
Hacker did a few more things then looked up. “I have the type of tracker and the frequency, but I’m not getting anything other than Jenna’s. It’s possible they’re out of range, or the tracker is dead now. They aren’t designed to last more than a few days.”
Jenna made a noise and Noah put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. We’ve got other tricks up our sleeve.”
Hacker nodded. “Yep, searching up white Tahoes that have been rented lately. I’ve checked the flights from Vegas over the past few days, prioritized the non-stops, and I’m running a search on the rental databases for any matches. It’ll take a bit of time, but I should be able to narrow it down and get a plate number—or several.”
“I thought it was such a good idea to try and get the tracker in the diaper bag,” Jenna said sadly. “I didn’t realize it would be so difficult to find.”
“It was a good idea,” Noah told her. “When we find the Tahoe, we’ll track it down using the GPS system onboard. If the other tracker still works when we’re in range, it’ll help us pinpoint where they are.”
They’d already tried to find the number that Fisher was calling from by hacking into Jenna’s phone records again, but he’d been smart enough to block it. If they’d gotten it, they could have tracked his cell phone. No such luck, though. They’d tried to track Jenna’s phone since Fisher had taken it, but they weren’t getting anything there either. He must have been smart enough to stash it inside a metal container to block the signal.
Hacker’s phone rang with the special tone that he used for Bliss, and everyone went quiet. “Babe,” he said. “Got you on speaker.”
“Hey, gang. I’m outside the house having a look around. It’s a big mother—”
“Bliss,” Hacker interrupted with a growl. “Be careful.”
“Calm your tits, sweetie. There’s a realtor sign on it. Someone’s coming out to show me in a few minutes. I’ll have a look inside, see if there’s a safe, and come back later with Bernie—”
“Who’s Bernie?”
“Bern is an old friend. He’s seventy-five, if you’re worried, and an excellent safecracker.”
“Not worried about that. Worried about you.”
It would have been fun watching Hacker have a meltdown over his very competent fiancée’s plans if this was just a job and Noah wasn’t personally involved. As it was he could appreciate it, but he was impatient for everything to get moving. He needed answers, and he needed his niece and Maggie back safely. Which he knew everyone was trying like hell to do.
“I thought there was a dispute about who got the house,” Jenna said. “Sam’s ex-wives and Tiffany were fighting about it, right? It was sitting empty until the courts decided?”
“True,” Bliss said. “But all three women apparently agreed to sell. The money will go into trust until the court determines who gets it, though I’m not sure how much there’ll be after the mortgage is paid. Sam Baxter didn’t pay it off before he died, but that’s not surprising. So many of these guys hold onto the Bitcoin, thinking it’ll keep appreciating. It’s the ultimate gamble, really. But the market’s hot and the women want to unload it while they can get the most bang for the buck. Whatever’s leftover will go to the winner of the court case.” Bliss called out to someone. Then she was back. “Showtime, y’all. I want to stay on with Jenna while I walk through, but we’ll go off speaker. I don’t think we’ll need it. I’ll pretend like she’s my husband back home. If anything comes up, she can tell you about it.”
“Love you, baby,” Hacker said.
“Love you too, Sky. Now let me work and I’ll get back home to say a proper goodbye before you head out on that business trip.”
Hacker handed Jenna his phone and she went out the back door to stand on the patio while Bliss took a tour of the house. Hacker gave one last longing look in the direction Jenna went, but Noah knew it was really for Bliss. Then Hacker sat down, expression grim, and got to work finding the Tahoe while the guys made plans on how to rescue Maggie and Alice when he did.
Twenty minutes later, Jenna came back inside. She didn’t look as beat down as she had before. Instead, she seemed excited as she handed Hacker his phone. That was a good thing.
“What is it, Jen?” Noah asked, going to her side.
“There’s a safe,” she said. “Behind the painting in the dining room. He had one installed.”
“That’s good. Really good.”
“I know. But we have to wait until tonight before we know if there’s anything in it. I’m not sure how I’m going to do that.”