Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Chapter 22
Matty
“Zoe is gone!”
My voice echoed through the apparatus bay, and I soon heard approaching footsteps before Gabe, Garrett, Kieran, and Kit ran my way.
“Wait, what?” Garrett questioned me with narrowed eyes.
“Gone?” Kit added, sharing a worried look with his brother.
I nodded, my forehead nearly sweating. I came here as fast as I could to tell the guys.
“I went to her place, and everything was gone. She just packed up and left!” I told them, my voice wavering from panic.
Where the hell did she go?
“Or did they take her?” Kieran asked, worried silence following his words.
That couldn’t possibly be the case, right? But of course it could. The crazy bastards had lit Tobin’s house on fire. Something told me they weren’t against kidnapping.
“Shit,” Gabe breathed out as he put his hands behind his head, trying to take in a deep, steadying breath.
Kit shook his head.
“We need to rule out every option before we consider that one,” he urged us. “Have we checked with her dad? Have you called her? We need to exhaust every other possibility.”
“I’ll call her dad,” Kieran volunteered before pulling his phone out of his pocket and walking out of the apparatus bay.
“I’ll call her,” I said. “I think everyone else needs to call the hospital and any local hotels and make sure she’s not there.”
“On it,” Gabe called out on his way out of the bay.
“Yep,” Garrett agreed as he followed his brother, leaving me alone with Kit.
“Let’s see if she picks up,” I sighed, stress rolling over my head like a dark cloud. Something was wrong. Why would everything be gone? Why would she ignore the three phone calls and five texts that I’d already sent her?
Kit nodded silently, his eyes zeroing in on my phone as I dialed her number and put the call on speaker.
With every ring that passed, my heart grew heavier and heavier, sinking lower and lower.
“Come on, Zoe,” I muttered. “Pick up the phone.”
“Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system.”
“Damn it,” I bit out before calling again.
And again and again.
I raked my fingers through my hair, squeezing my phone tightly in my other hand. This was killing me. Where was she?
“What if they do have her, Kit? What the hell are we going to do?” I asked him.
A grave look appeared on Kit’s face, his following silence saying everything. He had no idea.
“Guys! I think I know of someone else to call!” Gabe shouted as he hurried back to the apparatus bay, his voice beckoning the others.
“Who?” I asked, a flicker of hope sparking in my chest.
“Her boss! Maybe she gave him an update. We can at least find out if she’s heading back to North Carolina or not,” Gabe suggested.
I snapped my fingers.
“Genius! But how the hell do we find his number?” I replied.
“Found it,” Kit said right after my sentence ended. He turned his phone around and showed everyone the staff page on her newspaper’s site. He motioned to a grinning man at the top. “He must be the boss.”
“Call,” I urged him.
Kit dialed the number and put the phone on speaker, the air growing heavy with anticipation. Shoulders started slumping as the phone continued to ring with no signs of stopping.
“Come on…” Kit muttered.
“You got Zachary Fields!”
His voice caught us off guard so much that none of us spoke, only able to stare at the phone in surprise.
“Hello?”
“Oh, uh, hey,” I stuttered. “I’m a friend of Zoe Collins.”
“Hello, friend of Zoe Collins. What can I do for you?”
“I was just wondering if you’ve heard from her today. Or yesterday,” I asked him, mentally crossing my fingers that he had some news for me.
“She’s heading back to North Carolina today,” Zachary replied, making our eyes widen. She had really fled without telling us goodbye. “She was working on a story out of town, but she wasn’t able to complete it. Do you have a story for her? Or why are you calling?”
“I need to talk to her. About the story,” I told him, twisting my reasoning a little. He didn’t need to know about the cartel and all that yet. I just needed a location. “Do you know where she’ll stop tonight?”
“Probably the same hotel she stopped at last time. I don’t make it a habit to tell strangers where my employees will be, though,” Zachary replied, sounding suspicious.
“Look, the story she was working on put her and everyone involved in danger. If you don’t tell me where I can find her, bad things could happen. Do you understand?” I demanded, my voice sharpening beyond what I was used to. What anyone was used to.
The others raised their eyebrows at me.
“I… jeez. Alright. She should be stopping at the Rangeview Inn in Franklin,” Zachary revealed.
Kieran’s thumbs flew over his keyboard before showing everyone the hotel on his phone map.