“I’ve been wondering about that, too.” Blake shrugged. “Maybe he’s an animal lover.”
“It’s possible. I just don’t see him being the caring type. Especially considering he shot you—which by the way is another thing that doesn’t make sense. Why attack you?”
Involuntarily Blake rubbed his shoulder where the bullet had entered. “I was wondering the same thing. First I thought maybe he was after Lilo, but considering the bullet was silver, I believe it was meant for me. Maybe he followed us after we left Hannah’s flat. Maybe he was watching it?”
“To what end? His associate, Norwood, had already been there earlier.”
“True, but he left empty-handed. Well, he got Lilo’s cell phone. But from what I could tell, he didn’t find what he was looking for. Why else would he ask Lilo where it was? I can only assume that he wanted the USB stick. Maybe to cover his tracks.”
“That would mean he knew it existed. How would he have found out?” Samson rubbed his nape.
“Assuming that Ronny didn’t know about the camera in Hannah’s flat, the only person who could have told Norwood or Ronny about it is Hannah.”
Which could actually be good news. Samson seemed to think so, too.
“They didn’t kill her. Maybe they have no intention of killing her,” his boss said.
“You think they’re using her? Like they use the other humans for their crimes?” The thought sent a shudder down his spine, and chilled him to the bone. “That means they’re using the drug on her.”
“To make her compliant, yes, it’s possible, though they could do that with mind control, too. No need to waste the drug on her,” Samson said.
Blake nodded and fell silent again. He hoped that in the woods in Napa they’d find not only Ronny, but also Hannah. Ronny hadn’t returned to his house in the Excelsior since he, Wes, and Lilo had searched it, so he had to be holed up somewhere else. And what better place to keep a kidnapping victim than in a remote cabin where nobody would hear Hannah’s screams for help?
“How much longer, John?” Blake asked.
“According to my GPS, we’re almost there.”
Blake glanced out the window. Dense vegetation lined the narrow road on both sides. “Where are we?”
“On the border between Napa county and Sonoma county. It’s only thinly populated. Lots of off-the-grid people out here from what I’ve heard,” John informed him. “Probably why Ronny chose this area.”
Samson nodded. “Twenty, thirty years ago, there were a lot of marijuana growers up here. The feds conducted a ton of raids here. But they weren’t always very successful. The growers chose pretty secluded spots. That was before they legalized cannabis, of course. Now there’s no need for those secret farms anymore. It made space for other illegal operations to move in.”
Blake grunted. “Well, let’s evict the bastard.”
~
The GPS only got them as far as a dirt road that culminated in a dead end a hundred yards off the paved road they’d been on. There was no sign of a house or any kind of habitable structure, though according to the latest map, this was supposed to be a legitimate address. Not that any mailman would ever find it: there was no number posted anywhere, and no mailbox either.
Blake got out of the car and looked around. His colleagues joined him until all eight were assembled. Maybe this many trained bodyguards was overkill, but without knowing how many accomplices Ronny had apart from the one they’d identified as Norwood, Samson had insisted on the best and toughest men (and women) in his employ. It was a shame that Zane was still in New Orleans. Gabriel was running HQ in Samson’s absence, while Quinn had agreed to look after Lilo. He and Rose had arrived at Blake’s house just as Blake had left. Call him overly cautious, but he wasn’t going to take any chances when it came to Lilo’s safety.
“Fan out,” Samson ordered. “If you see a structure, notify the team by text. Everybody’s cell phone set to silent. Now.”
Blake checked his phone, then his weapons. A small-caliber handgun was holstered on his hip, a silver knife hidden in his boot, and a stake tucked away in the inside pocket of his jacket, though he hoped he didn’t have to use it. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t mind inflicting a little pain with his silver knife, to explain how it felt in a language that Ronny understood.
All his senses on alert, Blake stalked into the darkness, aware of his colleagues around him, though everybody was careful where they stepped, trying to remain as quiet as possible.