“The video of our daughters’ kidnapping,” Tony explained.
The man was clearly shaken. His hands were unsteady as he tried to rip open the seal with his thumb. His fingers fumbled, and he dropped the envelope on the hardwood floor.
“Fuck!”
Before either Tony or Anna had time to pick up the envelope from the floor, Hunt had his ceramic knife in his hand. He flipped the blade so that the handle was presented first.
“Take this,” he offered.
Tony’s face hardened, his eyes traveling from the knife to Hunt’s eyes. His lips parted, and it looked as if he wanted to say something, but after a long moment, he accepted the knife and used it to slice open the envelope. Tony pulled out a piece of paper and a thumb drive. He read the letter quickly and handed it to Anna, who read it, then gave it to Hunt.
Hunt glanced down at the note.
I’m very sorry, Mr. Garcia. Please know the whole department is actively searching for Sophia and her friend. Here’s the video we talked about.
It didn’t come as a surprise that Tony had men inside the department. What alarmed Hunt was the fact that he had access to someone high enough in the hierarchy to release a video that Detective Milburne had said was missing. But that was an issue he’d deal with later, if at all. For now, it served his purpose as much as Tony’s.
In an unexpected gesture, Tony handed him back his knife and said, “I’ll have to speak to Mauricio about this.”
Hunt sheathed his knife and asked, “You gonna play the video?”
“I’ll get my laptop,” he said, leaving Hunt alone with Anna.
Hunt didn’t mind the silence, but Anna was fidgeting in her chair. She looked at him, and he couldn’t help but wonder if her thoughts mirrored his. He confirmed they did when she finally asked, “What chance do you think we have of finding them?”
He didn’t want to lie to her, but he didn’t want her to lose faith either. “The next forty hours or so are crucial. The police are doing everything—”
She cut him off sharply. “I couldn’t care less about what the police are doing. What are you gonna do about it?”
He replied with total honesty. “I’ll find the bastards who did this. I’ll hunt them down. Then I’ll give them one chance to tell me where the girls are before I start manipulating their bodies in ways they weren’t meant to be manipulated.”
His answer seemed to satisfy her because she gave him a slow nod, and the worry in her face lessened slightly.
Tony returned with his laptop. He set it up on the coffee table and angled it so that Anna and Hunt could see the screen. He pulled the thumb drive from his pocket and nervously twirled it before inserting it.
Hunt’s body tensed in anticipation. It wasn’t every day that you watched your daughter being kidnapped. When the video started, his heart was trip-hammering, and a nervous sweat pricked his forehead. At some point during the video, he heard Anna yelp with fright, and her hand gripped his arm. Hunt did his best to keep his cool and not let his temper get the best of him. It was as much for his own sake as Anna’s. When the video ended, Anna looked as if she wanted to bolt out of the room. Tony simply sank deeper into the sofa and placed his head into his cupped hands.
Hunt was the first to compose himself. “I’ll need to look at the video again.”
When Tony didn’t immediately react, Hunt clapped his hands to get his attention. “Wake up, Tony! Sophia needs you. Play the damn video again.”
That did the trick. Tony came out of his trance and punched a key to restart the video.
“Now,” Hunt said to Anna and Tony. “I know watching it over and over again is going to be difficult, but we need to pay attention and dissect the details in case they give us clues as to where they took our girls.”
“This was done by professionals,” Tony said.
Hunt concurred. He was glad Tony had regained his self-control.
“Let’s watch it a couple of times, and then we’ll compare notes, all right?” Hunt suggested.
And that’s exactly what they did for the next fifteen minutes. Once Hunt was convinced he had learned everything there was to learn from the video, he looked at the two pages of notes he’d written.
“So?” Anna asked him, her voice still a bit shaky. “Anything you’d like to share?”
Before he could answer, his burner phone rang.
It was Simon Carter.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Hallandale Beach, Florida