The evening’s debrief ran overlong. Today had killed me. Rory was here somewhere on the estate, but she hadn’t contacted me. Max had let me know she’d arrived, but I’d had a job to do, and I forced my focus to remain on the heli controls and not on my heart.
The event went well. The testing had gone to plan.
I could hardly care about any of it.
Finally we were through, and Lochie dismissed us to the cold evening.
“No point asking what you want to do now,” Gabe said, my twin at his side. “Good luck.”
Still in my jumpsuit, I offered a grim smile then threw myself into my car and sped towards Elise and Cameron’s place. At the front door, I hammered on the wood, their dog answering with an excited bark. Then my cousin himself appeared in the frame.
He peered past me. “Where’s Rory?”
“What do ye mean? Isn’t she here?”
“I thought she was with ye.”
I recoiled. “No. I haven’t seen her in two weeks. I only just finished work.”
He frowned deeper and gestured for me to come inside.
Elise joined us in the hall, her forehead lined in worry. “I overheard. Rory spent the afternoon with us but went to meet you after you spoke on the phone.”
“We haven’t spoken at all. I left the hangar minutes ago and came straight here.”
Elise paled and took out her phone, dialling her sister. She put it on loudspeaker, and the tone rang out in the stone hallway. After eight rings, it diverted to answerphone.
“Where the hell is she?” I asked.
“I don’t know. She can’t have just disappeared.” She tried again with the same result.
I grabbed my own phone and tried, the answerphone killing off hope. Then I tried Max. He answered on the first ring.
“I haven’t seen her since I dropped her off from the airport,” he uttered, following my question.
“Ye collected her? Why?” I asked.
“We needed a chat.”
Discomfort swirled in my gut. “A chat about what?”
“Some shite she needed to hear.”
“For fuck’s sake, Max. What if that’s the reason she’s disappeared?”
He sucked in a breath. “She’s disappeared?”
“Why would I be calling ye to find her otherwise? Tell me exactly what ye said.”
“Fuck. I told her that ye were in love with her and that she was in love with ye.”
My heart sank. “Ye told her what? Seriously, Max.”
“What did he say?” Elise almost whispered.
My cheeks heated. “Something she wouldnae want to hear.”
“That you care about her?” Elise added gently.
If I’d been alone, I would’ve banged my head against the wall, but instead, shame filled me. The picture became clear.
Rory had taken off to avoid me.
On the phone, Max grumbled. “To be honest, she didn’t take it well. But her bag was still in your car. She cannae be far.”
I hadn’t even noticed the bag, or the fact my brother had stolen then returned my car from the hangar, presumably using the spare key left with my parents.
“She was worried about her mom, too,” Elise said. “April’s in hospital, and that would’ve scared her. Maybe she just needed space.”
I ran my hand over my eyes, only too aware of how awkward this had become. “I hadn’t heard about her ma. My guess is she just wants to dodge me.”
“None of this helps us find her. It’s dark and too cold for her to be out alone for long. I’m going to ring around,” Cameron stated.
He dialled a number and spoke to one of our aunts, grimacing at what he heard. Elise watched him then took up her own phone to do the same.
“No good,” she commented, ending her call. “I spoke to Casey who Rory met on her last visit, but she’s not seen her.”
“Where did ye last see Rory?” I asked.
“After our walk, near Isobel’s garage.”
I found Isobel’s number and dialled. A baby cried in the background of the call.
“Hey, it’s Maddock.”
“Oh! Funny you should call. I was just talking about you, because I saw Rory earlier. I knew you two are friends. Hang on, let me give the baby to Lennox so I can think straight.”
My heart leapt, and I set the phone to loudspeaker.
“Ye saw her?”
“I did,” the woman said. “This is going to sound strange, but it’s been bugging me for hours. Rory was with this guy outside my garage this afternoon. They were arguing, then he shoved her into a car. It was over before I could do anything, then I had the kids and it’s taken me this long to process it. If that’s her boyfriend, someone needs to smack sense into him. This is totally overstepping, but that guy looked like bad news. No man should treat a woman like that.”
Fear displaced my embarrassment. A guy had shoved her into a car? What the fuck?
I clutched the handset. “Rory’s not been seen for hours. Tell me everything ye remember about that man.”
“She’s missing? Shit.” Isobel paused for a second. “I didn’t get a good look, but young-ish, I’d say.”
“And the car?”
“That, I saw. It was an old Mercedes 250, probably early seventies. I didn’t see the license plate, and it wasn’t close enough for my CCTV.”
My short-lived worry that Rory had done a flit because of me died off.
She’d been taken by someone.
I swapped a panicked glance with my cousin, and Cameron leaned into the phone.
“Isobel, it’s Cameron. What time was this?”
“I was just closing up, so about four-thirty PM.”
“Can ye text me a picture of that exact model of car? Find one that looks like the one ye saw.”
“I’ll do it right now. What’s going on?”
My voice came out strained. “Not sure yet. Thank ye for the help.”
Cameron hung up, his gaze trained on me.
“I think someone’s grabbed her,” I uttered, my mind running over scenarios.
I spun to Elise. “Do ye know about the money Rory had put into her account?”
She stared back wide-eyed. “Yes, but she told me not to worry about it. I thought it had been handled.”
Panic laced my words. “It wasn’t. Two weeks ago, we went to see an old boyfriend of hers, thinking he was something to do with it. It wasn’t the case, but I had the worst feeling about it.”
“You think this is to do with that?”
“One hundred percent.”
“Maddock!” my brother’s voice came from my phone.
I’d forgotten he was still on the line. I raised it to my ear. “Hey. Did ye hear that?”
“Every word. Fucking hell, man. I’m coming over. Be there in five.”
Cameron dialled someone on his phone. “Lochie, give me the number of whoever was directing people at the estate entrance today. We need to know if anyone saw a gold Mercedes leaving.”
His focus held mine, and dread swept through me.
“Rory is missing,” he added. “And we think the person in that car has potentially kidnapped her.”
Missing. Kidnapped. I couldn’t handle this.
In a few minutes, my brother sped up the road to the crofthouse, Gabe on the back of his motorbike. The two men jogged to where I was half in my car, ready to leave.
Where, I wasn’t sure, but I had to go.
“News?” Max asked.
“None.”
“Plan, then?”
“No fucking clue. Drive until I find her.” I was so fucking furious with him for his interference, and it came off me in waves.
Max’s expression turned fierce, a familiar twin battle looming that I had no time for.
Gabe held my door, stopping me from closing myself in. “Hold up. Think for a minute. Part of our training focused on tracking. We need a solid plan.”
Another car arrived, Lochie leaping out. The huge head of the mountain rescue bore down on us, his glower echoing my mood.
“Catch me up,” he ordered.
“No more delaying!” I roared. “Some fucker forced Rory into a car right here on the estate. We don’t know who or where they’ve gone, and I cannae just stand around talking.”
“And you’re going to just drive around? What kind of search is that?” Max demanded.
A bad one, but if I didn’t start now, I’d go mad.
At the door, Elise hailed us. “Found something.”
I left my car and strode to her.
Elise held up her phone. “Earlier, Rory tagged herself in a post, showing she was at the event. This account replied to her and said they needed to talk to her. Look.”
Onscreen, @SIN5121 had made that comment against the smiling picture of Rory.
“Any idea who that is?” Cameron asked Elise.
She shook her head. “No clue. They aren’t friends with Rory, and there’s hardly anything on their profile apart from pictures of cars.”
Sin. Sinner? Sin…bad? I had nothing.
Then a memory hit me. In LA, in Stafford’s nightclub, Rory’s old college friend had used that name. She’d called her brother Sin, though Rory had only ever referred to him as Johnnie.
As the others looked at the account, I pieced together all I could remember.
“Wait up,” I ordered. “Rory had a friend at college. Pen, Penelope, I guess. She gave her brother the nickname Sin, but his name is Johnnie. Fuck, what was their surname?”
Elise tapped her lip. “That rings a bell. Are they English?”
“Aye.”
She scrabbled at the phone, searching again. I forced my brain to recall that day.
“The sister implied that Rory was in contact with Johnnie, but Rory said she hadn’t seen him in a long time.”
“Got her. Pen Godson,” Elise exclaimed. “Her account is private, but I’d bet she’ll accept a message request from me.”
She tapped the device, and I stared at it, willing this to work faster. Down the path, Lochie, Max, and Gabe discussed something in low terms. I still had the urge to jump in my car and fly…
Actually, flying would be faster.
“Accepted!” Elise uttered. Then she pressed the button to make a call.
On loudspeaker, the phone rang with a high trill.
“Hello?” a woman answered.
I recognised the voice as Pen.
“Hi, it’s Elise here, Rory’s sister.”
“Oh God. I know who you are. Is this for real? I thought it was a fake account, but it was verified—”
Elise cut her off. “Do you know where your brother is?”
There was a pause. “Sinjin’s back in England, I think. Why?”
“What did you just call him?” I barked.
“Sinjin. That’s how you pronounce St John. It’s an old English name passed down in our family. Why?”
St John. SJ.
The note left at Rory’s mother’s house was addressed to A and signed SJ.
Fuck. Now I was certain.
“Listen up,” I snapped. “Your brother forced Rory into a car a couple of hours ago. We need to know where he’d take her.”
“You’re wrong. He’d never do anything like that.”
“It happened. We need help.”
“I’m sure you’re wrong, but wait. I’ll call him.”
I paced the path, in and out of the light spilling from the house. The picture developing in my mind worsened by the second.
Rory wasn’t simply having an altercation with some guy. If I was guessing right, St John ‘Johnnie’ Godson was in some deep shit, and the million dollars had come from him. In turn, he was using Rory without her knowledge to…what, hide the money?
Then he’d come here and taken her.
All of which suggested an escalating situation.
I strode over to Lochie. “We’re going after her, wherever she is. I need all of ye plus the S-92.”
Of all the helicopters at the hangar, only the mountain rescue one had the capacity to take multiple people and equipment. I had the feeling I’d need every bit of help I could get.
Lochie gave a swift nod. “Ye have us. I’ll call Gordain and the backup team to cover the service. We’re with ye.”
Pen Godson came back on the line. “He isn’t answering.”
Cameron took over the call. “Then we need his home address, plus the location of any other place he’d stay. Send that now, and a photo. The police will need it.”
“The police?” she squeaked. “Mum is going to kill him this time.”
“This time? Has he been in trouble before?” Cameron asked.
“A couple of cars went missing from our family collection, and Mum is worried that he’s mixed up with car thieves. But I’m sure that’s nothing to do with this.”
From the expressions of all those around me, not one of us believed that.
Elise took down the addresses, then hung up the call. She held up her piece of paper, and I squinted at the locations.
Their family’s home was in the northern part of the Lake District. Johnnie had gone to university in Cambridge and still owned a flat there. He had a close friend in Newcastle, one in Glasgow, and another in North Wales.
I palmed my forehead. “Where to start? This is basically every corner of the UK.”
Over my shoulder, Lochie peered at the paper. “Elise, I saw Rory with ye today. Did she download the tracking software we were trialling?”
My heart leapt, but Elise’s expression ended that hope.
“I don’t think so. We used my phone.”
“Are ye positive?” I asked. “Rory’s inquisitive. She likes trying things out.”
“True, but her focus was scattered after what happened with her mom.”
“One way to be sure. Give me her number, and I’ll check if it’s registered.” Lochie stepped back from the group and carried out his task.
Max raised a hand. “On the subject of Rory’s ma, in the car driving back from the airport, Rory transferred money over to her aunt to cover medical costs. If this guy has taken her to get access to that money, she won’t have it.”
Which might explain why he forced her into the car.
Too many thoughts competed in my brain. But the overriding sensation was that Rory needed me. Even if she didn’t want me. I’d save her.
Then to my right, Lochie gave a hard laugh. “Got her. She not only downloaded it, but she logged in to our trial. I know exactly where she is.”
On his phone, a dot moved on a map, the location just south of the Scotland-England border.
I snatched it then waved an arm, rallying my troops. “On me. We’re going to the hangar.”
But no sooner than I’d driven to the main road through the estate, a police car appeared, coming from the other direction. They flashed their lights at us, and I pulled over. If they didn’t take too long in catching up, they could be useful.
I wound down my window. “Ye got here fast.”
The police officer strolled up, no urgency in his moves. “We’re looking for Maddock McRae. Is that you?”
I hesitated, something feeling off.
At my side, Max leaned over. “Why are ye asking?”
The officer folded his arms. “We have reason to believe Mr McRae is in receipt of stolen motorbike parts. As part of an ongoing investigation, we have an arrest warrant.”
I tightened my muscles, shock stealing my breath.
The universe was fucking with me.
Rory was missing, and I was about to be arrested.
But then Max unclipped his seat belt. Before I could take a breath, he exited the car.
“That’s me. I’ll come with ye.”
“What are ye doing?” I spat.
Max wheeled around to my window and glared me down.
For a long moment, we stared out a silent conversation. For two years, I’d sought his forgiveness. Desperate to be back on even ground with him. Out of the blue, a long-distant memory hit me, of Da telling me after a fight with my brother that one day, we’d be closer than anyone. That we’d rely on each other and be there through anything.
Still, I couldn’t allow this.
My twin gave a single headshake then smacked the car with his fist. “Aye, I’m Maddock, and the rest of ye need to get the fuck out of here.”
“Go,” Gabe uttered from the back.
For better or worse, I put my foot down. I had to leave Max to his sacrifice.
We needed to get Rory back, no matter what it took.
