Ian

“There’s nothing!” Colton shouted through the phone.

I hurried into the basement where Reed was lifting weights in our gym. “What do you mean there’s nothing?”

Reed dropped the weights, brows furrowing as he stared at me. I pressed the speakerphone button and held up my phone so he could hear. A door slammed in the background.

“The surveillance videos at the hotel were messed up. Everything’s running along smoothly, until Grace walks out of the hotel the second time after being with Jared and Andrew. After that, there’s nothing until she’s gone. I talked to Brad Sawyer, the head of security. Nobody other than him and the owners are allowed inside the security room.”

My pulse spiked. “Have you talked to the hotel owner?”

“Yes. His name’s Charles Beckett, and he’s a good friend of mine. I know he loves Grace like his own.” His voice trembled. “I’m in the process of interviewing the hotel staff now. So far, everyone seems genuinely shocked. I’m not picking up on anything amiss.”

“Maybe they’re just that good,” I huffed. “You and I both know how fucked up people can be.” Reed agreed with a nod.

“True. But that’s what makes this so hard. I know a lot of the hotel staff.”

I met Reed’s gaze and sighed. “Let me know how the rest of the interviews go. Reed’s good at finding things other people can’t. Maybe there’s something that just hasn’t been found.”

Colton blew out a heavy breath. “I sure as hell hope so. I’m getting desperate.”

He hung up and I pocketed my phone. “Think you can find something?”

Reed wiped the sweat off his forehead with the hem of his T-shirt. “I’ll get right on it.” He charged up the stairs and sat down on the couch with his laptop.

Ever since he was a young boy, Reed had always showed interest in electronics. There was nothing he couldn’t grasp. You could hand him a new gadget and he’d figure out how to use it within five minutes. The FBI took notice of that when he joined and they gave him special computer training. He could hack into any account in the world, breaking through the most hardcore protective software. The guy was a genius.

Time dragged on as I watched the sun disappear behind the mountains. I wanted to do something, but wasn’t sure what help I could provide. The only thing I could think of was to get inside the hotel and talk to the staff myself. No one in my town knew I worked for the FBI, or that my father was the infamous Glenn Chandler, owner of a multi-billion-dollar company and former FBI agent who started the Circle of Justice.

To retain some anonymity with the FBI, Bryce, Reed, and myself had moved back to our family’s land in Wyoming. It gave us the freedom my oldest brother, Wade, didn’t have. He’d stayed in Charlotte and inherited the company. It suited him well. Which was good news for me. I wasn’t a suit-wearing kind of guy.

It’d been almost a full twenty-four hours since Grace went missing, and it pissed me off there was nothing I could do. This was different than hunting people on the list. But someone at the hotel had messed with the video feed, which meant Grace’s abduction was planned.

“Anything yet?” I called out to Reed.

His voice echoed down the hall to my study. “Possibly. I’m looking into something else right now. Give me one more minute.”

My desk was cluttered with all the missing persons’ files. The disappearances had started about a month ago. With the exception of Grace, all of them were men who’d worked in various jobs and had no ties to one another. There were no similarities.

My cell rang and I huffed, dropping Grace’s file onto my desk. “Yeah,” I answered, not even paying attention to the name on the screen.

“Good evening to you too, son,” my father laughed.

Sighing, I rubbed a hand over my face. “Sorry, Dad. I’ve had a bad day.”

“Everything okay? It’s not Bryce, is it?” With Bryce being gone for over a year, my father endlessly worried about him.

“He’s fine,” I assured. “I just got back from New York. He’s in deep right now.”

“I wish you could’ve talked some sense into him. He needs to come home.”

“It wouldn’t work, even if I tried.” Sadly, it was the truth. My brother was a do or die kind of guy, no different than the rest of us.

“I just want him to be safe. Those mafia boys are a different breed.”

I scoffed. “I know. He’ll be okay, though. Bryce is smart.”

“That he is,” he said, voice sad. “I’m assuming that’s why your numbers went down over the last couple of weeks? Peter said you haven’t hit a mark on the list in a while.”

The list was a database of target names for us to hit. Every time we made a kill, we took them off the list. Peter Johnson was my superior, and the leader of the Circle of Justice, now that my father had retired.

“I haven’t,” I admitted. “I wanted to focus on Bryce since he needed my help. And now, I have another problem.”

“What’s going on?”

“There’s been a few disappearances in Montana, and I just found out that we’re missing eight people here too. Grace Myers is one of them. Her father is the chief of police.” I released a heavy sigh. “I know her pretty well.”

“And you want to help find her?” he asked curiously.

I stared down at her picture. “I do. I know I wasn’t assigned to the case, but she’s a good friend of mine. I promised her father I’d help. There’s something sinister going on out here, and we need to put a stop to it.”

“Do what you feel is right, son. The COJ will be fine if you take a break.”

Holding his laptop, my brother appeared in the doorway. “Reed can always pick up my slack in the meantime,” I said, smiling wide.

Reed snorted and sat his computer on my desk. “Always doing your dirty work,” he grumbled jokingly. He’d only been a part of the COJ for a year, and he’d already killed thirty targets. His passion was finding things no one else could. That was what made the Chandler family a force to be reckoned with. We were notorious among the FBI ranks.

“Either way,” my father spoke, “you both stay safe, and I’ll talk to you soon. Let me know if you hear anything else from Bryce.”

“Will do.” I hung up and leaned forward, turning Reed’s laptop so I could see the screen. “Find anything?”

Reed grinned, nodding at the computer. “A few things, actually. When I tried to hack into the video surveillance program at the hotel, there was nothing there, just like Colton said.” He held up a finger. “Luckily, I tapped into another video feed. Take a look.”

On the screen was a long shot view of the hotel parking lot. “What camera is this?”

Reed sat back in his chair. “It’s from the grocery store across the street. The video’s a little grainy, but you can kind of see what happened.”

A few minutes ticked by and I watched Grace exit the hotel with two other men. They got into the red sports car beside her SUV and drove away. She got in her own car, then hopped right back out and made a beeline into the hotel. Not long after, she walked out and went straight to her car. That was when a figure in black came up behind her.

Eyes wide, I moved closer. “What in the hell?” The man hit her over the head, and Grace fell motionless in his arms. “Son of a bitch.” The video wasn’t clear, but by the looks of the assailant, he had dark hair that was shaved close to his head.

Reed tapped the computer. “He drives away in a black truck. To me, it looks like a Ford F250. I couldn’t zoom in to find out for sure.”

The truck sped by and I nodded. “You’re right. It is a Ford. We have something to go on now.”

Picking up my phone, I called Colton.

“Hey,” he answered on the first ring.

“Reed found something you need to see.”

“I’ll be right there.” He hung up quickly and I focused back on the computer.

Reed circled around my desk and typed away. “Look what else I found.”

Another screen popped up, showing dozens of old profiles. Judging by the hairstyles and clothing, they were from many years ago. “What’s this?” I asked.

“Those are people who went missing forty years ago, all reported as missing hikers in the Grand Tetons. They’re all dated around the same time frame. Only three of the bodies were found, but they were unrecognizable. DNA tests were done to prove their identities.” The records said they were mauled by bears and found by Larry Bradfield, who was the chief of police at that time, along with some of his deputies.

“Motherfucker.” I stared at each picture, all men. “The same shit’s happening now.”

“Exactly,” Reed agreed. “We just have to figure out why.”