“I’m not on the clock.” Zach had been telling Luke the same thing for the last five minutes as they waited for Samantha and Logan to arrive. “I don’t need to call in shit.”

Luke raised his brows. He knew that was bullshit. Zach was putting his job at risk. Luke couldn’t blame him. He’d do the same thing in Zach’s shoes.

Zach stepped in front of him and stopped his pacing, speaking quietly. “Listen, Luke, I know this is killing you. You saw yourself as our family’s caretaker long before the accident. And you stepped up in a way I couldn’t have then. I wouldn’t have had it in me to raise Naomi like you did. But I’ve got your back on this now. Sometimes taking care of the family means letting the family step up.”

Luke nodded. “All right.”

Luke scrubbed at his face. Something had been needling him. “He’s got to be working with a partner.”

“Why’s that?” Zach asked.

“In the video, it was clear Damon was holding the phone and it looked like it was only he and Naomi in the bathroom.”

His brother looked at him for a beat. “So you’re thinking he wouldn’t have left Lyra and the twins somewhere without a partner to watch them?”

“It’s too risky. He’s organized, calculated. He knew about Naomi ahead of time. He planned what to do ahead of time to control Billy and I.”

Zach shook his head. “Could have them tied up in a van somewhere. In a hotel room, an apartment.”

“Maybe, but I don’t think so. It’s too risky. You leave her alone like that and she can try to signal to someone. Leave them in a van parked somewhere on campus while he grabs Naomi, all Lyra has to do is kick the sides of the van. Apartment or hotel room, same thing. She makes noise.”

“Or he has them drugged. Or knocked out.” Zach looked almost apologetic as he spoke. He didn’t say the “or worse” they both knew belonged on the end of that sentence.

Luke turned to Billy. “Besides you and Joel, who else could Damon be working with. Who else could be involved in this?”

“I don’t know, man. No one else was supposed to be in on it. It was just supposed to be us.”

“What about Aiden James? You think Damon would have grabbed him? Pulled him in if he needed someone to help him get to Lyra?”

“The asshole that lives next to her? Hell no. Damon said that guy was a pervert.”

The doorbell rang and Zach opened it to Logan and Samantha. The latter didn’t look up from a small laptop she carried with one hand and typed on with the other as she made her way to the couch.

“Damon Taylor doesn’t own any property and he seems to be estranged from his father. Mother is dead.” Samantha spoke without preamble. Luke had always liked her. “Joel Sadoski has a couple of things we should check into.”

Samantha glanced around now as she looked up and Luke nodded for her to continue. Logan stood at her back and Luke knew he’d go wherever they needed him to and do whatever needed to be done to end this. “Joel’s dad has bought him a few businesses in addition to the one Lyra works for. That one leases office space at a building downtown. They’d be unlikely to take them there because the building is shared by a few other businesses. We can check it, but . . . ”

“Skip it,” Zach said.

“Before that business, he wanted to start up a music production company. It never really panned out, but he does own a small recording studio as a result. It looks like they let people rent the space, but it’s not doing all that well. That would be my best guess for where they’ve got Lyra and the girls.” Samantha looked up at the men as she spoke, then down to her computer again. “I’m still searching for anything out near Naomi’s school.”

They had relayed the news of Naomi’s abduction to Samantha and Logan as soon as they had it. It killed Luke to know she was in trouble hours away where he couldn’t get to her right away. He’d never felt so damned pulled in different directions in his life. Even when his sister had died and he’d had to face the reality of leaving the teams long before he was ready to, the decision had been a no-brainer. You took care of family. Always.

Right now, he felt like he had two families, and both of them were in danger.

Logan was the next to speak. “Chad and Jax are on the way over. Zach, me and you should go get Naomi when we track down where they might have her. Luke, you can take Chad and Jax with you to get the girls and Lyra. They’re both ex-military. Jax is a medic.”

He didn’t add that Jax’s skill could be handy if any of them were hurt, but he didn’t need to.

Luke nodded. It killed him to know he wouldn’t be going after Naomi, but he also knew she cared what happened to the twins. She wouldn’t forgive him if something happened to Lyra or the twins while he was saving her. Not any more than he’d forgive himself. The only problem was, the same could be said for the other way around. How the hell would he live with himself if Naomi was hurt, or worse, while he went after Lyra and the twins?

He took a slow deep breath, employing every damned skill in the field he’d ever had to calm himself down. One step. Then another. That was how they’d get through this. Just like when he’d been active duty.

The only damned problem was, he wasn’t active duty and hadn’t been in a long freaking time. What the hell had he been thinking? He was a washed up old SEAL who’d turned himself into a stay-at-home Mr. Mom. And now he’d be expected to save just about everyone he loved before his whole world was wiped out by some asshole who apparently didn’t give a shit who he hurt so long as he could make a buck.

What could possibly go wrong?