Chapter 9: Liam

 

Monday evening, April 27th

 

I sighed as Knox, Theo, Chase, and Jax walked into my kitchen. It had been one long, shitty day, and I didn’t see an end any time soon. The meeting with Ethan went about as well as I expected, and his dismissal from the team was practically assured.

Knox poked his head in the fridge. “Where’s all the food?”

I shrugged. Like I care.

“Crap. If I had known, I would have picked something up on the way over,” Theo said. “But usually Liam’s fridge and pantry are overflowing with amazing leftovers, so . . .” he trailed off, perhaps deciding it wasn’t the best idea to finish his thought after I glared at him.

We sat around the table, and I wondered how long this was going to take. I was sick of talking; I wanted them all to get the hell out or let me actually do something productive to find Haley.

“Alright, Chase,” Jax said, “tell the guys about your latest discovery.”

“As you know, I tracked Haley to San Francisco. She arrived there Saturday afternoon, and I think I figured out why.”

“Great. Well, don’t keep us waiting,” I said impatiently.

A scowl flitted across Chase’s face. “I was getting to it, if you would keep your mouth shut for once.” Well, blow me.

I waved a hand imperiously through the air, inviting him to continue while the rest of the guys watched our little exchange play out.

“As I was saying,” Chase gave me a pointed look, “I found footage of Haley not only exiting the bus station in San Francisco on Saturday, but also entering a bank a few hours later.

“I hacked into their network and discovered that she spoke to someone, presented a key and her ID, and was led back to the vault area. Haley’s name was linked with a safe deposit box at the bank, along with a man’s name I had never heard of.”

“I’m guessing it’s an alias for her father,” Jackson interjected.

“Agreed,” Chase confirmed. “But I have yet to find any records, credit cards, or accounts, other than this safe deposit box, linked to that name.”

“Interesting, but not surprising,” Knox said.

“Out of curiosity, I also scanned the bank footage during the days in December when Haley accompanied part of the team to San Francisco for the Gandalf mission. And, she accessed the safe deposit box during that trip as well.”

“Son of a hobbit,” Theo muttered under his breath.

“I’m assuming there are no cameras inside the vault?” Knox asked.

“Correct,” Chase answered.

“Great. So let’s go to San Francisco,” Theo said, drumming on the table.

“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple,” Jax replied. “First of all, we don’t even know if Haley’s there anymore. And, secondly, we need to get our shit together. While we’ve all agreed to at least find her and make sure she’s safe, then what? You can’t demand she return, throwing her over your shoulder if she refuses.”

“Of course she’ll want to come home. This is all just a big misunderstanding,” Theo said naively.

Small conversations broke out amongst the group, but I kept my mouth shut.

“We’re getting off track,” Jax said somewhat forcefully. “I talked with Uncle before leaving the office, and he agreed to go to San Francisco posing as the man listed on the safe deposit box.” I sat up straight at this unexpected news. I knew Uncle adored Haley, but still, his willingness to participate so actively surprised me.

“He will head up Thursday morning, giving us time to create an ID for him before then. He should have no problems getting in as Haley’s dad despite a few years difference in age. Unfortunately, we don’t have the key, so we need to give him one that will pass inspection even if it won’t actually unlock the box.”

“And, presumably, he’ll need the right tools to get in,” Knox stated.

“Yes, I’m counting on you for that,” Jax responded directly to Knox, and he nodded.

When it was clear that Jax was done explaining, Theo all but shrieked, “That’s it?”

Knox placed a hand on Theo’s shoulder. “Calm down, Theo. We need to take things one step at a time.”

He shrugged Knox’s hand off his shoulder, growing increasingly agitated. “This is absurd. We are wasting time digging into a safe deposit box when we should be getting her back.”

“I’m with Theo on this one,” I said. “While there may be something useful in the safe deposit box, we need to be more proactive about finding Haley. What if one of us goes with Uncle to make inquiries and search for her?”

Jax shook his head, his tone firm. “As I said before, that’s not the approach we are taking.”

“This is bollocks,” I huffed. “You never wanted her here in the first place and now you’re probably thrilled to finally be rid of her.” I knew that wasn’t true, but damn, it felt good to lash out.

“You think you’re the only one who cares about Haley?” Jax spat back. “You think you’re the only one who wants her back?”

With my arms crossed over my chest, I simmered in silence and stared ahead without looking at him.

“I may not have wanted her here at first, but she’s become one of us. She’s gotten completely under my skin.” He tugged his fingers through his curls, his latest statement prompting stunned looks from both Chase and Theo.

“So . . .” Theo finally spoke up, breaking the tense silence that had fallen over us. He cleared his throat. “So, there’s,” he counted his fingers, “four of us interested in Haley and one of her.”

“Five,” Knox said quickly.

“I knew it,” Theo said in an almost-excited voice, perhaps not fully appreciating the implications of Knox’s declaration.

“And now you see the other reason why we can’t just pick up where we left off with Haley,” Jax said.

A few moments later, I asked, “What about Jessica?”

All heads snapped toward me and Chase asked, “What exactly are you suggesting?”

I shook my head. “No, no. Nothing about dating Jessica. I’m suggesting we send someone—me, in fact—to Vegas to make sure Haley hasn’t gone there in the meantime.”

“I seriously doubt Haley would make it that easy on us,” Knox responded.

“So do I, but if nothing else, it would give us intel on what Jessica knows of Haley’s whereabouts.”

“I want to go,” Theo chimed in. “I really hit it off with Jess; if she’s going to tell anyone where Haley is, it would be me.”

“Even if she knows where Haley is, she’s not going to tell any of us,” Knox stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I know that,” I paused, “which is why my plan is to do some covert digging.”

“Are you thinking hacking? Bugging? What?” Knox asked.

“All of the above. We need to cover all the bases here.”

“Haley would kill us,” Chase said.

I shrugged. I didn’t care what it took or how angry she was as long as she came back to us, to me.

 

*  *  *

 

Tuesday, April 28th

 

I took a bite of the sandwich I had picked up earlier but abruptly tossed it on the passenger seat. Ugh, disgusting, I thought. The guys always teased me about being a food snob, but maybe things had gotten out of hand if even a top-notch restaurant could no longer satisfy me.

Of course, my distaste for the discarded sandwich probably had more to do with my impatience waiting for Jessica to leave her apartment than anything. After an almost twelve-hour stakeout, there was still no sign of Haley. Not that I was surprised; like Knox, I doubted she would run straight to Jessica.

Half an hour later, I watched Jessica lock her front door, dressed for a night out, and waited about fifteen minutes before exiting my rental car. Fortunately, gaining entry at her apartment complex was fairly simple—there was no doorman or central lobby; all the apartments had an exterior entrance with a key lock. Perfect.

I easily let myself into Jessica’s unit, knowing the less time I wasted outside, the better. I conducted a quick scan of the rooms to ensure that I was, in fact, alone and then determined which room was hers. Not daring to turn on any lights, I used my flashlight to scan her bedroom.

Skirting around the foot of Jessica’s unmade bed covered in lingerie and a few dresses, I snickered to myself. Chase was right—Haley would be pissed if she knew about this little reconnaissance mission. Ignoring the lingerie, I moved toward Jessica’s desk, which was littered with makeup, perfume, and picture frames. The desk looked like it got more use as a makeup vanity than a study space.

I glanced at the framed photographs, scanning for the face I really wanted to see, my Haley. A small frame caught my eye and I took a closer look. Two young girls, arms draped over each other’s shoulders, stood covered in dirt with wide smiles; a golden retriever sat in front of them, and I couldn’t help but smile at the younger Jessica and Haley looking back at me. God, I miss her already.

Knowing my time at the apartment was limited, I forced myself to keep moving. Jessica’s laptop was easy enough to access, and her e-mail account had been left open in the browser. I simultaneously chided her carelessness while thanking her for making my job so easy for once. I scanned the sender and subject lines for any that seemed likely to have come from Haley.

There was one address that kept appearing, and I skimmed several of the recent e-mails, realizing that the sender and Jessica signed them in code as Caroline and Elena. The newest message informed Jessica, or “Caroline,” that she, “Elena,” who I was almost positive was Haley, would be in touch when she could and not to worry. The e-mail was sent the day Haley left Santa Cruz; that couldn’t be a coincidence.

I wanted to read more of their messages, but Jax would blow a gasket if I spent that much time here. My assignment was to find the pertinent information for Chase to hack the account and set up an alert for e-mails from Haley, not to snoop unnecessarily.

I placed a small transmitter on the laptop that would send the data back to our team. After installing a second device on the back of the photo of Haley and Jessica, I hoped that between recording Jessica’s conversations and hacking her e-mails, something would lead us to Haley. I hated that we were invading her privacy, but we weren’t using any cameras, and I had long been desensitized to this side of our work.

Having completed my task, I made sure to leave everything as I found it. When I returned to the hotel, I reported to Jax and collapsed on the bed. It felt good to finally do something useful, but now the waiting was probably going to kill me.