Baron hadn’t been this worried since the night of his escape from ISIS. He also hadn’t relied on his SEAL brothers this much since then. He had retraced the steps he’d taken with Nessa, returning to the site of the surf shop, just to make sure she wasn’t going to try to confront someone there. Thankfully there had been no sign of her there, although Baron had passed by quickly without paying it too much obvious attention.

After that he’d scanned the beach in the area, paying particular attention to the surfers, since that would be one way Nessa could prove herself. How she could pull it off with no money for board rental or lessons, was beyond Baron. Rely on her beauty and smarts, he guessed.

As he walked along the beach, he called Jace and Maddox on conference call and filled them in on the situation. They talked for a solid hour until Baron ran out of beach. All they had to do was find one specific tourist somewhere within a couple of miles of the busiest border crossing in the world.

Thanks, Maddox, for that scary little piece of intel.

Maddox said he would talk to Logan about any hacking strategies that might help them locate her. He also gave Baron some ideas on where to start looking based on his knowledge of tourist attractions. Jace said he would run some models and get back ASAP.

When they were about to hang up, Jace asked, “You tried calling her, right? Not just texting, Where u at?”

“Of course I called her,” said Baron.

“Hey,” objected Jace. “You never know with you Millennials.” For a Millennial, Jace managed to infuse it with plenty of sarcasm.

“No answer,” said Baron, not taking the bait. “She’s mad, bro.”

Jace grunted. “Try again. And if she answers, let us know right away that we can stop wasting time. In the meantime I’ll get to work.”

“Thanks, Jace.” Baron hung up and dialed Nessa. Answer, answer, answer.

It only rang once then went to voicemail. Most likely she had seen the caller ID and ignored it. Baron sent a text, begging her to call so he could explain. His phone stayed silent.

Baron called an Uber to start visiting the places Maddox had recommended. First they drove to one end of Avenida Revolución and Baron told the driver to just drive slowly all the way to the end of the tourist areas at the far end of the street. He scoured the streets and shops for his blonde-haired target. Over and over he got his hopes up but ended up being disappointed every time.

The driver told him they’d arrived and Baron instructed him to drive back the other way.

His phone dinged. It was Logan. I tried to ping her phone <Sutton had what I needed on file> No results.

That scared Baron to death. It meant the phone had a dead battery, was turned off, or had been taken from her and crushed under the boot of some drug dealer, kidnapper, or human trafficker. Baron tried not to think the worst, but he’d seen too much bad in the world.

He replied, What about the Escalade?

Still parked at the border—US side.

That was no better. He was still hoping that Nessa would go straight across the border, get in her Escalade, and drive back to Sutton’s. Hoping, but not expecting that. He knew she was going to try to prove herself big today.

Baron texted Logan, Let me know if it changes.

As they drove back along Avenida Revolución, it felt like the foot traffic had doubled. He could drive right by her and totally miss her.

Nessa was no dummy. If she was really trying to hide, she would be wearing different clothes, maybe a hat. It all depended on how badly she wanted to stay hidden. How deep she wanted to go undercover. There were some pretty deep places she could go to try to prove herself in Tijuana, places that would be hard for anyone to get out of on their own.

Baron couldn’t let that happen. He’d go up and down every street and check every shop if that’s what it took. He’d call in every SEAL favor he could and get the full force of his buddies and whatever Sutton was willing to spare as well.

It went beyond just looking for a damsel in distress. It was Nessa, the woman of his dreams. The woman he’d fallen in love with, as unlikely and quickly as it seemed. And to make it worse, it was because of him that she was loose in this wild city looking for a way to prove herself. True, the security tag had nothing to do with him, that was just some remnant of their shopping spree earlier today. But if he hadn’t put the tracker on her car and made her feel like he didn’t trust her as a partner, she wouldn’t have lost it and bailed when she found the security tag.

And if he hadn’t gone after the stupid towel she never would have escaped him and they could have talked about the tag. He’d let his guard down, fallen for her towel story, and now Nessa might be paying for it.

They arrived back at the end of Avenida Revolución as empty handed as they had started. His gut had been sick ever since finding the bathroom empty, and the malaise had spread to his heart. If anything happened to Nessa, Baron didn’t think he’d ever heal from it.

Baron checked his phone. No updates. He directed the driver to the Tijuana Cultural Center, keeping his eyes peeled to the tourists as they drove. When they arrived he ran inside, hustling through each and every room, ignoring the exhibits and keeping his eyes only on the tourists. No sign of her inside, so he ran through the gardens. Even if she was there, he could have missed her as she went from room to room.

The Cultural Center was a long shot to begin with; he didn’t think she had anything to prove there, but he was running out of options.

Next he checked out two markets that Maddox had suggested. And struck out.

Back in the car, Baron made sure the driver was still willing to take him around, and the man said he had all night. Just hearing the words amplified the pain in his heart.

It was already 7:30. Three hours since she had disappeared. It would be dark soon and that would take everything to a whole new level.

With every minute that passed, he worried more. He checked with Logan, who told him that the phone was still un-pingable and the Escalade hadn’t moved. Next on the list of Maddox-recommended tourist places was either a big casino or some hiking trails.

The casino felt wrong for Nessa, and the trails were just impractical places to search. He couldn’t cover miles and miles of trail with the sun going down. Not by himself. The info from Maddox and Jace hadn’t helped much. Baron blamed himself again, thinking he’d done a poor job of painting the picture of Nessa’s personality if his professional buddies couldn’t give him anything better than that.

He needed help, and he needed it quick. He pulled up his phone, ready to dial and call in the cavalry when Jace’s face popped up.

“What do you have?” asked Baron, ready to put all his eggs in whatever basket Jace’s probability method told him to.

“Forty-seven percent,” said Jace.

“Forty-seven? That’s it?”

“Sucks, huh?” agreed Jace.

“It’s getting dark. I’ll go where you tell me to, but I need reinforcements. Send me as many of Sutton’s black suits as you can. Tell them to dress like tourists.”

“No way,” said Jace.

“Hey, forty-seven percent is not enough to rely on. I need eyes on the street, and I need people asking questions. I’m this close to driving to the embassy and demanding help.”

“Dude,” said Jace. “The embassy is in Mexico City. You going to drive thirty hours and pound on the door?”

Baron put his face in his free hand. Why was Jace being difficult? Baron wasn’t asking much.

“Fine,” Baron told him, not bothering to hide the frustration. “I’ll call Sutton and have him send the black suits. Maybe he even cares enough about Nessa, and me, to send a couple of SEALs.”

“I’m already on it,” said Jace with a laugh. “Creed just went to talk to Sutton. We’re bailing on this assignment to come help.”

“Yes!” said Baron. The weight of the mission suddenly felt lighter. “ETA?”

“We’re ninety minutes out,” said Jace. “But we’ll get a driver so we can keep working en route. I’ll try to get the rest of the team coming too.”

“Good. Give me the 47-percenter. I’ll go check that out while you’re on your way.”

“Okay, so the note said, I’m going to prove myself, so I decided to use my brain—”

“Hold that thought,” said Baron. It was as if a door had been opened in front of him and he could see clearly what he hadn’t seen before.

Nessa was going to prove herself. This whole time she had been telling him she couldn’t believe how well he knew her. Since she left the hotel, he had been trying to use his brain to figure out where she’d gone, but that wasn’t how he’d known her so well. He had just been following his heart. There was no way his brain could figure out Nessa, or any woman for that matter. His heart was another story.

“I know where to go,” said Baron.

“What? I haven’t given you my idea.”

“We’ve been throwing our brains at this problem and we got nothing.” Baron tapped the Uber driver and pointed up Avenida Revolución. “I’m following my … gut? Heart? I don’t know which, but I think I’ll find her.”

Why had he been so stupid to miss it for so long?

“What is it?” asked Jace.

“Stay on that assignment. Tell Creed to hold off on talking to Sutton. If I’m wrong I’ll let you know and you can bring the cavalry down here.”

“Dude. Don’t leave me in the dark.”

“I got this,” said Baron, feeling a stab of pleasure at getting Jace back for refusing to send black suits and not telling him why at first. “Time to adapt and overcome.”

Baron hung up and watched Avenida Revolución roll by. He barely paid any attention to the tourists. Nessa wasn’t there. And even though he couldn’t believe where she’d gone, if he knew Nessa, he knew where to find her. With darkness approaching, it was a lot to risk on a hunch.

How do you know me so well? Her words came back to him.

He just hoped she was unharmed when he found her.