Page 108 of Dear John
His eyes widened slightly and he strode back into his room to grab his things. Five minutes later, we were pulling up to OPS, along with several other people Red must have called.
“What’s going on?” Rae asked, hustling to catch up to us as we stormed up to the building.
“Isla’s missing.”
“The dumbass left her in New York,” Red muttered.
“Can we talk about the stupid mistakes I make at a later time?”
Red got us into the building and we all headed downstairs. I knew if I ran into Cash, there would be hell to pay, but I trusted that Red would have my back.
Being back here was hell on my nerves. Pangs of longing hit me as soon as I walked through the door, but being in the IT room surrounded by several of the men I’d called brothers for years struck me so hard that I had to take a moment to collect myself. Strolling down memory lane would have to wait until I located Isla.
“Can you get into the camera feed from the hotel?” Red asked.
“Working on it,” Rae said, tapping away at the keys.
I scrubbed a hand over my face as I watched her hack into the feed. Thankfully, most places didn’t realize that by having their systems online, they were making it more vulnerable to attack. It wasn’t normally something I would recommend, but I was grateful for their stupidity at the moment.
“Alright, here we go,” Rae said, pulling up the feed from two nights ago. “There you are, Kavanaugh.”
I watched as I left Isla’s room. The cameras in the hall did very little to disguise my absolute defeat at the moment, and now everyone else saw it, too. “Skip ahead.”
She fast-forwarded through the feed until another figure strolled down the hall. But that person went to another room. She kept going, past a couple who appeared drunk off their asses, a waiter bringing a tray of food, until finally, someone I recognized walked down the hall.
“Hold it,” I snapped, watching with fury in my eyes as IKE walked up to her hotel room. I checked the time stamp. “2:17,” I muttered. “What kind of asshole shows up at someone’s hotel room at that time of night?”
“Someone who’s hoping you’re not around,” Red answered.
I gritted my teeth at his words because I wasn’t around. I hoped for just a moment that she wouldn’t let him in, but she did. He walked right inside and then the door shut.
“You didn’t think to install cameras in the room, did you?” Rae asked.
“I was cut off from everyone. My only help was having Fox next door.”
“Why didn’t you ask Fox to stay with her?” Red asked.
“Because she told me to take him home with me.” I huffed out a laugh at her words. “She said she didn’t want him coming over to make her watch musicals.” I shook off the desolate feeling growing inside me. I could feel sorry on my own watch. Right now, I had to find out what happened to Isla. And if she was with IKE…I’d have to deal with that. At least she would be safe, which was better than considering what else might have happened to her.
“Alright, moving along…” Rae said, fast-forwarding through the feed.
“There,” Red snapped, pointing to the top left corner of the screen. “Roll back.”
Rae did as he asked, then zoomed in as best she could. I strode forward, even though the screen was huge. Something was going on, but it was hard to tell. “They’re purposely staying out of the line of the cameras,” Rae confirmed. “Let me see if there’s another angle.”
But there wouldn’t be. Not in a hotel like this. I kept my eyes on the screen anyway, watching until they finally made their presence known.
“I have eyes on the stairwell.” Rae pulled up the feed just as the door to the IT room burst open. I spun around as Cash stormed in, pointing at the screen.
“Turn it off.”
“No,” Rae snapped.
Cash’s eyes narrowed on her. “I gave you a fucking order.”
“And it was stupid,” Rae retorted. “We’re trying to find a missing person.”
His eyes flicked to meet mine. “I suppose this has to do with you.”