BPD, 8:45 p.m.

Dan had answered the final questions thrown at him by the reporters. He and Chief Black as well as Mayor Pratt had parted ways. It was late and, as elated as everyone was to have solved the Chandler case, they were all dragging from the long day. It hadn’t helped that several of the reporters had wanted updates on the DeShawn Simmons case and Dan had nothing concrete to give them except they were working on it.

The young man’s face was plastered all over the city with pleas for information. The reward kept growing but the number of credible leads continued to shrink. No one who knew anything was talking. The fear of repercussions from MS-13 was far too strong.

He’d wanted to catch up with Jess but she’d already left her office and her cell went straight to voice mail. Knowing her, she was in that damned low-rent motel bathtub with a bottle of good wine by now. The two just didn’t pair well. But he’d promised not to mention that anymore.

A smile tugged at his lips. What was he going to do with her? She was determined to kick ass and take names. The mayor and his powerful corporate and political cronies were unsettled by her tactics. Dan had to admit that he was damned unsettled with a few, like facing off with Salvadore Lopez on his home turf.

She’d promised to give due consideration to future dangerous maneuvers before acting, but Dan wasn’t laying any wagers on her keeping that promise.

His cell vibrated against the desk. He picked it up and checked the screen, frowning at the unfamiliar number. Didn’t the 310 area code belong to LA? “Burnett.”

“Chief Burnett, Wesley Duvall here.”

The muscles along Dan’s spine tightened with a new kind of tension. Why in blazes would Jess’s ex be calling him? He reached for calm. Something to do with the Simmons case probably. “Agent Duvall, what can I do for you?”

“I was just on the phone with Jess and I’m very concerned. We were in the middle of a conversation when I heard a slapping sound as if she threw her cell against something or dropped it on the ground. Three, maybe four seconds of shuffling feet and then I heard her scream. There was another slamming sound, then squealing tires. I haven’t been able to get her back on the line. Perhaps there’s another explanation for what I heard, but I felt compelled to follow up. Do you know where she is right now?”

The first trickles of fear seeped into Dan’s veins. “Did she mention where she was before… you lost contact with her?” He put Duvall on speaker and moved to the contacts menu on his phone. Using the office landline on his desk, he called Harper’s cell. “Hold on, Duvall. Let me check with—”

“Harper,” echoed from the desk phone speaker.

“Sergeant Harper, is Chief Harris with you?”

“No, sir. She was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago. I guess she got held up. I tried her cell but there’s no answer.”

Dan’s heart rate climbed. “How long ago did you speak with her?”

“Forty, forty-five minutes. She was on the way to her car.”

“Contact me immediately if you hear from her,” he said to the detective.

“Sir, is everything—”

The office door burst open and Gina Coleman rushed inside. “Dan, you need to come outside right now.”

“I’ll call you back,” he said to Harper.

If Dan hadn’t known Gina as well as he did, he might suspect the reporter wanted to set him up for a little one-on-one camera time, but he did know Gina and what he saw on her face and in her eyes right now mirrored the dread building in his chest.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

“Harris’s car is parked on the street.” She gestured vaguely to the wall behind him. “Driver’s side door is open and the keys are in the ignition. Her cell phone is lying on the street.” She moved forward a few more steps. She was trembling. “Her bag is in the car, Dan. She never goes anywhere without that damned bag.”

“You hearing this, Duvall?” Dan rounded his desk and sprinted for the door.

“Indeed. I want to hear from you when you find her, Burnett.”

Dan wasn’t sure if he answered the man but the call ended.

“What do I do?” Gina shouted as she hurried down the corridor after him.

“Take me to her car.”

As they rushed down the stairs, Dan put through another call to Harper and warned him that they had a situation. Harper would complete the interviews as quickly as possible since Jess would not want him to miss an opportunity to learn information on Simmons for anything.

When Dan reached Jess’s Audi, Gina’s cameraman stepped aside. “I’ve been guarding her stuff with my life,” he vowed.

“We didn’t touch anything,” Gina assured Dan.

He stared at that damned bag of hers before carefully peeking inside. Her Glock was there. His heart crashed against his sternum. No way would she leave of her own free will without her weapon.

He made the call to dispatch that no cop ever wanted to make. “Officer down. First Avenue and Nineteenth.”

Dan stood in the middle of the street and turned all the way around. He spotted the nearest security camera. The mayor’d had surveillance cameras installed around the downtown area four years ago. As if some techie had picked up on his thoughts, his cell vibrated with an incoming call from ION, the security company responsible for the city’s surveillance system.

Sixty seconds later the video of Jess being abducted by two thugs in masks and driving a generic white Dodge van streamed to his cell phone. Sirens filled the night air, providing an eerie score to the images filling the screen as officers all over the city responded to the call.

Dan’s chest seized as he watched Jess’s futile but courageous fight to prevent those bastards from dragging her into that van.

Gina, still standing at his side and seeing the terrifying moments captured digitally, grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. “Oh my God,” she murmured.

Dan stared at the screen as the scene played again and again. He forced himself to focus on the details of the vehicle and the assailants. The two men were just a little taller than Jess’s five four. No way to tell their age with the masks in place. They wore black T-shirts with no discernible symbols or images and jeans and sneakers. He touched the screen and zoomed in to get a closer look at the forearm wrapped around Jess’s waist. He could just make out the tattoo.

XIII

His heart squeezed with the reality of what he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge. These were Lopez’s goons. Ruthless killers. If the boy is still alive… it’s because they have a plan for him. Jess had said that about DeShawn Simmons.

Dan prayed they had a plan for Jess beyond executing her.

Gina’s voice dragged his attention from the screen. She stood in a pool of light, speaking in her reporter voice to the camera.

“If anyone has seen Deputy Chief Jess Harris, please call the number you see on your screen. Chief Harris is missing and believed to be in extreme danger. She was taken by two males driving a white Dodge van with no markings. Chief Harris risks her life each day to protect our community and now she needs our help.”

He felt helpless even as police cruisers and unmarked cars jammed into the street from both directions.

When detectives and uniforms had surrounded him, the fear disappeared. He was the chief of police. He couldn’t afford to be afraid. These men and women were waiting for his direction.

Deputy Chiefs Black and Hogan were at his side and within twenty minutes search teams had been organized and grid patterns established. Crime scene techs were going over Jess’s car and personal belongings. Dan stepped aside and put in a call to Ted Allen.

“I want a meeting with Salvadore Lopez now.”

Allen hedged. “I’m not sure I can make that happen, Chief. We’re only just—”

“Make it happen,” Dan ordered before stabbing the end call button.

“Chief!” Harper cut through the crowd.

Dan followed Harper farther away from the temporary command post that had been established on the street. Traffic in all directions around Linn Park had been diverted.

“The word on the street is”—Harper looked around to ensure no one was paying them any mind—“that Salvadore Lopez ordered this strike. Apparently he believes we have his sister, Nina. His second in command, Jose Munoz, says they will trade Chief Harris for Nina. We have until sunrise or she dies.”

Dan struggled to contain the fury. “Do we have a fucking clue where this sister is?”

Harper moved his head side to side. “But we do have one thing.”

“What the hell is that, Sergeant?”

A smile quirked one corner of the detective’s mouth. “Salvadore Lopez.”