Free Grab by Anne Conley Page B

very real expectation of some spectacular sex. “We’re not fucking.” He felt the sneer distort his face.
    Jordan was torturing himself with this line of thought. He saw the raised eyebrows Simon was aiming at his misplaced finger and Jordan slowly lowered it, with a sheepish, “Sorry.”
    Evan piped up with his two cents. “If it wasn’t for our personal relationships, we’d be missing out on a lot of business.”
    Simon sighed heavily and looked around at the other guys who were watching avidly, waiting for him to snap. Quinten looked positively eager at the possibility.
    “Okay, we’ll make this one a priority. Zack can write up the reports on the missing kids we’re working. Evan, you sure that’s a trafficking ring?” At Evan’s nod, Simon continued, ticking off their other cases on his fingers. “Quinten can do a little extra in his down-time so we can focus on this. Evan, can you put off some of what you’re working on?”
    “Sure thing, boss,” Evan nodded.
    Following Simon to his office, Jordan felt a stirring of hope in his chest. With the whole office behind him, he and Ryan had a better chance. For the first time since leaving the Marines, Jordan felt like he was part of a team.
    They worked and brainstormed for the next two hours with Evan on his laptop, looking for other women this guy could have taken. Hopefully, that would give them the clues they needed to figure out who Mikey was.
    Evan couldn’t track the F150 much further beyond the warehouse district where the switch had been made, so that was a dead end. He could have taken Mia anywhere. And that made Jordan nuts.
    Misty had vanished into thin air. Apparently, Mikey had taken another woman, who wasn’t even reported missing yet. What did he do with the women? Where did they go? What was his plan for them?
    “I think I’ve got something here.” Miriam was combing the police reports, looking for missing person’s cases from a month ago. “A woman named Evelyn Torres didn’t come into work last month. A co-worker called to see if she was in custody at the police station. Dispatch logged the call, but it doesn’t look like there was any follow-up.”
    “Name?” Jordon was all over this, the first lead he’d gotten.
    “The co-worker is Sharon Hawkins. That’s all I got. Evelyn was never reported missing. But she’s brunette and petite, like Mia and Misty, subtle Hispanic features. It’s slim, but it’s what I’ve been able to come up with from here.” Miriam shrugged, her face hopeful.
    “Evan? Can you get me a number for her?”
    “On it.” Evan was tapping away furiously on his laptop on the corner of Simon’s desk.
    “You and Ryan go check her out when he gets you that number, we’ll keep working from here,” Simon muttered, his face still buried in Misty’s police file.
    After getting the number, Jordan had it keyed into his phone while he and Ryan raced each other down the stairs to the parking lot. Outside, he called her.
    “Miss Hawkins? Do you have a moment?” Realizing he was out of breath from running, he forced a calm into his voice he didn’t feel, even though his heart was racing at the possibility of a lead.
    “Yes. Who’s calling, please?” an efficient voice sounded.
    “My name is Jordan Rocco, and I work with Pierce Securities and Investigations. A co-worker of yours came up in regards to a case I’m working and I was wondering if you had heard from Evelyn Torres?” He crossed his fingers, hoping this would go somewhere.
    “No, she never did show up. Mr. Perkins has replaced her already, although the new kid isn’t nearly as good as Evelyn. Have you heard from her?”
    “Can we come and speak with you, please?”
    “Um, I’m off today. Can we meet at a coffee shop or something?” She sounded hesitant, maybe because they were strangers. Finally, someone with some sense. That wasn’t fair, but Jordan just wanted everyone to be fucking safe. Was that really too much to ask? With all the