“Please don’t kill me!”

“Oh, I have no intention of killing you. At least not yet. You can be of use to me. You can help me get what I really want.”

There was the sound of feet or hands hitting against furniture.

“Don’t bother. I’m stronger than you. Now let’s go, and don’t give me any trouble, or I’ll change my mind.”

Moments later, the sound of a door being slammed could be heard, then silence.

Blake exchanged a look with Samson. “She’s alive.”

Pain shone from Samson’s eyes. “And as long as he doesn’t have Katie, Isabelle is safe. He’ll use my daughter to make an exchange.”

“That’s my thought, too,” Blake agreed. “Anything from Haven or Wes?” He looked over his shoulder, to where Thomas was standing now, shoving his cell phone back into his pocket.

“Shit!” Thomas cursed.

Instantly alarmed, Blake rose. “What is it?”

“After Haven couldn’t find Katie at home, we had a few men comb the area for her, retrace her last steps…”

The door was ripped open. Haven charged in, a grim expression on his face, clutching something in his hand.

“Where is your sister?” Blake asked.

He stretched out his hand, and Blake focused on the item in Haven’s open palm. “We found her cell in an alley around the corner. No sign of a struggle.”

“Her car?”

Haven shook his head. “Nowhere to be found. She’s gone.”

Samson cursed and slammed his fist against the wall. “Fuck! We need to find her. She might be our only connection to the madman who has my daughter.”

Nobody in the room said what they were all thinking: what if the kidnapper had already snatched Katie?

“She might be out there doing her own investigation. She was adamant about wanting to help,” Haven admitted, though he didn’t sound like his usual confident self.

From the corridor, the sound of footsteps came rapidly closer.

Blake squeezed Samson’s shoulder. “We’ll find her. As Haven said, she might just be out there thinking she can help. Doesn’t have to mean that guy got to her. It was three hours before sunrise when she left me the voice message around half past four.” He pointed to the monitor, indicating where the boys had just discovered Isabelle’s previous location. Then he glanced at the wall clock, making quick calculations in his head. “Sunrise was at 7:20. According to the recording, the kidnapper figured out only shortly before sunrise that his accomplice snatched the wrong girl. He wouldn’t have had a chance to get to Katie, not during daytime.” Then he addressed Thomas, “Put an APB out on her car.”

Wes rushed in. “I have a better idea.”

All heads turned to the witch.

“I can scry for her. It’ll take me an hour or two. I need something personal to get a lock on her. It’ll get us to the general area of where she is. Once we’re closer, I’ll scry again to get a more accurate location. It’s not quite like GPS, but it’s better than nothing. I can find her.”

“Do it!” Samson ordered.

“I’ll get a crew ready,” Blake interrupted. “And then we’ll pick her up wherever she is and won’t let her out of our sight anymore. She must have the letters with her. Once we get our hands on them, we’ll have a better idea whether they can offer us any clues that can lead us to the kidnapper.”

“I’m going with Wes,” Haven offered.

Wes shook his head immediately. “You may be needed here. But I might need some fighting power, just in case. You never know what our dear sister has gotten herself into.” He motioned to the monitors. “I’ll take one of the boys with me.”

“Not on your own, you won’t,” Blake objected and jerked his shoulder toward the screen. “Any of them will run roughshod over you. I’m coming with you. You’ll need more than just one hybrid to back you up.” He turned back to the monitors.

“I heard that,” Grayson commented.

“You were supposed to.” Blake refrained from rolling his eyes. “Guys, mission is over. Come back to HQ. Bring the cell and Mendoza’s computer and drop the stuff off with Thomas. He’ll run the recording through voice recognition and see if we can get a match.” He exchanged a look with the head of IT, who nodded.

“On our way,” Ryder responded.

“And I’m coming with you to find Katie,” Grayson added.