Page 154 of Jay Bird

Then another thought slammed into him. “Willow.”

He looked around the container. There was nothing. No sign she had ever been there.

Derek entered behind the paramedics.

“Where’s Willow?” Jay Bird asked, looking at Derek.

Derek didn’t answer because there wasn’t one to give.

The paramedics brought in a stretcher, and Jay Bird reluctantly lowered Lily onto it. The moment he tried to remove Ellie, Lily’s fingers seemed to tighten faintly around the elephant.

Jay Bird stopped. “Leave it with her.”

The paramedic nodded. “It stays.”

He walked beside the stretcher as they carried her from the container.

Outside, the entire scene had shifted. Radio traffic filled the air as officers and agents began working the new problem.

They had found Lily. But Willow was still missing.

Tink approached Derek as Jay Bird followed the stretcher toward the ambulance.

“Jay.”

He stopped.

Tink looked at the container, then back at him. “This was intentional.”

Jay Bird stared at him. “What was?”

“The whole thing.”

Derek came closer.

Tink gestured toward the container. “Think about it. Chen’s people took Willow and Lily, knowing we would come after them. Somehow they either discovered the tracker or suspected one existed. Instead of destroying it, they left it with Lily.”

Jay Bird’s stomach turned.

“The explosives.”

Tink nodded. “They weren’t there to hide anything. They were there to slow us down.”

Derek swore quietly.

Tink continued. “The tracker brought every resource we had straight here. The explosives forced us to sit on this location for hours while EOD cleared it.”

Jay Bird stared at him as the realization settled in.

“This wasn’t a trap.”

“No.”

Tink’s expression darkened. “It was a clock.”

Rage rolled through Jay Bird. “He used Lily.”

“Yes. To buy himself time with Willow.”