Page 88 of Viper

Her plan would work. Had to work.

She just needed to get this sick bastard to let her use the bathroom before he killed her.

“Drink. You’re useless without something in you.” Havoc pushed a bottle of water into Troy’s hand. “I haven’t even seen you eat today. Never thought I’d see that.”

“I’m useless whether I’m hydrated and fed or not,” he grumbled, but he accepted the drink and cracked the top.

“Only for right now. Usually you’re somewhat competent.” Havoc’s eyes glinted with humor as he took a swig from his own bottle of water and leaned against the kitchen table.

Troy scoffed at his friend’s pathetic attempt to make him feel better. “I should’ve gone with the guys. Sitting here’s going to drive me up the fucking wall.”

Havoc rounded the table to the seat he’d vacated moments before and motioned for Troy to sit next to him.

Troy just stood behind Havoc and placed his hands on his chair. “What?”

“Waiting to find a match from the highway cameras. Hoping it won’t take much longer.”

Troy watched the videos whizzing by at a rapid rate, the software filtering out the data it didn’t need. “Did you put Craig into facial recognition?”

“Yeah, we’ve got that running on Wraith’s computer,” he said, jerking his head toward the laptop next to him. “Although Spencer was the last person we know of with Paige. My bet is we’ll find something concrete on the vehicle first.”

A green banner blinked on the screen: Search complete.

Anticipation dampened Troy’s palms. He clenched the back of Havoc’s chair. “What’s it say?”

“Here’s a list of the street cameras that picked up that vehicle today. First one’s at a main intersection about five miles from Spencer’s house. Southbound.”

“Toward Casey Key Road?”

Havoc moved on to the next notification. “Yup. He must have had to go back in that direction for some reason and didn’t want his patrol car being tracked. Then he . . . wait.”

Tension straightened Troy’s shoulders. His knuckles turned white and the wood dug into his palms. “What is it?”

“Well, it’s just strange,” Havoc said, dragging out each word distractedly while studying the screen. He shook his head, befuddled. “I’m going to rerun the scan. For some reason we don’t have any footage of him heading back from Casey Key Road.”

“He could’ve ditched the car,” Troy offered. The minute the words left his mouth, he regretted them.

Pins and needles of fear hammered his chest.

If Spencer had dumped the car, it would’ve been for a reason he couldn’t accept—that Paige was long gone—or worse. Havoc stilled, telling Troy that his mind had gone to the same place.

“Let’s hope that’s not the case,” Havoc said.

Troy pushed away from the chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. Only the occasional tapping of the keyboard broke through the silence of the apartment.

He paced, his mind running wild with worry and, goddammit, terror. He’d never been so fucking scared in his life. Logic told him fear wouldn’t help. Neither would worry. Both would impede his judgment.

Emotions could destroy his rational thought if he wasn’t careful. He scrubbed his fingertips over his jaw, forcing himself into Spencer’s shoes.

“He’s working with Craig,” he mumbled, to both Havoc and himself. “He was delivering Paige to him. The only reason he wouldn’t return to work would be if something changed—if Craig needed him to do something else or . . .”

“Or he swapped vehicles. Let’s not forget, this guy’s a cop. He knows how to cover his tracks and scatter clues. We could be on a false lead.”

“Could be,” Troy conceded. “Or he stayed with Craig.” He sighed with impatience. “None of this makes sense. He told Lettie he was coming back—even left his cruiser at home. He didn’t plan to be long.”

Havoc frowned. “We need to narrow down where Craig would’ve taken her.”

Troy whirled around, frustration sticky on the back of his neck. “No shit,” he snapped. “If we knew where he took her, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”