Cole took her by the upper arm and pulled her to the table. He slid the box in front of her. Her eyes fell to the note. “Oh, my God.” She tried to take a step back, but Cole’s iron grip on her upper arm held her tight.
“Where would he take her, Shannon?” he asked, his voice low and menacing.
“I…I…”
He shook her. “Where?”
“I don’t know, Cole. His office is in downtown San Francisco. He has a penthouse there, too. There’s a yacht. I…I don’t know. I can’t see him taking her to any of those places. He’d know you’d find her. He would know you’d be hunting him.” Her eyes moved to Mack. “You could have him arrested for kidnapping, couldn’t you?”
“We don’t work that way, lady.” Mack replied. “We handle our own problems.”
“I helped you, Shannon. And now everything I hold dear is on the line.”
“I’m so sorry, Cole. I never wanted to put your family in danger.”
“Did you even think about that when you held back all that shit from me? Huh?” He shook her again.
“Cole!” Crash made a move to get to Shannon, but Mack pushed him back.
“Okay. Clear the room. Now!” Mack snarled. The members all filed slowly out until only Mack, Cole, Crash and Shannon remained.
“I’ll go back,” Shannon offered.
“Like hell you will,” Crash growled.
“Yes. I’ll just go back to him. I’ll end it now. He’ll let her go.”
“Why the hell would he do that?” Mack snapped. “No. You’re the only leverage we’ve got. Without you, he may kill her anyway.”
At Mack’s thoughtless words, Cole collapsed into a chair, his head down. “Oh, my God.”
Mack ran a hand down his face, realizing he’d fucked up. He nodded to Crash. “Talk to him. I’ll go work up a list with Shannon of everywhere he might be.”
Crash nodded. He pulled Shannon to him, holding her head against his chin. He murmured against her hair, “Go with Mack. I’ll be right out.”
After they left, he pulled up a chair next to Cole. “Brother-”
“What am I going to tell my children?”
Cole looked broken. It tore Crash’s heart out to see him like this. “You’re gonna be strong for them. You’re gonna tell them you’re gonna bring their mama home.”
Cole looked over at Crash with eyes glazed with tears. “I promised her I wouldn’t let this shit touch her or the kids.”
“Cole, this isn’t on you.”
“How you figure that?”
“Cole, you were trying to do the right thing by Shannon. You were trying to help her. It’s what Angel wanted you to do. What she asked you to do.”
Cole ran his hands down his face, his one knee bouncing a mile a minute. “I gotta real bad feeling, Crash.”
Crash took Cole’s head in his hands, looking deep in his eyes. “Now you listen to me, goddamn it. We’re gonna get her back.”
Cole swallowed and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Say it!”
Cole looked at Crash. “We’re gonna get her back.”