“I hope so,” I whispered, my throat clogged with worry. He placed a soft kiss on my lips. Placed his hands on either side of my face and gently kissed my forehead. Then he rested his forehead against mine. I felt at peace for the first time in two days. Some of his positive energy transferred to me, and I gained strength from his closeness. I don’t know how long we just were, but my brother disturbed our moment of false normalcy.

He shot to his feet and grabbed his SUV keys from the key rack near the entrance to the kitchen. Axel immediately sprang into action.

“Where the fuck are you going?” He darted in front of Jock to block him from entering the garage.

“I’m going to save my daughter, damn it.” Jock pushed Axel and a shoving match ensued.

“Stop it, both of you. We don’t need this right now,” I shouted at the top of my lungs, but they were in a macho battle of wills. I pushed between them to intervene before fists started flying.

“Get out of my way.” Jock tried to shove me aside, but I held firm as did Axel behind me.

“You don’t know where they went.”

“Somewhere east of North Bend on I-90. I’ll find it. I’ll fucking follow the police cars. They’ll have an entire crew there complete with copters.”

Jock had a point there.

“Jock, this isn’t a good idea.” Axel’s voice was once again the voice of calm and reason, only this time Jock didn’t give a shit. He was focused on his mission, and that mission was finding his daughter. I don’t think the entire Sockeye team would’ve been able to stop him. Then he did something unexpected. My big, strong brother crumpled before our eyes.

“Don’t you understand? I have to go. This waiting is fucking killing me.” Tears streamed down Jock’s face. He’d lost it, and it was a tragic sight to see.

Axel and I exchanged glances, and I moved to hug Jock. He pressed his head against my shoulder and cried so hard my entire shoulder was soaking wet. Big, heart-wrenching sobs that tore your insides up racked his body. I glanced up to find Axel watching us. For once, he wasn’t in control. He fidgeted and ran his fingers through his hair while shifting his balance from one foot to another.

“Okay, we’ll drive out there, but we can’t interfere and cause more problems. We have to do as they say and stay out of their way. Let them do their job.” I was in lecture mode, which usually annoyed Jock, but he didn’t care this time.

Jock extracted himself from my arms and backed away as if just realizing how much he’d come apart. He nodded.

“Axel will drive,” I ordered.

Jock didn’t disagree but tossed the keys to Axel. “I just want to be there. I can’t stand all this waiting.”

We let Esme and Eunice know we were leaving and put them on alert in case someone came to the house with pertinent information or Teagan called, then we filed into the garage. Jock sat in the back seat of his mammoth SUV, and I sat beside Axel.