Shane had caught forty-winks but was now wide awake and trying not to stare at Yael as she worked on one of the couches toward the rear of the small plane. Dark circles shadowed her eyes. Her expression was drawn. Worry for her friend etched every line. At least she’d gotten a little rest.

“How are your feet?” he asked her.

She looked up, startled. “They’re fine. A little sore but healing.”

He nodded, wanting to say a million other things and unable to utter a single one.

Tension was ramping up as the start of the auction loomed.

“Storm approaching from the west. I’m going to have the pilot refuel in Wichita while we can still land,” Alex said quietly.

Shane nodded. Wichita was as good a place as any and central if they ever figured out a location for Grice. They still had no firm idea where this guy was. Alex’s crew in DC were working tirelessly to find some trace of him in the electronic universe but so far this guy was a ghost.

Everyone was on edge. They’d had a glimmer of excitement when EG had opened the email but he had a sophisticated VPN that Yael had only been able to narrow down to the Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado area.

EG hadn’t responded to Alex’s message yet and he was either considering his options or he’d decided recovering the money wasn’t worth the risk of death or incarceration.

Ashley Chen was in the restroom freshening up. Everyone was going to need to be at the top of their game for the next few hours.

His work cell buzzed.

“Hey, text from Sloan.” It had gone out to everyone on the task force but he read it out anyway. “Highway patrol cop was shot and killed on a rural road near Limon, Colorado around 3:20 a.m. last night.” Anger curled in Shane’s stomach. Another senseless death. “Cop stopped a green Subaru with a broken taillight. Suspect got away and stole the cop’s body and dash cams before he fled the scene. Sloan and company believe this could be our UNSUB.”

“That was around the time someone opened the email…” Yael’s lips were pale as they pressed tightly together.

“I guess he didn’t take it too well,” said Shane.

Alex swore.

“Still no reply from the email?” Shane asked.

“Nothing. He knows the chances of getting that money back and getting away are close to nil,” Alex stated numbly.

Alex opened up a program that showed cell towers near where the cop was killed and identified them and downloaded the cellphone numbers that had connected to them between 2:45 and 3:45. Then he pulled up a program and ran the numbers through another database.