Baldwin woke, disoriented. He looked around and remembered where he was. He was on the cot in his office. Anger bubbled in his chest, he jumped to his feet. There was work to be done. The ways of the OA often made no sense as far as logic went, and bristling about their decision-making process would get him nowhere.

He stretched, went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, then sought out his boss.

Garrett was standing in the middle of his office, a landline glued to his ear. He nodded at Baldwin and gestured to the sofa, uh-huhing into the receiver the whole time. Right after Baldwin sat, he hung up.

“Well, some good news, at least. The rental car from Colorado was dropped off in Missouri. Looks like our boy spent the night in St. Louis. Problem is, we’ve got nothing on him since. None of the names we have on file have shown up within one hundred miles of St. Louis in any direction. Photos have gone out to all the law enforcement folks, but for the time being, we’ve lost him.”

Great. St. Louis was less than a day’s drive to Nashville, an hour by plane. If Baldwin’s gut was right, and it always was, Aiden could be closing in already.

“You said he was in Europe at last count, and the tracker was found dead in Italy. Do we have any proof that he saw me there? That he saw us there? Has he been communicating with anyone?”

“Atlantic hasn’t found anything substantial over there, just the timing. Without the tracker’s information, it’s worthless. It would make sense that he picked up your trail while you and Taylor were there, don’t you think?”

“It does.” He was quiet for a moment. “I need to go back to Nashville, Garrett. I can’t let him get any closer to her. He’s too unpredictable, too dangerous. I don’t know what his agenda is, but if he’s planning some sort of revenge…I refuse to let that happen. I won’t lose her.”

“Just give us some more time, Baldwin. We’re going to track him down. If we don’t have him by tonight, you’re out of here. Fair enough?”

“I don’t know what more I can do for you, Garrett. I don’t know where he is.”

“There are still sources that haven’t checked in. We may be off entirely, he may be on a job. Give us a little more time to see what shakes out. Okay?”

Great. Just great. He was stuck here, looking for a man who might be headed right at his lover. Perfect.

“Fine,” he said, voice tight and controlled. “Let’s go find the bastard.”