Chapter 29 - Missing
Trey had been in the shower for a while when he suddenly had an uneasy feeling, and Atlas started growling. He quickly turned off the water, wrapped a towel around his waist, and ran out to the living room.
Cat was nowhere in sight. He called her name repeatedly as he ran around the penthouse, but she was gone. Trey heard the elevator opening, and he ran over, thinking maybe she had gone downstairs for something.
When the door opened, it was a young woman delivering the food they had ordered. She looked Trey up and down, smiling. He didn't pay her any attention; he had to find Cat.
"Did you see anyone getting off the elevator when you came up?" He asked her anxiously.
"No, but I would be glad to help you if you need something." The woman fluttered her eyelashes at him as she looked down at his towel.
"Listen, my girlfriend is missing. Have you seen a short young woman with long black hair, and blue eyes, wearing shorts and a t-shirt?" The woman looked annoyed at the mention of a girlfriend.
"No, I haven't seen her. Maybe she ran off and decided to leave you here all alone. I can keep you company." She walked over to Trey and attempted to reach for his towel. He glared at her.
"Get the fuck out of here now." He yelled. She turned on her heel in anger before walking out with a red face. Trey grabbed his phone and called Roger.
"Roger, Cat's missing. I was in the shower, and when I came out, she was gone. There's no way she would have left the penthouse on her own. I'll see if they'll let me look at their cameras. We have to find her." Trey could tell he sounded hysterical, but he felt like a piece of him was missing.
"We'll be right there. I'll have Ellie see if she can pick up anything on the bracelet we gave Cat with the tracker in it. Hopefully, she still has it on." Roger hung up, and Trey ran to the bedroom to put clothes on.
Once he had on jeans and a t-shirt, he threw on his shoes and ran to the elevator. He and Atlas sniffed the air, trying to pick up the scent of whoever had taken Cat. Even though he had no proof someone had taken her, he was absolutely sure she wouldn't have left the penthouse without him.
When the elevator opened, he picked up Cat's scent and another familiar one. Trey immediately recognized it as Caleb Pierce. He pulled out his phone as the elevator started to descend.
"It was Caleb. He took Cat." Trey was trying to keep himself calm, so he didn't shift into Atlas and kill everyone in his path.
"How do you know? Caleb didn't know where you were."
"I can smell his scent. There's no doubt. He had no reason to be here, so he must have found us, and now he has Cat." The elevator reached the lobby, and Trey ran to the front desk.
"I need to look at your security tapes. My girlfriend was kidnapped." The man behind the desk rolled his eyes.
"First of all, we can only show those to the police. Second, she probably just went to the spa or something." Trey grabbed the man around the collar as he tried to turn around.
"I am the police. I'm a detective with the Sacramento Police Department, and I want to see those tapes now." Trey let go of the man and showed him his badge. He motioned for Trey to come around the desk and pointed to some monitors with a shaky finger.
Trey backed up the lobby video until he found what he was looking for and then pushed play. He recognized Caleb's build even though he had a hat on and kept his head down. Atlas growled as Trey put his phone back up to his ear.
"I have Caleb on camera in the hotel lobby. Any luck with the tracker?"
"No, nothing yet. It still shows it's at the hotel." Roger sounded worried.
Trey switched over to the penthouse elevator camera and backed it up. He played from where Caleb entered the elevator and put a penthouse key in the panel. How did he get a key?
He continued watching, and from the camera angle, he could see Caleb take out a gun and point it toward the elevator doors. His breathing stopped as he watched Caleb grab Cat and pull her onto the elevator keeping the gun on her.
Trey almost smiled when he saw Cat glaring at Caleb. He knew she was scared, but she was probably more angry than anything. He continued to watch and saw them get off on the second floor. Trey knew Caleb was most likely heading to the stairwell to go down the last flight of stairs.
He switched to another video and saw Caleb pushing Cat down the flight of stairs and outside. He searched the other videos, but there were none for that exit. Trey jumped up, ran to where the stairs were and found the door they went out.
He could smell both their scents strongly and the exhaust from a vehicle. Trey fell to his knees, shaking. He looked around and saw the bracelet with Cat's tracker lying on the ground. He put the phone back up to his ear.
"Roger, they're gone, and her tracker is here. I'm going to hunt him down and kill him for touching her. It's time for me to use my skills. You guys find out where he lives. I'll be in touch as soon as I know anything." Trey heard Roger sigh.
"Alright, be careful." Trey hung up and started following the smell of the exhaust, where he could pick up traces of Cat's scent. He would be able to follow it better if he shifted into Atlas, but a huge lion wouldn't go unnoticed running through the streets of Sacramento.
Trey had his badge out as he ran through the streets, following the scent. When people beeped at him, he showed his badge and kept running. He was still picking up Cat's scent as he ran. He now wished he'd already marked her. Then he would be able to mindlink her.
As he ran, he realized he was going toward the freeway. If Caleb took her on the highway, there would be too many smells to pick up Cat's scent. Just as he feared, her scent went up the on-ramp to Interstate 80. The good news was Trey was able to tell they were headed east. He took out his phone again.
"Roger, I was able to track her scent to the on-ramp of 80 east. I can't go further than that. Have you found anything?" Trey started walking back the way he came.
"We're at Caleb's house, and you're going to want to see this for yourself. Get here as quickly as possible. I'll text you the address." Roger hung up, and Trey started running back to the hotel.
When Trey got to his truck, he looked at the address on his phone and saw that it was a house in Rancho Cordova. He sped to the location in record time. He saw numerous patrol cars and detective SUVs when he pulled up. He jumped out and ran inside.
He paused at the door when he stepped into the small ranch-style house. There were people everywhere. Trey found Roger in the spare bedroom that was set up like an office.
"What do you have?" He walked over to the desk where Roger was standing and looked down.
"He was obsessed with Cat long before we knew about her. Look at these." Roger fanned out multiple pictures on the desk. Trey began shaking with anger.
The images were of Cat. From what he could tell, she was about twelve years old. The look in her eyes in those pictures was enough to break Trey's heart. They looked empty, lost, and scared.
"Look at this. It looks like a contract. Caleb was going to purchase Cat from Leo when she was a child." He took the paper from Ellie's hand and read over it. The contract was very detailed and stated that Leo would receive another child in exchange for Cat. Trey's blood was boiling.
Caleb had tried to get her years ago. He now knew why Caleb had insisted on being on Cat's case. It was all becoming clear to him. Caleb didn't want to take Cat to Leo. He was going to keep her for himself.
Trey couldn't take it anymore. He ran out of the house and down to the river that was close by. It wasn't as secluded as he would have liked, but he needed to run. He quickly shifted into Atlas, and they took off. Atlas was trying to pick up Cat's scent as he ran, hoping Caleb had her nearby.
The anger and fear drove them as they ran, no longer caring if someone saw them. They had to find Cat.
