The evening air around the hotel felt thick and cold. Police lights flashed along the walls, washing everything in blue and red lights.

Hayden stood near the entrance, jaw tight, chest heaving a little from the leftover adrenaline. He kept staring up and down the street where the officers had disappeared earlier.... kept waiting for someone to shout the words he desperately needed to hear.

“We found him!”

But it has been hours now and that announcement was still to be made.

He ...