High Stakes Escape

by Elizabeth Goddard

  And now she was talking to herself.

  She slipped the SIM card into her cell phone and turned it on. Let the games begin.

  Fear gripped her. All the running she and Ben had done had come down to this moment.

  She let the tears she’d held back after walking away from Ben freely flow as she poured her heart out to God. He already knew what was inside her heart, but still, she needed to connect with Him.

  Lord, all I ever wanted was to live a peaceful life. I never asked to be the ward of a criminal, and then to be forced to work for him. Kept in line by fear and intimidation tactics. When will it end?

  Her cell buzzed with a text. Chasey stared at the message, unsure if she could believe what she read.

  FOURTEEN

  At the US Marshals Service regional office in Denver, Ben paced a small room he’d been relegated, staring at his cell phone. Now that he was no longer on the run, he was back to using his regular cell. He tried to contact Chasey, figuring she would be using hers, as well, but the call had gone straight to voice mail.

  He wasn’t sure if her uncle would continue to try to find her. Dawson had a chance to grab her back there on the Holly House lawn but instead he’d simply waved at her.

  Ben was still trying to make sense of it all, to understand why the aggressive search for her had concluded with her uncle’s seeming indifference to capturing her. All he could come up with was that they had led Dawson to Brighton, though that still left many unanswered questions. Why all the attacks, if capturing Chasey hadn’t actually been the goal? Why would he want Brighton and not Chasey? Was this about revenge for Chasey’s testimony, or was there something more at play? Ben scraped a hand through his hair.

  He hadn’t gotten enough sleep and couldn’t be sure of anything at the moment.

  Chief Calvin opened the door and walked in. He’d arrived in the Denver field office a few minutes ago. As WITSEC inspectors, their tasks were secretive and the rest of the deputy marshals didn’t usually know what they were working on, or whom they were working with. It was the best way to protect their witnesses.

  Except in this situation, the system had broken down.

  “Bradley, have a seat,” Calvin said. “Your pacing is driving me nuts.”

  Ben turned to look at his chief, meeting Calvin’s level gaze. “You can only protect a witness who wants to be protected, Ben. You shouldn’t beat yourself up over the fact that she walked away. Participating in the program is always voluntary.”

  Reluctantly, Ben slid into the chair at the table, facing his chief. “She wouldn’t have walked away had things not gone south. If her uncle hadn’t gotten his hands on her brother.”

  And it was all on him. Hurt and pain twisted in his gut. Anger burned through his chest.

  Calvin set a bottle of chewable acid relievers on the table and pushed it across to Ben. “I know how you feel. But you can’t give up now. She needs you whether she realizes it or not. Now, with Dawson escaping, we’re putting together a task force including the FBI, DEA and the USMS. Chasey Cook is still your witness. She stood firm and did her part through the trial, and we promised to protect her. I believe her stepping away is a momentary lapse.”

  Ben nodded. Though he appreciated his superior’s words of support, he knew this galvanizing effort to find Chasey had as much to do with the fact that the feds wanted her uncle back as it did with providing protection. He uncapped the bottle in front of him and grabbed a couple of the calcium tabs. He chewed them up, disliking the powdery taste.

  “We’re all in this together,” Calvin said. “When one of us suffers, we all suffer.” He tossed a file on the table.

  Ben stared at it for a moment. “What is it?”

  “While you’ve been busy with your witness, we’ve been digging deep. Secured WITSEC data was accessed by one of our own.”

  “As we suspected.”

  “We have systems in place to keep our witnesses as safe and secure as possible. Most of the time they work.”

  Ben waited patiently. His boss was obviously building up to something. Ben had a feeling he wouldn’t like what he was about to say, but that didn’t mean he wanted to wait to hear it. Just... Get to the point.

  Ben leaned back in the chair and tucked his chin. He tried to hide his attitude, but he couldn’t help it.

  Calvin slid a photo print out of the file. “Is this the man you saw at the pier?”

  Ben stared at the picture. “It was dark. I can’t be sure. But it could be him. He’s a deputy marshal?”

  “No. He was impersonating one of ours that night, after stealing a uniform. The actual deputy was forced to access the database through threats to his family. Once he’d turned the information over, he was taken captive for several days to keep him from having an attack of conscience and revealing what he’d done. The information led to the attacks on Susan and then Sheila before Chasey was found. The deputy was finally released and immediately turned himself in.”

  Ben pounded the table and bolted from the chair. “He’s all right now? His family is safe?”

  “Yes.”

  Ben sighed. “I’m glad they’re all right, I’m glad we have answers for how the leak happened, and I’m very glad to hear it wasn’t someone willingly selling out witnesses. But answering those questions doesn’t change the mess we’re in. Chasey’s in the wind, and Brighton has been taken. We probably led Dawson to him.”

  “Intel is telling us that he has known where Brighton was staying this entire time.”

  “What? How?”

  “We learned that Brighton has received a call from his uncle, communicating via his lawyer, once a month for the last year.”

  “What? And Chasey didn’t know? She wasn’t informed?”

  “Someone on staff was paid to keep it quiet.”

  Ben fisted his hands and slammed them on the table. “We need to find her! To find them both.”

  “And we find the brother by finding our witness,” Calvin said. “The FBI is following all leads. We have every reason to believe her uncle will contact her. The task force meets in half an hour in the main general conference room. Be there.”

  His boss left Ben standing there. He stared at his cell and called Chasey again, but got no answer. He left her a voice mail. “This is Ben, Chasey. I—I’m worried about you. Please call me. Please let me help you... I...” Emotion twisted in his throat and he couldn’t speak, so he ended the call. He’d almost said, “I love you.”

  I love you.

  He loved her, but that didn’t do either of them any good. What an idiot! He had fallen in love with her before, but he couldn’t be with her then, and he couldn’t be with her now.

  Until... Until the threat of reprisal was extinguished. That might never happen.

  Ben headed down the hallway to the general conference room. There, he met the representatives from the other agencies joining together to bring down Theo Dawson. But when it was over, he knew nothing more than when he’d walked in. He left the meeting with one imperative.

  Finding Chasey.

  So nothing had changed for him. It was like the chief had said—everyone wanted her, but Ben didn’t appreciate the reasons.

  Essentially, she was bait.

  If you hear from her, Bradley, we need to know where she is. Contact us immediately. The words from the FBI special agent kicked through his gut. No one wanted to hear from Chasey more than Ben, and his job was to protect her, not use her to draw her criminal uncle out.

  They had already gotten a warrant to search for her cell phone so they could try to track her.

  But Chasey was smart, and even though she might have turned her cell on briefly so she could contact her uncle, he would bet she had turned it off now and was on the run again.

  Chief Calvin stopped Ben as he exited the conference room and tugged him over to the side and
out of earshot. “Her safety is our priority.” He leveled his gaze on Ben.

  “Understood,” Ben added, averting his gaze. He didn’t want his boss to see just how emotionally involved he truly was.

  The chief got a call and left Ben to stand there and wonder just exactly what the other man meant. Yes, he was part of this team to locate and recapture her uncle, and they wanted to find Chasey as part of finding Dawson. But Ben had his own agenda. He had to put Chasey first—over and above the team’s task.

  Ben exited the front of the US Marshals Service office building into the cool, crisp day. The sky had cleared to a bright blue. Snow melted into slush along the streets and sidewalks. Outside the building he could hear the traffic had picked up, even for a Sunday. He’d missed church, of course, and would have to listen to his pastor’s sermon online later.

  He pressed his back against the cold brick of the building and attempted to let his thoughts clear.

  Then he prayed.

  “Lord, I don’t understand why any of this has happened or why Chasey is now out there alone and on her own. I don’t understand why I couldn’t keep her and her brother safe. And I don’t know what You want me to do next. Regardless, please keep Chasey safe. Please help us bring this criminal down without harm to Chasey or her brother.”

  His cell buzzed, signaling that he’d received a text. He pulled up the message from a number he didn’t recognize. His heart pounded as he read the words.

  Ben, it’s me. I know where he’s taking Brighton.

  * * *

  Okay, what do I say next?

  She hadn’t really thought this through so well. As soon as she had received that text, surprisingly from her brother, she had told Brighton to hang tight and not to worry. That she would come for him.

  What she hadn’t said was that she would come for him despite the fact that their uncle expected her, even wanted her, to come for Brighton.

  She had saved the number from which he’d contacted her, then bought a burner phone at the gas station and turned her own cell phone off. She had fully expected her uncle to try to reach her. And maybe Brighton’s text had been part of Theo’s plan to lure her.

  But she didn’t think so.

  Brighton was smart as a whip in some areas, although he couldn’t communicate or do things on his own very well. Still, if something excited him, he could get his message across.

  Private jet landing remote airstrip on island. North side away from hurricane. Uncle afraid of hurricane. Hurry, Kelly.

  Chasey had immediately thought of the summer place where their mother had taken them, and that last summer they had shared with her. They had stayed on a remote island in the Caribbean with its old sugar plantation built like a fortress to withstand the hurricanes.

  If Uncle Theo had taken Brighton there, then what was his plan? Would he still try to get to her, too?

  If her uncle didn’t come after her, call her or reach out to her, then she would have to go after Brighton. But to do that—especially now that she had an idea of where he’d been taken—she needed resources. She couldn’t do this alone. She couldn’t just hitchhike or take a cab to a Caribbean island. Even a commercial flight would be a tricky prospect. As winter and snow season was picking up in the United States, hurricane season in the Caribbean was winding down—but as long as the storms continued, flights to that island were few and far between.

  As she sat there wondering what she would do next, her cell rang.

  Ben.

  Her throat constricted. She didn’t want him to persuade her to come in to be protected. But in addition to his help, she wanted to hear his voice.

  She answered. “Ben...” His name came out breathy, and tears clogged her throat. “I’m so sorry. Please, I’m so sorry. I had to leave.”

  “It’s okay. Calm down.” Just hearing his voice did more for her than she would have expected. Her decision to flee Ben’s side had been the right one. But oh, had she missed him. So much that she couldn’t resist sending the text, opening up a dialogue, even if it put her at risk of being found by the federal authorities she was sure were looking for her. She hoped she wasn’t making a mistake by talking to him now, especially given what she was about to share.

  “I need to know if you’re safe, Chasey. I’m worried about you.” She could hear the concern in his voice, which increased her regret at leaving him behind when he’d worked so hard to protect her.

  She hung her head and thought about just how alone she truly was. “I’m good for the moment, but I don’t know for how much longer.”

  “What can you tell me about your brother?”

  It was interesting that Ben didn’t ask where she was, though his first concern had been for her safety.

  “I need to get to my brother. I need to get him out of my uncle’s clutches. But I can’t do it alone. Please don’t tell anyone else. I’m concerned that somehow my uncle will find out that I know where he has taken Brighton and then move him again.”

  Ben hesitated and, for a moment, Chasey wondered if she’d lost the connection. “Ben?”

  “I’m here. You’re my priority and—” another hesitation, another breath “—Chasey... I’ll do my best to help you. I’m sorry that I failed you and that your uncle was able to get to Brighton.”

  “Please, don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. If anything, you can blame me for skipping out on you. But because I did, I now know about where Brighton has been taken because he contacted me.”

  “He told you where he is?”

  “Not exactly, but he described enough about it for me to recognize where our uncle must have taken him. I can’t get there on my own. Can you meet me?”

  “Yes. Just tell me where you are.”

  “Promise me you’ll come alone. Promise you won’t tell your boss where I am.”

  “You should know the feds are in on the search for your uncle. We’re working together. They want me to find you. They’ve asked me to tell them if you contact me. We know who gave up my witnesses now. Your uncle hired someone to kidnap and threaten a marshal. But the man turned himself in as soon as he was able to. That means the leak in information has been plugged.”

  Chasey blew out a breath. “You’re saying you trust everyone. Is that it?”

  “Yes. Still... Because you asked me to, I’ll come alone. And I won’t tell anyone we’re meeting.”

  “Well, even if you’ve caught one guy who’ll admit to handing over information, I’m not so sure my uncle hasn’t influenced someone else to keep tabs on things. I can’t afford to trust anyone else, Ben, not with Brighton out there somewhere.” She held back the tears threatening to once again choke her.

  Her uncle was proving to be more resourceful than they could have imagined—getting his hands on Brighton like that when his location was meant to be so secret and so secure was proof all on its own.

  Chasey gave him an address. “Wait for me. I won’t be there when you arrive. But I’ll come to you.”

  Because she would have to be sure he wasn’t being followed before she revealed herself.

  More lives than her own depended on it.

  FIFTEEN

  Ben wished he had Rolf sitting in the semi just waiting to help. He wished he had any backup that he could truly, fully trust to follow his lead and keep all information to themselves. But he couldn’t shake the fear that Chasey was right and, even now, Ben shouldn’t trust anyone. So even though it went against all of his training, he followed through on her request.

  She’d told him to come alone, and Ben wouldn’t betray her trust.

  Instead of going back inside the US marshals’ building, he headed around the corner and down the sidewalk until he came to a busy intersection. He tried to act like he was out for a walk to clear his head. While he walked, he called for an Uber ride. Was he being followed? Watched by the agencies on the tas
k force? Did they suspect he would go behind their backs if he heard from his witness?

  Like his boss had said, Chasey was his priority. Ben hadn’t needed that from Calvin because, to Ben, Chasey was his priority no matter what his boss—or anyone else—said. Once he connected with her in person, and learned more about what was going on and where Brighton had been taken, he would work to convince her they should call in the feds to take down her uncle and get Brighton back.

  After Ben had gone a couple of blocks, he stopped and waited for the silver Ford Focus—his Uber ride—to show up. A minute or so later, he got into the vehicle with a guy named Cam. Ben instructed Cam to drive him across town and had him stop two blocks down from where he was supposed to meet Chasey.

  He would walk the rest of the way, pausing in the shadows now and then to make sure he hadn’t been followed. He would let Calvin and the others know he had heard from Chasey in his own good time.

  Across the street, Ben spotted the Laundromat where he was supposed to meet her. Kind of a strange and unexpected place to meet but that must have been the point. She wasn’t there, and he recalled she told him to wait for her there. He figured she had wanted to watch for a few minutes to make sure that he was actually alone and hadn’t been followed.

  He understood her hesitancy. Suspicion and wariness had crawled over him, even in the marshals’ office in the conference room with several other deputies and agents. He was sure that most of the agents were good, decent people who genuinely wanted to do the right thing. But it only took one person who could be bribed, blackmailed or threatened, and all the information they had could land in the wrong hands.

  There was a reason that WITSEC inspectors kept to themselves protecting their witnesses.

  “You look kind of lonely.” The sound of the familiar voice drew his head up. But he didn’t look to his left, where he knew she was hiding in the shadows.

  “Yeah.” I’m lonelier than you know. “I was just waiting to make sure that I’m really alone.”