Danger In The Shadows

by Dee Henderson

  No. As much as he would have enjoyed making the flight, he didn’t like to take the plane and leave Sara without a means of fast exit. When they had to yank her from a location, the ability to be in the air within twenty minutes made all the difference in the world.

  When the plane eventually came to a stop, Dave stood along with the other passengers in first class. He retrieved his briefcase from the overhead compartment. Sara was probably waiting up to hear about his trip. It was going to be at least another hour before he was home.

  He had news to tell her. He still wasn’t sure how he wanted to broach the subject. The FBI lab had generated a lead on the last package.

  The packages were a nasty reminder from the kidnapper stalking Sara. He liked to taunt, send mementos, reminding everyone he was still free. This time he may have made a mistake. Dave sincerely hoped so. He had spent a lifetime working to keep Sara safe while also trying to break the case.

  The man they were looking for had broken pattern and used a different kind of tape. The guess was a pretty simple one. He had run out of the previous roll. Still, the type of weave and number of threads in the packing tape were distinct. Dave already had agents doing the footwork with possible manufacturers.

  The odds of it shipping to only one locale were slim. But this was a game played on slim odds. With time, one of those slim leads would be gold. How did he break the news to Sara without getting her hopes raised too much?

  She’d buried her disappointment when leads went cold, but every time he’d raised her hopes and then they didn’t pan out, it hurt him as much as it did her.

  As Dave walked down the long terminal concourse to the baggage claim, he placed a call on his cellular phone to check messages. He would have been paged had anything urgent come up.

  His jaw tightened as he listened to Sara’s message. She had gone to have coffee with someone but left no name. Red flags went up. She wasn’t with someone they knew. He had to tamp down his aggravation as he placed the next call. Even with Travis along for security, she should have avoided the public place.

  His gut clenched when Travis reported she had waved him off tonight. It was fear now, not just anger. What was his sister doing? She knew better than this.

  Dave disconnected and placed the next call, his pace picking up. “Ben, is she home?”

  “Yes. Half an hour ago.”

  Dave let himself exhale. “Everything quiet?”

  “Just fine, boss. The security grid hasn’t even picked up that stray cat tonight.”

  Dave took the stairs rather than the escalator down to the baggage claim level, hurrying around other passengers. “I’ll be there in an hour.”

  “I’ll be expecting you,” Ben replied.

  Dave understood why Sara was fighting the security restrictions, but he couldn’t accept it. Procedures and planning kept her alive. The burden he carried was heavy enough without her adding this kind of foolish risk to the equation.

  He couldn’t accept someone he loved putting herself in danger. That was the bottom line. She just had to do it on a day he was out of town. They would be having words tonight. He didn’t understand why she would do something so foolish as to wave off Travis. She might chafe under the burden of the security but she didn’t disregard it, not with her history.

  Dave picked up the case that had come through special baggage handling. Firearms on an airline got their own baggage compartment and security procedures.

  This situation felt wrong. It was out of character for his sister. It was definitely out of character given the package that had been recently sent. He went back to his voice mail and replayed the message.

  He could hear the thunder in the background of her message. She hadn’t used the one word change that would alert him to the fact she felt threatened. So who was she with? And why hadn’t she called Travis?

  He wanted to see her face when she answered him. His sister was too good at masking things for him to believe everything she told him over the phone.

  Dave pushed the speed limit on the tollway home, willing to risk having to explain the situation to a fellow cop.

  Fifty minutes later, he pulled up to the security gate and Ben stepped out to meet him. The stray cat had come across the drive, but otherwise the security grid was clear.

  The grounds were enclosed in a stone fence, but the real security was in the beams that invisibly crossed the lawns. Security cameras also covered the entire grounds.

  “Anything in particular I should know about, boss?”

  “Just my normal unease after being away for a few days,” Dave replied. “What’s the code word for tonight?”

  “Angels.”

  “I see her theme is still holding.”

  “I’m expecting Gabriel sometime soon.”

  “Thanks, Ben. I’ll see you for coffee in the morning.”

  Dave drove up to the house and pulled around the circle drive so the car was positioned by the front door. He set down his bags inside the entryway, glancing at the alarm panel. The downstairs zones were active. “Sara.”

  “Upstairs.”

  He set the security codes for the night and went up to find her.

  She was in her sitting room, curled up on the love seat, reading a book. She was dressed in black sweats, her hair pulled back by a white bow—not her normal work attire. “I was beginning to think you got lost,” she teased, then his expression obviously registered. “What’s wrong?”

  “I was just going to ask you that.” He leaned against the doorjamb and waited.

  She set the book on the table to keep her place. “I had an interesting night.”

  “Elaborate.” The terse word was about the best he could do. They didn’t get mad at each other very often. But when they did, the fights tended to be explosive. He felt like exploding at the moment. He wanted some answers.

  “You might want to take a seat.”

  One eyebrow rose. That interesting? He set down his briefcase and took a seat in the chair across from her.

  “Lightning blew a circuit and stopped the elevator. I was stuck in the dark for thirty-eight minutes.”

  Sara had the ability to separate emotions from facts. She only did it when the event was traumatic. There was no emotion in her voice at all tonight.

  His anger evaporated. Next time, he was staying in town. He ran through the situation and understood all too well what must have happened. “Who was with you?”

  “Adam Black.”

  His eyes widened.

  “Yes, that Adam Black. Apparently he works in the building.”

  “Oh, this is just great.” They would be finding her new offices tomorrow. New offices, new security routes, a change in routing for her mail.

  She grimaced. “I agree. It wasn’t a pleasant situation.”

  “Does he know?” It was a quiet way to ask the tougher question.

  “I froze up on him, but no. He just thinks I’m a little afraid of the dark.”

  Her attempt to inject a little humor into her voice didn’t work. Sara was more than afraid of the dark. To put it mildly, she was terrified.

  “How are you doing?”

  She held up her teacup. “Fourth cup. Tonight, I almost wish I drank. Adam talked me into a cup of coffee because it was obvious I was a ball of nerves. I switched to tea when I got home.”

  “Sara, you should have called Travis as soon as the elevator reached the garage.”

  “It would have raised more questions in Adam’s mind. There were enough as it was. It was late. The storm was bad. The hotel restaurant only had six other patrons. The security risk was minimal.”

  “I’m glad Adam was kind enough to make sure you could drive home safely. It doesn’t change the fact you went into a public place with a well-known public figure without anyone covering you. You were too close to the trauma to make the right security call, which is why you should’ve called Travis. He could have at least alerted hotel security.”

  “I did what I thought best
.”

  It wasn’t worth pushing tonight, not while she was this shaky. He would bring it back up tomorrow. “Tell me what you talked about. How you left things when you parted.”

  Sara looked down at her teacup. She told Dave all of it except for the kiss, not just because he had asked but because he needed to know. She told him about the story she had remembered telling Kim. She told him about her conversation with Adam during the half hour and then later over coffee.

  It felt good to have someone to talk to.

  She could see Dave was bothered by what she’d told him. The entire situation had him on edge. “I’m sorry I didn’t call Travis.”

  Her brother attempted to smile. “As long as you agree to call him next time.”

  “Next time I get stuck in an elevator, I’ll call him.” Sara laughed at his determined expression. “No, don’t even tell me what you are going to do to those elevators tomorrow. I don’t want to know. I can already see it in your face.”

  She got to her feet and crossed over to his side. She grasped his hand. “Dave, I’m fine.”

  “Think you’ll sleep? I’ll be glad to stay up and talk for a while if you’d like.”

  She looked at him with a knowing smile. “Since your body is still on East Coast time, I know it feels like 2 A.M. to you. Other than a little too much caffeine, I’m fine. We’ve been through events like this before. I am coping with this one remarkably well. Go to bed. If I can’t sleep, I’ll just read for a while longer.”

  Dave brushed her hair back from her face. “I’ll pray you have peaceful dreams.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  She was amused and somewhat relieved when Dave did a security sweep of her bedroom, just to reassure himself he said. When he left the room, he left the bedside lamp on, the door open, and the hall light on. They were never shut off when she was on the second floor of the house.

  Sara woke up screaming at five in the morning. Dave was there immediately, halfway expecting it. Her nightmares always returned after packages were delivered. He came through the bedroom door crouched low. The last time the screams had come, there had been a .45 in her hand, cocked, safety off, pointed at whoever came through the doorway.

  It was a two-edged sword—she needed the gun because the stalker had once gotten into her home past their security, but when the terror hit, she wasn’t always rational in the first few waking moments.

  “Easy, kid, easy.”

  He held her still, his arms wrapped around her from behind, grasping the back of her wrists to still her hands. Her breathing slowly eased from terrified…to afraid…to aware.

  The shudders started.

  Dave dropped his head down against her hair. Tears burned his eyes. “It’s okay, Sara. It’s okay.” If only the kidnappers hadn’t been able to shove him away from his sisters…

  “Kim…”

  “I know. I know.” Dave gently drew her tighter against him. “You don’t have to blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “I rolled the water jug…. I rolled the water jug, and it rolled out of her reach.”

  Dave felt the tears begin to flow from her, and he turned her to his chest.

  It did no good to remind Sara that if she had drunk any of the water during her turns, there would have been nothing left to try to give Kim.

  It did no good to remind Sara that Kim would have died in another few hours even if she had been able to drink the three tablespoons of water left in the bottle. All Sara could remember was that her twin sister had died inches away from her because she had rolled the water jug just beyond Kim’s reach.

  Dave wrapped her in her robe, gently slipped her from the bed, and carried her into the bathroom. He turned on the shower as hot as he thought she could handle.

  “Thanks, Dave.”

  Her smile was shaky but her eyes were clearing.

  “Sure, Sara.” He hated feeling this helpless. There was so little he could do.

  He found her jeans, a sweatshirt, tennis shoes, and a jacket. There was only one place where his sister found any peace, and it was several miles away.

  Sara eventually joined him. She didn’t ask where they were going. He deactivated and reactivated security zones in the house as they made their way to the garage. He pulled the keys to his motorcycle from his pocket.

  She slipped onto the bike behind him, her arms hugging him. He put on his helmet. He would have insisted she wear one as well, but she had her head buried between his shoulder blades, and he was not going to let an accident happen this morning. Not this morning.

  He took them north, knowing they would eventually turn west toward the cemetery. As he rode, he felt tears soak the back of his shirt.

  Life without parole was a hollow sentence for the one kidnapper they had caught. Sara lived the same sentence.

  CHAPTER 3

  Her car is here.” Adam gestured to the gray sedan with the familiar license plate as he walked with his brother-in-law toward the elevator.

  Jordan turned to inspect the car Adam had indicated. “I can’t believe you managed to spend two hours with the lady and not get her last name.”

  “Believe me, no one regrets that fact more than I do. I can’t find her.” Adam’s frustration was acute. He was hoping his brother-in-law, who also happened to be his lawyer, would have a few good suggestions.

  “She doesn’t work normal office hours. Sometimes the car is here at 7 A.M., and other times it doesn’t appear until noon. She’s normally gone by five, but occasionally it’s as late as ten. I don’t know where she works. She doesn’t go to any of the first-floor restaurants for lunch.”

  “What about the maître d’ at the hotel restaurant? He would surely know her last name.”

  “Too embarrassing.” He seriously wanted to see Sara again, but the only sure way to get her last name he rejected because he would feel foolish—it said something not too pleasant about his ego.

  “Why not just wait down here for her to show up?”

  “I tried that. On one of those days her car was here late, I waited until past midnight. She never showed.”

  “You said she got on the elevator on the sixth floor. It would make sense that she worked on that floor.”

  “There’s an architect firm, a dentist office, two private law offices, and a publishing distributor.”

  “Perfect fit—a publishing distributor. She’s a writer.”

  “The receptionist claims no one named Sara works there. I even sent a large bouquet of flowers, and the deliveryman got the same answer. No Sara. I did the same with the other businesses. Same answer.”

  The elevator took them up to the twenty-fifth floor.

  “Okay, then you’ve got two choices: wait on luck to bump into her again or start doing a systematic search to find her.”

  “I want to know where she works and I want her last name. I’m ready to try just about anything to accomplish that.”

  He hadn’t told Jordan everything.

  Since that night, Sara had been on his mind constantly.

  At first, he had thought it would be a simple thing to find her. They worked in the same building, parked in the same garage, likely ate lunch in the same lobby restaurants. He had hoped she would want to see him again too. Crossing paths should have been simple to arrange.

  But after three weeks, Adam knew the opposite.

  She didn’t want to see him again.

  Three days after the incident, he had left a note under the windshield wiper of her car, asking her to call him. He worked on edge the entire next day waiting for her to call.

  She hadn’t called.

  That night, however, there was a small brown paper bag set on the hood of his car with a note inside.

  “One tangible thanks. That big husky of yours will love it. Sara.” It came from a specialty dog shop in Lake Forest, and as he hefted the rubber ball he had to smile. It even smelled like the inside of an old shoe. How she found out he owned a Siberian husky was not somet
hing he wanted to ponder too long.

  The next week he left another note and his business card, asking her to stop by. He would like to take her out to lunch at her convenience.

  The note, but not the business card, was tucked under his windshield wiper that same night with a simple no written beneath the invitation.

  The next day his secretary asked him point-blank what had put him in such a foul mood.

  He thought his third invitation, left with a single white-red rose, was accepted until he walked into the coffee shop on the first-floor lobby where he was to meet Sara and found the waitress wearing the rose pinned to her uniform. She told him his coffee was already paid for, but Sara was unable to stay. The message had been a polite way of saying, “I’m not coming.” There was a note on his car that night saying, “Please, no more invitations.”

  It was driving Adam crazy.

  He had never pursued when someone told him to back off. And she couldn’t have been more clear in her request, but his heart refused to leave the problem alone. It wasn’t right. He wanted to meet her, at least once, under normal circumstances. If she told him to his face to get lost, then he’d do it. His gut told him her denials were coming from sheer embarrassment over how they had met, and that they had little if anything to do with him.

  He wanted her found.

  “What would you do, Jordan?”

  “Follow her to see where she works. She parks under this tower, so that cuts the search area in half. It wouldn’t be that hard, just time consuming. Have someone in the garage wait for her car to arrive, then have him follow her.”

  “What’s Thomas doing? Can you spare him for a few days?”

  “The kid will love it. He’s been buried in law books for the past four weeks.”

  The park was deserted at two in the afternoon. Sara was grateful. The solitude allowed her to drop her guard a bit. She would never be totally comfortable in a park again—she and Kim had been playing on a set of swings when a van swerved toward them and men grabbed them.

  Security was with her now. Ben was jogging along the track that circled the park. He liked to work out. She was always in his sight, and he could inspect the woods that encircled the park without drawing attention. Dave was somewhere around too, though Sara doubted she would spot him.