The private airport had a small terminal building.
“Why are we here again?” asked Sadie. “You’ve been such a fountain of information since we left the Revive Center.”
Outdoor lighting illuminated the parking lot and double door entrance, enough for her to see his frown at her sarcasm. The rain had abated some, but still sprinkled down steadily.
“As soon as Dwight called with the ransom demand, I got a hold of Kadin. He’s sending some...necessities.”
Sadie didn’t question him, just went inside the terminal and walked with him toward the only counter there. An Asian man stood there, looking up from a tablet he must use to pass the time at this hour of night.
“You Jasper Roesch?” the Asian man asked.
“Yes.”
“Your plane is arriving now. They’re approaching the runway. Gate Three.” He pointed. “That door.”
“Thanks.”
Sadie walked with him through the waiting area to the other side of the terminal. “Wow, people know who you are here.”
When he reached one of five pairs of doors, he held one open for her. “DAI has contracts with certain private airports.”
By certain she was sure he meant the airport allowed them to bring in things others wouldn’t. And when had he arranged all of this? He must have called right after he’d talked to Dwight, maybe when she’d gone to change before going to the Center.
Standing outside beneath an overhang to stay out of the rain, they waited a few minutes. Then Sadie spotted a plane taxiing toward them. A sleek white jet came to a stop at Gate Three. Moments later, a door opened and stairs were lowered. A big man appeared. With dark hair in a buzz cut, he carried a duffel bag and stepped down the stairs. His long, ground-eating strides brought him to them under the overhang.
“Sadie, this is Jamie Knox, DAI’s head of security.”
Jamie’s clever blue eyes found her with a nod. Sadie sensed a good but powerful man in him, one who upheld justice with the same righteousness as Jasper.
“This is Sadie Moreno.”
“Nice to meet you in person, Sadie, I’ve heard all about you.”
Sadie glanced at Jasper. How much had he told him? She had to assume everything.
“Did you get the call?” Jamie asked.
“We did. I have tracking capability on the phone. Looks like the abductor took Eddy to her house. This is no professional.”
“Her?” Sadie eyed Jasper accusingly.
At last he relented. “Deloris Moreno lives in the vicinity of the triangulation,” he said.
Talk about things one never expects to hear. The ex-wife of the man she’d assumed her false identity as his daughter?
“Why didn’t you tell me that already?”
“Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t really George Moreno’s daughter?” he shot back.
“There’ll be time for lover’s quarrels later,” Jamie said, looking back at the inclement weather. “I’d like to get this finished and get back to my own lover.”
“Uh... We’re not—”
“Reese tried to say the same thing for a while,” Jamie stopped her with a knowing grin. “Funny, how after you fall in love you can recognize it on other people right away.”
Sadie was the opposite. She could recognize people in love because she’d never been in love.
Two more men stepped out of the plane, one of them finishing with his combat vest, fastening an ammunition pouch.
“We located the kidnapper. We won’t be dealing with a career criminal.” Jasper got down to business, clearly not comfortable with that kind of talk.
“Who is it? You know the person?” Jamie asked.
Jasper glanced over at Sadie with a little frustration. “Sadie’s supposed ex-stepmother.”
“Supposed?”
“I’ll explain later. Let’s get a move on.”
The other two men joined them and Sadie was relieved she wouldn’t have to get into any details of her past just yet. But she knew the time had come when she would have to.
“This is Mark and Doug. Both former SEALs. They’ve done several hostile rescues. Mostly Middle East. This will be a walk through a daisy field for them.”
Sadie saw how the compliment didn’t faze either man. She felt a little disconcerted to be in the company of such dangerous men. She also felt empowered. Eddy would be rescued tonight.
* * *
Jasper forced Sadie to wait in the rental while he and Jasper’s team surrounded Deloris’s house. Jamie had come amply armed with automatic weapons, night vision and communication. He even had a radar that showed two people inside the house, one who moved around in a nervous way and another who sat on a chair, presumably tied there.
Deloris thought she had until tomorrow night, when she’d meet them for the drop. Jasper almost pitied her for also thinking she could get away with this. She’d been smart enough to use a disposable phone but not enough to know her location could be traced.
Jamie’s plan was simple. Two men would go in from the back and he and Jasper would go in the front. This would be over quickly. Jasper looked forward to the questioning—before the police would arrive. The plan was to call 911 when they were finished with Deloris. Then he’d take Sadie back to the hotel room, where she’d tell him everything she’d left out so far. At least, that was how he hoped it would go.
Jasper made hand signals to Jamie for him to get the door ready. Jamie planted an explosive near the lock mechanism and then they waited for the second team to give their ready word through the radio.
“Team Beta in position,” came the voice over the radio.
“Alpha going in hot,” Jamie said, gesturing to Jasper to take cover.
Jasper turned his back and did take cover along the wall, Jamie doing the same on the other side of the door. The explosive was just enough to shatter the door from the frame—and enough to cause Deloris the shock of her life. Jasper didn’t know that yet. He only imagined it, but he was pretty sure she’d be shocked.
Jasper entered with gun drawn, covering Jamie as he followed. Eddy sat in the living room, tied with his hands behind the chair and feet to the legs. He breathed fast through his nose and his eyes had bugged out from the unexpected explosion. He also had duct tape covering his mouth. As he must register they weren’t here to harm him but rather help him, Eddy nodded toward the kitchen.
Jasper moved in sync with Jamie there. Deloris stood frozen, wearing a Kiss the Cook apron and holding a frying pan in one oven-mitted hand. She’d been in the middle of serving dinner. The idea sort of threw Jasper. She was an older woman who didn’t fit the profile of a kidnapper and ransom demander anyway, and here she was falling right back into her everyday life. Had she planned to feed Eddy one of her home-cooked meals, too?
Team Beta came smashing in through the back sliding glass door, startling Deloris further so that she dropped the pan, a creamy chicken dish splattering all over the floor, steaming.
“Hands up,” Jasper told her.
She complied while Team Beta rushed into the living room where Deloris had left Eddy to prepare dinner and began untying him and ripping the duct tape off his mouth.
“Get me away from that crazy woman!” Eddy said.
“Are you all right?” one of the other operatives asked.
“Yeah, I’m all right. If I’d have known Grandma here was my abductor, I’d have fought her when she put a gun to my head.”
Jamie went to Deloris and pulled her hands behind her as she began to sob. “How did you find me?”
Going to stand in front of her, Jasper met her defeated eyes. “It was easy. What were you thinking trying something like this?”
She sobbed as her tearfulness intensified, bowing her head. “After you came here and told me that woman stole all of George
’s money, I just got so angry. I was angry after George died and found out he left me nothing. I’ve never gotten over it. I treated him well. Why didn’t he take care of me?”
“Deloris, Sadie didn’t steal George’s money. She only assumed a false identity with a believable enough story to explain her own wealth.” All she’d needed to do was hide from the man who frightened her.
Sadie appeared through the front door, going to Eddy, who stood by the two ops men.
“Eddy! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Miss Moreno.”
“You’re not a Moreno!” Deloris shouted, shaking her finger in anger. “How dare you steal what’s not yours!”
“Come on, Eddy. I’ll take you home.”
“Hold on, Sadie,” Jasper stopped her. “The police will be here soon.”
“What?” She looked horrified.
She was afraid of being caught with her fake name.
“We can probably resolve this without the cops,” Jamie said.
Jasper agreed. He just wanted to rile Sadie up enough to loosen up her tongue for later.
“I swear I won’t try it again,” Deloris said.
“You’re right, you won’t,” Jamie said, walking toward her with menacing strides. “Because we’ll be watching you. The rest of your life, I’ll know if you get anywhere near anyone close to Sadie.”
“And I won’t let you near her,” Jasper added.
Jamie thumbed toward Jasper. “He’s the guy you need to watch. Don’t cross him again. Take my word for it. When a man like him loves a woman, he’ll do anything to protect her.” He leaned forward a bit. “That includes killing for her.”
Deloris gasped and drew her head back. Then she jerked her gaze from Jamie to Jasper.
“You never know when or where we’ll appear, Ms. Moreno,” Jamie went on. “One day you might think we aren’t watching and imagine giving another ransom another try. Or maybe you’ll go after Sadie herself.” Jamie moved his forefinger back and forth. “Don’t make that mistake.”
“We’ll be watching,” Jasper said.
Deloris’s eyes shifted from each man as they spoke. “I won’t. I swear. No police. I won’t survive a day in prison.”
Neither would Sadie. Jasper looked over at her, not even trying to subdue his scowl.
Just then his cell phone rang.
“We’ve got this,” Jamie said. “Take Eddy and your lady home.”
“Thanks, man.”
“We’re a team.”
And a fine one at that. Jasper was proud to be part of that. He answered his cell on his way to Sadie.
“Mr. Roesch?”
“Yes?”
“Dwight Mitchel asked me to call you. He’s been shot and is on his way to the hospital.”
“Who is this?”
“Carol. From the Revive Center. There’s been an incident. Someone left a dead animal in the lobby with these Loredo candies dumped on it. Dwight caught the man and he was shot.”
Jasper cursed. “Where is the man now?”
“He got away. Police are here now.”
Candies. The person who’d left the dead animal had left candies.
Loredo candies.
* * *
The sun was coming up behind a blanket of clouds when Jasper finally sat in front of his laptop doing an internet search on Loredo candies. He and Sadie had gone to the hospital and waited until the doctor finished surgery on Dwight. After finding out Dwight would survive his gunshot wound to his abdomen, they’d returned to the hotel.
Sadie had gone straight to bed, exhausted and at the end of her endurance. He’d resisted comforting her, fearing that would escalate to something else. And he had another agenda. He hadn’t told her about the candies, only that a dead animal had been left at the Center.
Now he finished reading a news article, one of several he’d found on the Loredo family and the confectionery corporation founded by Matias Loredo. Loredo Confectionery Corporation. Matias and Ana Sophia Loredo had a daughter, Catalina Loredo. Jasper stared at a photo of her. Dark hair slicked back, no makeup and wearing an inflexibly prim gray pantsuit, she possessed a stunning presence. Tall, slender, head held high. Controlled. Confident. Ruthless businesswoman. Unapproachable in every way. She looking nothing like the long-haired tussled beauty he’d seen get out of a Ferrari in a sexy black dress, but he had no doubt she was the same woman. Anyone who looked close enough would recognize her.
While he’d expected her past would be something like this, he still couldn’t believe all he’d learned. Sadie did have a mother and a father who were both very much alive. She was an only child and had run a branch of Loredo Confectionery Corporation in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The company’s headquarters were in Philadelphia. Her love of candy now made sense. Apparently, she’d inherited more than a love of money from her father. She also loved chocolate.
She’d been engaged to be married to Darien Jafari, a successful high-tech component manufacturer from Toronto. She’d lived with the man up until her disappearance five years ago.
Jasper also read an article about a murder she’d witnessed and reported to the police. The article also reported the detective assigned to the case was shot. Police hadn’t given out much detail, only saying the killer hadn’t been found and with Catalina’s disappearance, they had no other witnesses. Police touched on the possibility that the detective’s murder was related to the one Catalina witnessed and that Catalina had gone on the run, fearing for her life.
Catalina’s fiancé appeared devastated over her disappearance. He’d cooperated with police and expressed his anxiety to the press. So had her mother. Jasper spent long moments studying photos of her. The resemblance to Sadie was evident. Her mother had met Matias at a Philadelphia art show early in his career. He’d emigrated from Mexico with his parents. The photos of him revealed a confident man who seldom smiled. Quotes of things he said revealed his selfish, ruling nature. Sadie’s mother portrayed someone of the opposite nature. She seemed so lost, and not because of her daughter’s unexplained absence. She didn’t seem happy in any other photo prior to Sadie’s vanishing.
Sadie had told him the truth about certain things, most intriguing, about her father. She couldn’t hide that emotion. Lucky for her, George Moreno had died a wealthy man she could portray him personally any way she wished. She’d reported the murder and the killer had gone after the detective and probably her. Fear had driven her into hiding. She couldn’t testify until the killer was captured. He couldn’t hold that against her, but he also couldn’t help feeling resentment. Maybe resentment was too strong of a word. Injured. Was his pride hurt that she hadn’t trusted him enough to confide in him? He had a personal reaction. His feelings for her, his deep attraction, caused this friction. He didn’t like how that clouded his professional ability to solve Bernie’s and now these other two murders.
Chapter 10
“Have you been to sleep yet?”
Jasper looked up, startled that Sadie had jarred him from thought. He still sat in front of his laptop, ruminating over all he’d learned about the woman who’d so enchanted and captivated him. He was attracted to a beautiful woman...who lied.
“No.”
Her eyes, still sleepy and waking up, shifted to his laptop and the darkened screen, then to the coffee cup and two empty bottles of water. He’d clearly been busy with his night owl time.
Without comment, she went into the kitchen area, retrieving a cup and pouring some coffee still left in the pot he’d brewed. After that she faced him, holding the steaming cup in both hands and leaning against the counter, watching him. She seemed wary.
He didn’t even know where to begin. Mostly he felt cornered with all his feelings about her. He would not abandon her but he wished he could shut her out of his heart.
She sat across from him and the man in him appreciated her breasts without a bra for a moment or two.
“My real name was Catalina Loredo,” she said.
Her unexpected declaration surprised him, refreshingly. She lightened his tired mood in an instant. She was going to tell him? He didn’t have to pry it out of her?
“My father is Matias Loredo. My mother isn’t dead. I’m sorry I lied to you about that. George Moreno’s wife died so I had to stick to that story.”
Jasper didn’t say anything when she paused. If she wanted his forgiveness he wasn’t ready to give it.
“My mother’s name is Ana Sophia,” she continued, not seeming bothered that he hadn’t responded. “Other than Steven, she’s the only one who knows why I had to disappear.”
“Your household staff?” he asked succinctly.
“They know why I had to disappear, but they don’t know my real name.” She met his eyes as he waited for her to continue, weirdly vindicated in making her do all the work. “I know you probably read all about me, but there are things you wouldn’t have been able to read.”
“And now you’re going to tell me?”
Somberly her eyes lowered before lifting again. “I don’t want to. But you already know, so it doesn’t matter now. You’re in this with me. Your life is in danger no matter what I say or don’t say.”
“My life is my own and danger doesn’t scare me. You should know that, Sadie. You should have known that from the start. You can’t protect me, but I can protect both of us.” He didn’t mean to sound pompous but his frustration made him spell out the truth for her.
Holding her coffee cup with both hands again, she slowly lifted it and took a sip, as though gathering her thoughts along with savoring the warm, strong flavor.
“And for the record,” Jasper had to add, “I’d like you to tell me because you trust me. Because you want to tell me.” Not because she felt she had to, that she was forced.
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