“Your gift.”
Jordan wiped away the blood at the entry and exit points of the wound. “All my life,” she replied.
“It’s powerful,” Egan said. “You got into my head. That’s not an easy thing to do.”
Jordan applied a thin pressure dressing to the wound, carefully wrapped Hernando’s arm in gauze, taped it in place. “Not nearly as powerful as what I saw you do at the Pyramid,” she replied. “How was that possible?”
Egan cracked open the door, looked out. The commandos were keeping their distance. “Sorry, that’s top secret.”
“Considering the situation we find ourselves in,” Jordan said, “I’m thinking your days of keeping national security secrets are pretty much over, wouldn’t you say?”
“I guess I’d have to agree with that.”
“Can you do it whenever you want to?”
“Do what?”
“You know… travel.”
“You mean teleport.”
“Yes.”
Egan nodded. “I suppose so.”
“Is that how you got here?”
“Yes.”
“When I connected with you psychically and saw you on the trail, and you spoke to me, were you already here?”
“I was.”
“That’s incredible.”
Egan smiled. “I’m a pretty incredible guy, in general.”
“Could you do it again?” Jordan asked.
“You mean teleport?”
“Yes.”
“I suppose so.”
“You should know they’ve brought a weapon.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hallier alluded to it,” Jordan explained. “He wouldn’t say specifically what it could do, but my guess is it’s been designed to reverse the effect of whatever they exposed you to and return you to normal.”
“So much for having superpowers,” Egan quipped. “It was fun while it lasted.”
Jordan turned her attention back to Hernando. “How are you feeling, sir?” she asked.
“Better.” The old man held her hand. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Hernando maintained his grip on her hand. “Please don’t let them hurt Ben,” he said. “If it wasn’t for him, my kids might be dead by now.”
“Your kids?” Jordan asked.
“The orphans we care for here,” Hernando explained. “Nine precious little lives. Those men your team shot outside had come here to kill us. If they’d succeeded there is absolutely no doubt in my mind, they’d have eventually killed the children too. He’s saved all our lives.”
Jordan looked at Egan. “You did that? You saved the kids?”
Egan shrugged. “I was in the right place at the right time,” he replied. “It was no big deal.”
“It’s a very big deal,” Hernando stated.
Jordan turned away. She looked upset.
“What’s wrong?” Egan asked.
Jordan gathered her courage. “I’m going to ask you to do something for me,” she said. “And if you agree I’m probably going to go to prison for the rest of my life.”
“I’m listening,” Egan said.
“I need your help.”
“For what?”
“To save my children.”
CHAPTER 38
IN THE LIVING ROOM of the mountain cabin, Elton Mannafort paced back and forth, talking to himself. The wooden floorboards of the old place showed their age and creaked beneath his feet.
“You brought them here, to the cabin?”
“Why not?
“What were you thinking?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it doesn’t!”
“You’re overreacting again. Like you always do.”
“I’ve got two words for you that says I’m not: Carrie Schumacher.”
“My point exactly.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“When the bitch finds her dead kid’s, I want her to make the connection.”
“What if she leads them to the others?”
“There’s nothing to connect them to us.”
Elton pointed to the window. “You’ve buried ten bodies out there!”
“So? The cops don’t suspect us. If they did, they’d have torn this mountain apart looking for them.”
Elton shook his head. “I don’t like this.”
“You don’t have to. I’m in charge.”
“You’ve pushed it too far this time. You shouldn’t have taken her kids.”
“Meddlesome bitch has no one to blame but herself.”
“You’ll get us both caught. And you know what’ll happen then!”
“We won’t get the needle.”
“Needle, life… what difference does it make?”
“Stop your whining.”
“You’re not listening to reason.”
“Shut up and get the shovel.”
“This is wrong.”
“Am I going to have to do this on my own?”
“No.”
“Then check on the brats. Hurry. I want to be out of here in an hour.”
Elton opened the bedroom door. Aiden lay on one of the two beds in the small room, Emma on the other. He had secured the wrists and ankles of both children with plastic zip ties. Black cloth hoods covered their heads.
Aiden heard the door creak. He raised his head, looked in the sound’s direction. “How’s the nose, asshole?” he said.
Elton disregarded the barb. “Which one first?” he said.
“The boy. Little prick’s getting on my last nerve.”
“I still don’t like this.”
“You don’t have to like it. You just have to do it.”
Aiden piped up. “Still talking to yourself, freak?”
“Don’t listen to him.”
“You’d better listen to me, nutbar,” Aiden said. “You’re done. Cops will be here any minute.”
“What’s he talking about?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh, yeah?” Aiden said. “You ever heard of cellular triangulation?”
“Get him on his feet.”
Elton grabbed the boy by his arm, hauled him off the bed, propped him against the wall. Feet bound, Aiden struggled to keep his balance.
“It’s how a cell phone signal can be tracked by measuring its distance from the three nearest towers,” Aiden said.
“We’ll deal with him first, then come back for the girl.”
Aiden pressed. “You never thought to check me for a cellphone, did you Sherlock?”
Concerned, Elton spoke to himself. “Well, did you?”
“What?”
“Check him for a phone?”
“No.”
“Why the hell not?”
“That doesn’t matter much now.”
“So, the kid’s right?”
“Who gives a shit? We’re in the mountains. Cellular reception is spotty at the best of times.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Pat him down.”
“What?”
“See if he’s telling the truth.”
Elton checked Aiden’s pockets. No phone. “Nothing. Happy now?”
“Check him again.”
“He’s clean.”
“Do it.”
“He’s just trying to scare you.”
“Humor me.”
Elton ran his hands across Aiden’s arms and legs. In his sock he found the phone. “You little bastard!” he yelled.
“Dumbass,” Aiden said. The boy sounded pleased with himself. Elton could tell that under the cloth hood he was smiling.
“He’s right. The cops are coming!”
“Won’t matter.”
“Why not?”
“By the time they get here they’ll both be dead.”
Aiden spoke. “We’d been traveling for an hour. You seriously think finding my phone now will make any difference? If you had an ounce of intelligence, you’d drop us som
ewhere and high-tail it out of here while you still can.”
“He’s right. We need to leave.”
“Not until we finish what we started.” Elton grabbed Aiden by the arm. “Let’s go.”
“Fuck you!” Aiden yelled.
Elton dragged him across the bedroom floor.
“Aiden,” she called out. “Where are you? Aiden? AIDEN!”
∞ ∞ ∞
Now airborne, the FBI Blackhawk helicopter set course for the San Gabriel Mountains.
The pilot watched the blip identifying the location of Aiden’s cellphone flash on the screen. “GPS signal is solid, sir,” the pilot said.
“What’s our time to target?”
“Seven minutes.”
“Think you can push this bird any faster?”
The pilot nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Do it.”
CHAPTER 39
JORDAN SHARED THE CRUSHING NEWS with Egan. “My children are missing,” she said. “They’ve been kidnapped.”
“Good God,” Egan replied.
Hearing herself say the words, Jordan didn’t know what she wanted to do first, scream or cry. What she knew was that this was not the time to break down. She held back the tears, fought hard to keep herself in check.
Egan could hear the emotional conflict in her voice, the inner turmoil that was wearing her down, tearing her apart. Like the plight of the children of Casa de los Niños, who in their altogether brief lives had already suffered too much loss, the thought of a family being ripped apart by a human predator filled him with rage.
“Why are you here?” Egan asked. “Shouldn’t you be in the States trying to find your kids?”
“It just happened.”
“When?”
“A couple of hours ago.”
“What has the FBI told you? Do they know who took them?”
“They’re working on it now.”
“Why your kids?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why were they targeted?”
“I honestly have no idea,” Jordan said. “My work, perhaps.”
“Sounds like you need to find a new line of work.”
“What I need to find are my kids.”
Hernando spoke. “I’ve seen what you can do, Ben. Can you help her?”
Jordan stared at Egan. The look of desperation in her eyes was too much for him to bear.
Egan nodded. “What do you want me to do?”
“Us.”
“Excuse me?”
“What I want us to do,” Jordan said. “I want you to use your abilities to take me to my children.”
“You mean teleport?”
“Yes.”
Egan shook his head. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“What do you mean?” Jordan asked.
“I’ve only done it once, from the Pyramid to here.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t do it again.”
“That’s true,” Egan replied. “But it’s only been me that’s traveled. I’ve taken no one with me before. I don’t know if that’s even possible.”
“You have to try.”
Egan walked around the room. “What if it goes wrong?” he said. “I have no idea what could happen to you. You could die.”
“He’s going to kill my children,” Jordan pleaded. “If it means saving their lives, I’m willing to take that chance.”
“This is nuts,” Egan said.
Jordan looked outside. The DARPA commandos were holding their positions. She turned to Egan. “You’re my only hope, commander. Will you help me? Please?”
Egan sighed. “All right,” he said. “How do you propose we do this?”
“We merge our abilities,” Jordan said. “I can see where my children are, but I can’t get to them. You can. You lock on to my thoughts and we travel. You take us there.”
“That could work.”
“It has to work.”
“What happens when we get there?”
“I’ll eliminate the threat,” Jordan said. “When my kids are safe, we’ll come back, right here, to this exact location. No one will ever know we’ve left. We’ll have only been gone for a matter of minutes.”
“What’s stopping me from not coming back?” Egan asked.
Jordan shrugged. “Other than giving me your word that you won’t, nothing at all.”
Egan looked at Hernando. “How’s the shoulder doing?”
“Why are you worried about my shoulder?” the old man said. “The lady’s asking you for help. What are you waiting for?”
Egan smiled at his friend. “Remember the stuff I did earlier, helping Teresa… moving the woodpile?”
“Yes,” Hernando replied.
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” He turned to Jordan. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
Jordan smiled. “Thank you, Commander.”
“You can thank me when I get us back here in one piece,” Egan said.
“I’ll need my weapon,” Jordan said.
Egan handed her the gun. “Now give me your hands,” he said.
Jordan placed her hands in his.
“You ready?” Egan asked.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Egan joked. “From Costa Rica to the USA and back. Just imagine the Air Miles you could have racked up.”
Jordan closed her eyes, concentrated on her children, focused on their vital force, connected with their energy. She squeezed the commander’s hands. “Got it?”
Egan read her mind. “Here we go,” he said.
Hernando watched Egan’s hands glow rose-red. A strange energy filled the room. Hernando felt it pass through his body, as though the air in the room had suddenly been replaced with a field of static electricity. The hairs on his arms rose.
A fraction of a second later the commander and the FBI agent were ensconced in a shape-shifting field of brilliant pink light.
A sudden, brilliant flash caused Hernando to look away from the miraculous sight.
When he turned back, they were gone.
He knew he had just witnessed the impossible.
The old man crossed himself, looked toward the Heavens. “Dios mío,” he said.
CHAPTER 40
FBI CHOPPER PILOT STU WASSERMANN spoke to Commander Gibson as the team flew over Big Santa Anita Canyon. “GPS puts the boy’s phone somewhere in this vicinity,” he said. He looked down through the helicopter window at the forest canopy below. “Tree cover’s too thick, sir. There’s nowhere to land. Your men will have to follow the signal on foot.”
Gibson nodded. “How close can you get us to the target?” he asked.
Wassermann motioned over his shoulder. “We passed a small clearing a half mile back,” the pilot said. “I should have enough room to put her down there.”
“Do it,” Gibson said.
Wassermann had just started to bank the helicopter when suddenly he stopped the bird, hovered. “Oh, shit,” he said.
“What is it?” Gibson asked.
“The screen. Look!”
The flashing blue dot on the GPS monitoring screen had vanished.
“We’ve lost the signal,” Wassermann said.
“Sonofabitch,” Gibson said. He called back to his team. “I need a location marker. Drop smoke now!”
Agent Shelby reached for a smoke grenade, pulled the pin, tossed it from the helicopter, watched it disappear through the trees. “Smoke’s away, sir,” he said.
Lazy wisps of yellow smoke slowly drifted up through the treetops. “Location’s marked,” Shelby yelled.
“Copy that,” Gibson said. To Wassermann he said, “Get us to that clearing.”
“Yes, sir.”
The chopper banked hard to the left, picked up speed. The pilot found the location, circled the bird. “Hold tight,” he said.
The Blackhawk descended quickly, touched down featherlight.
The agents jumped out of the aircraft, rallied at the edge of the clearing.
In the dist
ance, the smoke stood out against the twilight sky.
“We’re losing light,” Gibson said. “Step it up, double time.”
The Hostage Rescue Team ran into the dark forest in search of the missing children.
CHAPTER 41
HAVING POWERED OFF the cellphone, Elton threw it against the wooden cabin wall, smashing the device into pieces. Feet bound by the zip ties, unable to walk, Aiden struggled, trying helplessly to stop himself from being dragged across the bedroom floor. “It’s all right, Emma!” he called out. “Don’t worry! I’ll be back for you!”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” Elton said. He opened the bedroom door, hauled the boy into the hallway, then halted. A high-pitched whining sound, followed immediately by a brilliant flash of pink light, caught his attention. He had owned the cabin for years, been here a hundred times, knew every squeak, pop, creak and moan it made. But he had never heard this sound before or seen this strange light. It was emanating from the living room.
Elton kept many weapons hidden around the home in the event of an emergency. Here in the hallway, behind a framed portrait of Big Sur, a Walther PPK handgun had been secretly stored. He had secured the top of the picture frame to the wall using a piano hinge. Elton raised the picture, removed the weapon, chambered a round, and lowered the picture back into place. He continued along the hallway, stepped around the corner, then froze.
A man and a woman were standing in the middle of the cabin. The woman drew her gun and pointed it at him. She wore a bulletproof vest. The nameplate across the chest read ‘FBI.’
Elton panicked. “Who are you?” he yelled. “Where did you come from? How did you get in here?”
Aiden struggled against his captor, tried to break free. Elton pulled him closer, placed the gun against the boy’s head.
Jordan took a step forward. “Let go of my son!” she yelled.
Elton recognized Jordan. “It’s you,” he said.
Unable to see through the cloth hood, Aiden heard his mother’s voice. “Mom?” he asked. “Is that you?”
“Yes, baby,” Jordan replied. “It’s me. Stay still, Aiden. Don’t move.”
The man standing beside the FBI agent spoke next. “Let the boy go,” he demanded.
Be brave, Elton thought. Don’t let them see you’re afraid. “Or what?” he yelled. “You going to shoot me? Try. I’ll blow the kid’s brains clear across the room. You really want to take that chance?”
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