With shaking fingers, Nikki dialed her mother’s number. There would probably be no answer, because Mom would have left with Allison hours ago, but she had to—
The phone was answered before the first ring completed. “Hello? Allison, is that you?”
Dread dropped like a stone into Nikki’s stomach. “No, Mom, it’s me.”
“Oh, Nikki, I’m so glad to hear your voice. I’ve been trying to call your cell phone for hours.”
“What’s wrong? Is Joshua okay?”
“I don’t know.” A sob broke the last word. “Your friend Allison dropped by, and she took him to get a kid’s meal and play in the Playland. But they should have been back long before now.”
Nikki’s mind grasped at the words. “Allison took Joshua alone? She was supposed to take both of you.”
“What? Why would she do that? She was giving me a break. When you called earlier you said she was going to come over and help me, and that’s what she did.”
“But Mom, didn’t she explain everything? Didn’t she offer to take you and Joshua to her apartment for a few days, until I can get home from Mexico?”
“Mexico? Nikki, what are you talking about? I thought you were in Florida.”
Panic, full-blown and intense, exploded in her brain. Her breath came in hard, painful gasps.
Allison had lied to her.
But why? Had someone from the Reynosa cartel gotten to her? Did they threaten her if she didn’t help them kidnap Joshua? Or—
A powerful nausea gripped her stomach, and she bent over double, retching.
Or did Allison work for Senator Webb?
It all made sense now. Allison taking the job at the finance company four months ago and working so hard to become her friend. Her oh-so-generous offer to use the time-share in Key West, which put Nikki on the same small island with Ben. Did her father own the time-share at all, or was the whole trip arranged just to get Nikki down there? And then, the gift certificate from Key West Water Adventures, was that part of the ruse?
“Mom.” She gulped a shuddering breath. “That birthday present you sent me, the gift certificate. Whose idea was that?”
“What? What difference does that—”
“Mom! It’s important. Whose idea was it?”
Nikki’s hand trembled so badly she almost dropped the phone. She pressed it to her ear to steady it.
“Well.” A pause. “It was Allison’s. After you booked your flight, she called me and asked if I was planning to get you something special for your birthday. I told her I’d thought about a nice outfit, but she suggested a gift certificate for an excursion on your vacation.”
A wail began from somewhere, and grew louder in Nikki’s ears. It took her a minute to realize the sound was coming from her.
“Nikki, what’s wrong? What’s happening?”
She clamped her mouth shut. Don’t panic. You are no help to Joshua if you panic. Think!
“Okay, listen to me, Mom. As soon as we hang up, call the police. Tell them what’s happened. Tell them Joshua has been—” She drew in a shuddering breath. “Tell them Joshua has been kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped? Oh, Nikki, no.”
“Do it, Mom. Right now. I’ll call you back when the police are there and explain everything to them.”
As she punched the button to end the call, she leaped to her feet and jerked the back door open, screaming to wake everyone inside.
“They’ve got Joshua!”
She crossed the kitchen at a run and dashed into the living room. On the sofa, Ben was still sound asleep. Nikki threw herself at him, shaking him by the shoulders. “Ben, Ben, wake up. They’ve got Joshua.”
“Huh?” His eyes fluttered open, dull with sleep. “Who has Joshua? Who’s Joshua?”
Denise and Pastor Thomas appeared from the bedroom, groggy and in their nightclothes. Someone flipped a switch, and light flooded the room.
“Joshua is my son.” Nikki choked the words through a throat that burned with terror. “Ben, Joshua is your son. And they’ve kidnapped him.”
She surrendered to the hysterical weeping she could no longer contain.
SEVENTEEN
The words didn’t make sense. Ben sat up on the couch, a sobbing Nikki on her knees beside him. He squeezed his eyes shut and let the revelation marinate in his sleep-fogged brain.
Nikki has a son—and he’s my son.
I have a son.
So that’s why Nikki left Cozumel so suddenly. She’d discovered she was pregnant and was afraid to tell him. All those hints about settling down, about moving back to the States and getting a real job. She’d been feeling him out, trying to see how he’d react to the responsibility of having a family.
And he’d responded by shutting her down.
Denise hurried around the couch and stooped to place her arms around Nikki’s heaving shoulders. “Shhh, calm down. You won’t help anyone by being hysterical.”
Amazing. The woman didn’t seem at all surprised by Nikki’s news. It was almost as if—
Ben jerked around on the cushion and speared Thomas with a glare. “You knew about this. About the baby.”
The older man inclined his head. He didn’t raise his gaze to meet Ben’s. “Nikki told us that she was pregnant the second or third time she attended services here.”
Ben leaped off the couch. “You’re the reason she left me, aren’t you? You told her to get away from a loser like me, to go home and find somebody responsible.” His hands clenched into fists, and he locked his elbows at his side so he wouldn’t fly at the man and pummel him. “Admit it.”
Thomas shook his head, his expression unruffled. “That’s not true.”
Nikki launched herself at Ben. She grabbed the front of his shirt in both fists and shook him. “That doesn’t matter now. Don’t you understand? Joshua is gone, kidnapped. We’ve got to do something.” She released him and ran into the kitchen. An instant later she returned with a cell phone and slammed it into Ben’s chest. “Call the FBI or somebody. Tell them about the information about Senator Webb.” Her voice broke. “Tell them they have to get my son back.”
Her face crumpled, and loud sobs bent her double.
“Nikki, you need to calm down.” Denise enfolded her in a strong embrace and pulled her toward the kitchen. “Come in here. We’re going to pray, and then you’re doing to drink some iced tea and wash your face. And then we’ll figure out what to do.”
As she spoke, the woman guided Nikki toward the kitchen. Before they left the room, she caught first her husband, then Ben, in a stern glare that said, in no uncertain terms, You two make a plan while I calm her down.
The minute they were out of the room, Thomas moved toward Ben. “Listen, son, when Nikki came here two-and-a-half years ago, she was confused and frightened. We offered spiritual counsel, that’s all. We never advised her about what action she should take.”
Ben searched his face for telltale signs that the man was lying. Thomas met his gaze without flinching.
He’s telling the truth.
“I’m sorry. It’s just…” Ben covered his face with his hands and scrubbed, a feeble attempt to wipe away the confusion. “It’s a shock, you know?”
Thomas laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure it is. Unfortunately, you don’t have time to get used to the idea that you’re a father. We need to do something, and quickly.”
A father. Wow.
“Yeah.” Ben straightened and jerked a nod. “Okay. A plan. First, we need to find out—”
A knock on the door interrupted him.
Ben exchanged a startled glance with Thomas, and they both whirled around. His watch read just after one o’clock in the morning. Whoever was on the other side of that door wasn’t dropping by for a friendly visit.
“Do you have a gun?” Ben whispered.
“I’m a pastor.” Thomas’s reply came out as a hiss. “I don’t have any reason to own a gun.”
“Yeah? Well, the fact that there are p
robably murdering drug dealers on the other side of that door seems like a pretty good reason to me.”
“Hold on.” He dashed out of the room and returned in a second carrying a baseball bat, which he shoved at Ben. “Here. You stand behind the door. I’ll answer it, and if they have a gun, hit them from behind.”
Ben couldn’t hold back a nervous chuckle. “That doesn’t sound very pastorly, Pastor.”
Thomas’s mouth formed a grim line. “I’ll offer to pray for them after we’ve disarmed them.”
The knock came a second time, this one louder and more insistent. Nikki and Denise appeared in the doorway behind them, and Ben waved them back as he took up his position, the bat poised above his head. They retreated into the kitchen, out of sight.
Thomas placed a hand on the knob and inhaled a slow breath. He glanced at Ben, who nodded that he was ready, then swung the door open.
“May I help you?”
From his vantage point, Ben couldn’t see who stood on the front stoop. But he was surprised when a polite male voice responded.
“We’re sorry to disturb you, sir. We’re looking for Benjamin Dearinger and Nicole Hoffman, and we have reason to believe they’re here.”
The heavy accent in the stranger’s voice was not Spanish, but a slow Texas drawl. Ben lowered the baseball bat a fraction.
“I’m not sure—” Thomas began.
The man interrupted. “Sir, it’s important that we speak with Ms. Hoffman and Mr. Dearinger. We have a message for them from Senator Adam Webb.”
Nikki charged into the room, Denise close on her heels. Ben stepped around the open door, his free hand outstretched, but before he could stop her, she flew at the man on the front stoop. Her fists pummeled his chest in sync with her words.
“Where is Joshua? Give me back my son!”
EIGHTEEN
Someone came up behind Nikki, grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the startled man in the doorway. She fought against the constraint, until Ben’s words seeped through her hysterical crying.
“Nikki, calm down. We’ll find him. I promise. I’ll do whatever I have to do, but we’ll get him back.”
She twisted around and collapsed against his chest. Strong arms encircled her, held her close.
“Oh, Ben.” She buried her face in the soft skin of his neck. “Ben, he’s only two. What if they don’t feed him? What if they hurt him? What if—”
“Shhh. Don’t think like that.”
The embrace tightened, and then he gently pried her arms from around his neck. He faced the two men on the front stoop. Nikki clutched his strong arm with both hands and tried to get her heaving sobs under control.
“I’ve already turned over the flash drive to the Reynosa people.” Ben’s voice vibrated through her body. “So you can tell the senator there’s no need to hold the boy. He’s got what he wanted.”
The men exchanged a glance. “You gave the records to someone from the Reynosa organization?” asked the first one.
She drew herself up, indignant. “Well, it’s not like we had much of a choice. Did the senator tell them to feed us to the sharks, or did they do that on their own?”
Deep, confused lines appeared in both foreheads. “Ma’am?”
White-hot anger erupted, clearing away the last of Nikki’s panic and leaving her clearheaded. She stepped away from Ben, and didn’t bother to hide the full force of her fury as she faced the two messengers. “Don’t tell me the senator didn’t know what was going on. When he made a deal with murderers, he became a murderer himself. He’s got a whole list of crimes he’s going to have to answer for someday.” She took a step forward, glaring. “And if he harms one hair on my baby’s head…”
She let the threat go unnamed, mostly because she wasn’t sure what she’d do. But one thing she did know—it would be terrible.
The men exchanged another glance, and then the first one said, “Excuse us for one moment, please.”
As they stepped off the stoop, the second man unsnapped a leather cell phone case at his belt. They huddled together on the sidewalk, their backs to the house.
Ben pulled her into the room. “Uh, Nikki? That might not be the best way to convince them to return our son.”
His words acted like ice water on the flames of her anger. He was right, of course. What was she doing, threatening someone as powerful as Senator Webb? And while he had Joshua, too?
She covered her face with her hands. “Oh, Ben. What are we going to do?”
He wrapped her in a hug. “Whatever we have to.”
Pastor Thomas and Denise, who had been standing back while Nikki and Ben confronted the crooked senator’s messengers, rounded the sofa and came to stand beside them.
“Right now, we’re going to use the most powerful weapon at our disposal,” Denise said. “We’re going to pray.”
Pastor Thomas looked at Ben. “All right with you, son?”
To Nikki’s surprise, Ben nodded without a moment’s hesitation. “Please do, sir.”
The older couple wrapped their arms around them both. The four of them stood in a tight circle, heads bowed, while Pastor Thomas prayed.
“Lord, the situation looks hopeless right now, but You are the Giver of hope. Guide Nikki and Ben, and let them know the right path to take. We place Joshua in Your care, and we ask You to protect him. Keep constant watch over him, and return him to his parents safely. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.”
“Amen,” Nikki and Ben echoed in unison.
She managed a trembling smile around the circle. “Thank you.”
Footsteps scuffed on the concrete porch behind her. She turned to see the two men had returned to the doorway.
The first cleared his voice. “We need you to come with us.”
Ben pushed her behind him and stood erect, his back stiff. “Nikki’s not going anywhere. I’ll go. I’m the one who got involved in this mess to begin with.”
The second man shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir, but we’ll need both of you to come.”
Ben’s body seemed to swell as he drew breath to protest, but Nikki stepped up beside him. It didn’t matter one bit how this situation began. They were both involved now. “Where are we going?”
The first man responded. “To Texas. Senator Webb would like to meet with you.”
While Nikki and Denise went into the other room to retrieve Nikki’s shoes, Ben stood with Thomas in the living room. The senator’s goons waited in a car out front.
“Listen, son, I want you to take this.”
Thomas pressed something into Ben’s hand. He looked down at a thin, folded stack of U.S. dollars. The one on top was a fifty.
He tried to hand it back. “Sir, I can’t take this.”
Thomas shoved his hands behind him. “Yes, you can, and you’re going to. You don’t know where you’re going to end up after this meeting.” His lips formed a grim line. “It’s not much, only three hundred. We keep some American money stashed in a safe place, just in case.”
Ben shook his head. “Really, I can’t take your money.”
Thomas caught his gaze and held it. “You’re not on your own anymore, Ben. If—” He bit off the word, and corrected himself. “When you get the boy back, you might need this for food or shelter.”
The words struck Ben with force. He wasn’t on his own anymore. He had responsibilities. Other people depended on him. The realization squeezed in on him like a slowly tightening straitjacket.
With an effort, he filled his lungs. He’d deal with that later. First, they had to get Joshua back safely.
He slid the cash into his pocket and stuck his hand toward Thomas. “I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”
The pastor caught his hand in a firm grip, then pulled him forward into a quick embrace. “I know you will.”
He slapped him on the back and released him as Nikki and Denise returned. “I’m ready.”
The smile Nikki turned on him trembled a little, but at least she wasn’t hysterica
l anymore. They would need all their wits about them if they were going to get their son back alive.
Our son. I’m a father.
Numb amazement still accompanied the thought.
Denise caught him in a farewell hug and whispered in his ear. “We’ll be praying for you constantly.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”
As he said the words, Ben realized how true they were. If God really was a powerful Father, a—what did Thomas call him? A heavenly Dad—then Ben and Nikki could sure use his help.
Did You hear that? He directed his thoughts outward. We really could use some help getting Joshua back safely.
There. He’d prayed. Sort of.
Nikki stepped away from Denise’s farewell hug and turned a brave smile his way. “I’m ready.”
Ben wasn’t sure either of them was really ready for the meeting that lay ahead. The waters they were about to dive into were deeper than anything he’d ever attempted before. But he matched Nikki’s smile and put an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go.”
NINETEEN
The five-and-a-half-hour flight passed in almost total silence. Sleep was impossible. Nikki tried to remain calm, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how frightened Joshua must be. Surely Allison wouldn’t hurt a child, would she? Her heart twisted in her chest as she tried to imagine what her baby was going through.
Hold on, Joshua. Mommy’s coming.
She clutched Ben’s hand across the aisle of the eight-passenger cabin, stared out the dark window and tried not to think about the terrible things that could happen to a scuba diver who flew within twenty-four hours of a dive.
Lord, please don’t let us get an air embolism or the bends or anything like that.
She leaned sideways and whispered, “Are you worried about decompression sickness?”
Ben squeezed her hand and shook his head. “I think we would have felt the effects by now. Besides, did we have an option?” He cast a backward glance toward the senator’s henchmen.
After driving Nikki and Ben to a private jet waiting at Cozumel’s tiny airport, the senator’s messengers had strapped themselves into the two rear seats and proceeded to assume a taciturn silence. At first Nikki and Ben sat in seats facing them, but when it became apparent that Nikki’s questions and Ben’s goading would not elicit a response, they moved up into the other pair of forward-facing seats, each lost in their own thoughts. Nikki realized Ben was right. If complying with Senator Webb’s demand for a meeting would help her get Joshua back, then she would have done it regardless of the risk. A constant, silent prayer flew from her tortured soul toward heaven. After a while she ran out of words, and could only form a single plea: please help us.
Into the Deep Page 13