“Well, it was a long shot anyway.”
She still looked frustrated that she hadn’t been able to make the online connection. “What about the arrangements for the helicopter and the money?”
“All done,” Colin assured her. He checked the clock on the nightstand. “If all goes well, in about five hours, we’ll have Luke out of there.”
“If all goes well,” she mumbled.
Yeah. Boyd was still calling the shots, and Colin didn’t trust the man. Still, Boyd couldn’t stay holed up on the estate forever, despite his threat that there’d be hell to pay.
He set the mug on the table next to her. “I thought you could use this.”
Danielle looked at the brew, slightly turned up her nose and eased it aside. “Thanks, but I gave up coffee.”
“You what?” Because he was sure he’d misheard her. Danielle could empty an entire coffeepot by herself.
She gave him a forced smile. “I decided I could live without caffeine.”
He silently groaned, because she had given up coffee in the past, during those frantic attempts to get pregnant. The caffeine combined with her fertility meds had made her too jittery.
Danielle studied his expression. “No, at the risk of my repeating myself, again, I’m not on fertility drugs,” she said as if reading his mind.
The woman knew him too well.
“Good.” Except he should have given that answer some thought because her mouth tightened a bit. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
She shrugged and stared at her computer screen, though he was certain she wasn’t seeing anything there. He’d hit a very big raw nerve.
“It’s okay,” she shot back at him. “I never felt as if you were that committed to fatherhood anyway.”
Okay. This was an old argument, and it wouldn’t lead to anything but a new argument. In the past, he’d just let the argument blow up so it would end and they could get on with their lives. But this morning, Colin just wanted to erase that tension he saw on her face. Danielle already had enough tension with the Boyd situation without their personal stuff being involved in this.
“I never had any objections to fatherhood,” Colin clarified.
That caused her head to whip up. “Really?” she said with total disbelief.
“Really. It was the treatments that I had issues with. They were painful for you.”
Danielle put her focus back on the computer and mumbled, “Sometimes. But I knew a baby would be worth all of that and more.”
Yes, it would have been if Danielle had gotten pregnant. She hadn’t. And that had made all the pain and discomfort seem pointless. Heck, he could say the same for these discussions about the treatments. Nothing good had ever come of them.
“About that kiss,” he said so he could change the subject. Though he certainly hadn’t picked one that was less volatile. “Want to talk about it?”
“Do you?” she countered. Now, she turned those cool green eyes on him.
Except they weren’t so cool.
The heat was still there, and she must have realized that, because the corner of her mouth lifted. “Hormonally speaking, I’ve always had a weak spot when it came to you.”
“Hormones, huh?” He shared a smile with her. “But at least you stopped when the kiss got too hot. If you’d left it to me, we would have had sex. And I think both of us know the timing would have sucked.”
She made a small sound of agreement. Barely an agreement at all. And that got Colin to thinking. If the attraction was still there and that strong, was that enough for them to try again? But he shoved that question aside.
The timing still sucked.
“Anything else about our possible mole?” she asked. Obviously, he wasn’t the only one who wanted to change the subject.
“Nothing. I’d worried that maybe the mole had told Boyd that Bobby was here. But so far, Boyd hasn’t mentioned anything about it.”
Danielle made that agreement sound again. “Maybe that means the mole didn’t know about Bobby.”
Maybe. That was the most logical explanation, and if so, then maybe Dylan and Jerry hadn’t mentioned to anyone that they’d brought the young man with them. Of course, there was another possibility.
Maybe Boyd did know.
Unfortunately, Colin couldn’t think of any good scenarios as to why Boyd would stay quiet about that.
“Luke’s awake,” Bobby called out from the other room. “Boyd’s having him phone Dr. Connolly now.”
That caused Danielle to spring to her feet, and she practically tossed the laptop onto the bed. Colin put his coffee aside and grabbed pen and paper from the nightstand so he could take notes.
“Is Luke okay?” she asked Bobby.
But Bobby’s answer was drowned out by the ringing of the cell. “I’m about to pick up,” Colin told Bobby so that he’d stay quiet. And then Colin answered. “Good morning, Boyd.” Best not to let the man know that Bobby had relayed that it would be Luke calling.
“Agent For-ster,” Luke said, his voice small and sleepy. “Can I speak to Dr. Connolly?”
“Of course.” Colin put the phone on speaker and passed it to her.
“Hello, Luke. How are you this morning?”
“Okay. I guess. I played Safari Explorer a long, long time last night, and I found the baby giraffe. He was lost in the jungle, and I took him back to his mom.”
“That’s great, Luke. I knew you’d be able to find him.”
“Well, it wasn’t easy, and I’m still real sleepy. But Mr. Boyd woke me up ’cause he said I had to call you and then eat breakfast. Not a sugar breakfast, either. He said you said it had to be good for me so I’m gonna eat oatmeal with raisins that he’s making in the microwave.”
“Good. Oatmeal’s healthy. But what were you supposed to call me about?” Danielle’s voice was friendly and calm, but Colin could see the tension in her face.
“He didn’t say it in a mad way or anything, but Mr. Boyd wants you and Agent For-ster to do something for him. Chores, he said. I have to do chores, too, like picking up my toys, but he said these chores were bigger than that.”
Chores. Something Boyd had mentioned in the same context with there’d be hell to pay. Colin hoped like the devil that this wouldn’t delay Luke’s release.
“What are the chores he wants us to do?” Danielle asked.
“I gotta put him on the phone so he can tell, but I’m supposed to tell you something else. I’m supposed to say that you need to do just like he says or else he won’t let me play Safari Explorer.” Luke paused. “Please do like he says, Dr. Connolly.”
Danielle’s bottom lip trembled a bit. “I will.”
Colin only hoped that they could follow through on that assurance. Both Danielle and he waited. Breaths held. And finally Boyd came on the line.
“Just wanted to let you know how important it is for you two to cooperate,” he said. “I figured it’d sink in better if you heard it from Luke’s own mouth.”
“We know how important this is,” Colin assured him. He moved closer to the phone. “Now, what’s this about chores?”
“I need both of you to go into town for me. You can use the van that the crime scene folks left behind.”
“Town?” Colin questioned. And he got yet another bad feeling about this. “For what?”
“Get a pen and paper because you’ll want to write this down.”
“I’m ready.”
“I need some more peanut butter, the crunchy kind. The kid eats a lot of it. I also want a metal detector—a good one that the crime lab should have. Not some piece of junk you can get from a discount store. And Luke wants Safari Explorer Two because he finished all the levels of the first game.”
Colin guessed that maybe the metal detector was to find the money. Maybe Del Gardo had hidden it in chests or some other containers that the device could detect. But the other two items confused him.
“Luke will be going home in about five hours,” Colin reminded him.
“He won’t have a lot of time to eat peanut butter or play another video game.”
“Five hours is a long time for a kid.”
True, but Colin prayed this didn’t mean that Boyd intended to delay the release just so he could continue to search for that money.
“It’s seven-fifteen right now,” Boyd continued. “Get going and be back here no later than ten-fifteen.”
Three hours. That was plenty of time to make the trip and collect the supplies, but that wasn’t Colin’s concern. “How about I send Dr. Connolly to get the things, and I stay here just in case Luke or you need something?”
“Nice try, but then I figure you’ll say she’s had an accident or something, anything that’ll keep her in town and away from here. No. You’re both going, and you’ll both be making the return trip. Call me when you get back.”
Danielle shook her head. He knew her objection, and it was different from Colin’s. He merely wanted her away from the danger, but she didn’t want to be that far from Luke in case something went wrong.
“But what if Luke wants to talk to me while I’m gone?” she asked.
“Simple,” Boyd answered. “If you’ve done exactly as I say, without bringing in any badges or anything, then I’ll let him call you. Even if you’re in town. See? No more reasons or excuses for you not to go.”
Colin didn’t like the whole idea of this trip, but apparently Boyd wasn’t giving Danielle and him a choice, especially since two of the three items on the list were for Luke.
“Oh, and Colin?” The smugness in Boyd’s voice caused every nerve in Colin’s body to go on full alert. “One last thing. You leave now. I’m timing you, and you gotta be in that van in exactly one minute.”
“Or what?” Colin challenged.
“You don’t want to know or what,” Boyd challenged back.
Colin cursed because he wasn’t sure he did want to know. Besides, this wasn’t the time to push Boyd into doing something that none of them wanted.
Danielle put on her shoes and hurried for the door. Colin was right behind her, and he held the cell phone so both of them could hear anything else Boyd had to say.
Apparently, the man wasn’t finished.
“Don’t lock the front door,” Boyd said the moment they were outside. “Remember that one-minute rule about getting out of there,” he added. “Don’t stop. Get to the van.”
Colin glanced back at the door. And at Danielle. She motioned for him to hurry, and that’s what he did. Jogging, they went through the gates and to the van.
“By the way, while you two are gone, I’m gonna do a little inspection of the guesthouse.”
Hell. That put a tighter knot in Colin’s stomach and nearly caused him to turn around and go back.
“I’m heading down there right now,” Boyd added. His smugness was still there, and it came through as a threat.
Danielle looked at him, and she saw the concern and the fear in her eyes. Colin had that same fear and concern. The only silver lining in this was that Bobby was almost certainly eavesdropping on this conversation.
“Why an inspection?” Colin asked Boyd as calmly as he could manage. He handed Danielle the phone, they buckled up and he got the van started, though he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to warn Bobby. But he couldn’t. Because disobeying the “rules” might cause Boyd to take Luke and run. Or worse.
“I just want to check and make sure you’re not hiding anybody in there,” Boyd said. “Nothing to worry about, right? Because I know you wouldn’t risk something like that.”
Colin had a split-second debate with himself and knew he had to leave. He couldn’t risk Boyd nixing the deal.
Was this a bluff? Or did Boyd know that Bobby was inside? Either way, this could be a dangerous turn. Colin prayed that Bobby could get himself and all the equipment down into the tunnel before Boyd reached the guesthouse.
“Now, get the van moving or the whole deal is off,” Boyd threatened. “The helicopter, the ransom. Everything will be off, and I take Luke and run.”
“Run?” Danielle and Colin said in unison.
“You heard me right. Despite what you might think, there’s another way out of here. And if you don’t play nice, the Vaughns will blame you for never being able to see their kid again.”
Chapter Seven
With the cell phone now clutched in her hand, Danielle waited for Bobby to call. She didn’t dare risk calling him for fear that Boyd would hear the sound of the incoming call and put his crazy backup plan into motion.
“You really think Boyd can escape with Luke?” she asked.
Colin had stopped on the side of the road, just out of sight of the estate but close enough that they could respond if Bobby needed them. “It’s possible.”
Even though she already knew that was the answer, it still sickened her. They had to get the child back to his family. She couldn’t fail at this.
Colin grabbed another cell phone from the van’s glove compartment and keyed in some numbers. To the Kenner County Crime Lab, she soon realized. He explained what was going on and asked them to gather the three items that Boyd had requested. Good. That would save them some time. Except time was the one thing they seemed to have a lot of. After all, Boyd had given them three hours, and even if they hurried, it would take at least an hour of that. An hour was more than enough for Boyd to be able to go through the entire guesthouse and comb the place for any sign of Bobby.
The phone in her hand rang, and the caller ID indicated it was from the Kenner County Crime Unit. Since Colin was on the line with the lab itself, she prayed this was from Bobby.
“Yes?” she answered cautiously, just in case it was Boyd who was making the call.
“It’s me, Bobby.” He not only sounded safe, he sounded calm. “I grabbed everything I could and went into the tunnel. Just in case Boyd comes down here looking for me, I’m going out to the exit on the road and will hide there. Let me know when and if it’s okay to go back.”
Danielle blew out a long breath of relief. “We will. Just be careful in case there are any more explosives hidden down there.”
“I will,” Bobby assured her. As soon as he hung up, Danielle let Colin know what was going on.
“Bobby’s okay,” Colin relayed to the crime unit, and he ended the call with them and started the drive toward town.
That was one bullet they’d dodged.
Heaven knew how many were ahead.
“Remember,” Colin reminded her, “there might be a mole at the lab. Rusty Cepeda. Or maybe even someone else. Don’t say anything important in front of anyone that you don’t trust completely.”
She nodded and wondered who that would be. Other than Callie and Colin, she didn’t have anyone on her trust list.
Danielle replayed Bobby’s words in her head. He’d definitely been calm. Not the tone of a man who’d barely escaped possible death. Of course, she didn’t know him well at all and maybe this was normal for him. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to check and make sure he didn’t have any skeletons that would make him become a mole.
For that matter, it wouldn’t hurt to do the same to Dylan and Jerry. Sometimes people who volunteered to be close to the crime scene were part of the crime. But Danielle didn’t know how Colin would react to having his fellow agents investigated.
Even though they had plenty of time, Colin didn’t waste any of it. He drove down the mountain on the winding road and went straight to the crime lab. Callie was outside waiting for them, and the moment Danielle stepped from the van, Callie engulfed her in a big hug.
“Are you all right?” Callie whispered, dropping her gaze to Danielle’s stomach.
“I’m fine.” And since Callie seemed to be waiting for more, Danielle whispered, “I haven’t told him yet. If I tell him, it’ll be after Luke’s rescue.”
“If?” Callie questioned.
She didn’t explain further because Colin walked over to her and put his hand on Danielle’s shoulder to get her moving inside. Jerry Ortiz
was there, along with six others. Since she’d seen three of them at the estate, Danielle narrowed down which one had to be Rusty. He was no doubt the blond-haired young man working at the computer.
Was this Boyd’s mole?
“We’ve got the metal detector ready,” Callie let her know. “And I’ve sent someone for the video game, peanut butter and a change of clothes for both Colin and you. Everything should be here within the hour.”
Good. That should get them back to the estate with plenty of time to spare. Danielle checked her watch—they’d only been gone about twenty minutes.
“What if Boyd puts eavesdropping devices in the guesthouse while we’re gone?” Danielle asked. “Do we need any extra equipment to detect them?”
Colin shook his head. “Hopefully, Bobby will be able to detect anything with the equipment he already has—because I doubt we can sneak in something like that, and I don’t want anyone to have to risk bringing us equipment through the tunnels.”
He was right. And they didn’t want to do anything to upset Boyd. They’d just have to watch their conversation to make sure they didn’t say anything about Bobby’s presence—if Bobby could make it back. It was entirely possible that Boyd would figure out the young man had been there and send Bobby running back to the lab.
Colin took the phone from her hand. “I’d better hang on to this just in case Boyd or Luke calls,” he commented. He, too, glanced at Rusty. “While I’m here Jerry wants me to go over some of the details of the helicopter and the money transfer, but I’ll come and get you the minute the supplies arrive.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Why don’t you ask Callie about Rusty?”
Maybe Colin had come to the same conclusion, that the man had been a little too calm under fire. “I’ll ask her about Bobby, Dylan and Jerry, too.”
Colin shook his head but then shrugged. “I don’t know about Bobby, but Tom Ryan vouched for Dylan, and I trust Tom. He wasn’t so praiseworthy of Jerry, though.”
“So, be careful around him,” she warned. But didn’t move. Neither did Colin. And for a moment, she thought he was going to put one of those husbandly pecks on her cheek. It would have been totally inappropriate, but for some reason, she braced herself for it anyway.
She’s Positive Page 7