“Many thanks,” Boyd said, his voice way too cheery considering the gravity of the situation.
“How’s Luke?” Colin asked.
“Finishing up his second bowl of oatmeal. The kid eats like a horse.”
Good. Colin certainly didn’t hear the little boy complaining or anything. He hoped that was a good sign. “Speaking of Luke, his folks will want proof he’s okay before they transfer those funds. So, why don’t you bring the boy to the window so we can see him?”
“I’ll do that. In an hour or two.”
Colin shook his head. “But the helicopter is due in less than three hours. No need to cut it close. I wouldn’t want any delays in you getting the ransom money.” Colin had to speak through clenched teeth to get out that last part.
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll get the money. Both the ransom and what I’m looking for here at the estate. And you see, Colin, that’s a problem. Because now that I have a metal detector, I need a little more time.”
“Time?” Colin snarled.
Hell. No. This couldn’t happen.
“Time,” Boyd confirmed. “I figure you’re not gonna like this, but you’ll have to do it anyway. ’Cause I’m not really giving you a choice.”
“What do you want now?”
“Call off the helicopter and the money transfer,” Boyd said. “I don’t want either until tomorrow. And, Colin? Do as I say, or the delay will be permanent. You don’t want to know just how long I can stay holed up here with Luke Vaughn.”
Chapter Nine
Danielle couldn’t stop shaking.
It wasn’t just her hands. Her entire body was trembling. It was probably a reaction to nearly being killed and then getting Boyd’s latest bombshell about the delay. That was more emotion and danger than she’d ever been asked to deal with.
“Come on,” Colin said. He grasped her arm to get her moving off the porch and toward the guesthouse.
She wanted to dig in her heels, to stay put and demand that Boyd release Luke immediately, but she knew it wouldn’t help the situation.
“What should we do?” she asked Colin.
He glanced over his shoulder at the estate. “I’ll ask Dylan and Tom to try to work their way through one of Boyd’s barricades so we can get someone into the estate.”
She immediately thought of a problem with that. “What about the mole?”
Colin stopped on the other side of a tree just outside the guesthouse and took out his phone. “I won’t call them from inside the guesthouse.”
“Because you don’t trust Bobby?”
“No. I trust him. Dylan said he was a good guy.”
She thought about that several moments. “And you think Dylan is right?”
“Who knows? When I was at the lab, I called my office and asked them to do financial checks on Bobby and Rusty Cepeda. Nothing glaring came back. Neither of them have a lot of unexplained cash in their bank accounts.” He glanced back up at the house. “My main concern right now is Boyd. He may have managed to bug the guesthouse, and Bobby’s equipment might not detect it.”
God, Danielle hadn’t even thought of that. If it was true, they basically had no privacy.
The only silver lining in this was that they still should be able to listen in on Boyd’s calls if they kept the volume down on the monitoring equipment. Not that the man would say anything to incriminate his mole, but at least they could hear Luke and make sure he was doing okay.
She waited as Colin called Dylan and gave him an update of what had just happened. “No, we weren’t hurt, no thanks to the gunman,” Colin said. “I want that area searched for footprints, shell casings, anything that will help us fry this SOB.”
Dylan apparently promised he would look for those things because Colin issued a “Good” and proceeded with Boyd’s latest demand. Or rather his withdrawal of his demands. “It could be that he’s still looking for the Del Gardo money inside the estate,” Colin concluded. “But I think it’s time for us to give Boyd a push.”
She listened as Colin requested another check of the tunnel. He kept the call short, under a minute, probably so that Boyd wouldn’t be suspicious if he was still watching them, and then Colin ended the call.
“Dylan will check the tunnels,” he relayed. “But there’s a problem. Apparently when Del Gardo built those tunnels, he installed blast-proof doors on the entryway that would lead directly to the estate. If Dylan has to use explosives to get through one of the doors, then Boyd will almost certainly hear it.”
And then he might set off some explosives of his own. After all, he’d admitted to booby-trapping them.
“What about the tunnel from the guesthouse?” she asked. “How did Dylan and the others get through that door to us?”
Colin shook his head. “There wasn’t a door on that one. Only the ones that lead directly to the estate. Dylan’s been working on getting through one particular tunnel at the back of the house. That door isn’t as thick as the others. Still, it might take a while to get through it without alerting Boyd.”
So, this might be another dead end, and it could be a deadly search for Dylan.
Colin slipped his phone back into his pocket, checked around them and then led her back inside the guesthouse. The place looked exactly as it had when they’d left.
Except there was no sign of Bobby.
Colin locked the door and looked around. “I don’t think Boyd left anything,” he said aloud, though they both knew he could have. But it was a cue to Bobby to let the man know they’d returned.
She heard the movement then from the closet, and a moment later the door opened. Bobby was there, at the entrance to the tunnel. “I’ve set up my equipment down here at the bottom of the stairs,” he whispered. “Just in case Boyd makes another unplanned visit.”
“What about the explosives?” she whispered back.
“I won’t go deeper into the tunnels. And if Boyd says anything or makes a call, I’ll let you know.”
It couldn’t be comfortable down there, but Bobby was right to want to stay out of sight. Boyd wouldn’t hesitate to kill him or all of them if he found the young CSI there. And this also worked for Colin and her. Since they couldn’t be positive that Bobby was the mole, this kept him out of earshot as long as Colin and she whispered the conversations they wanted to keep private.
Bobby shut the closet door, leaving them in the suddenly quiet room. Danielle didn’t like the quiet because it made her think about what had just happened. She didn’t want to think about any of it because she kept going back to the images of the van dangling on the side of the mountain.
Colin stepped away from her and went to the sink. He wet some paper towels and came back toward her. At first, she had no idea what he was doing, but then he wiped some mud from her face and hands.
“Thank you,” she mumbled.
He put his finger beneath her chin, lifted it and looked at her. Correction: he examined her. And that made her wonder if she had some injury that she was too numb to feel.
“Still dizzy?” he asked. He tossed the soiled paper towels onto the counter.
She shook her head. That was another silver living. Her pregnancy symptoms hadn’t interfered with her ability to run and get away from those bullets that had come at them nonstop. The running itself wasn’t bad—she’d already discussed exercise with her obstetrician—but she doubted her doctor would approve of the danger and the stress that came with it.
Obviously, neither did Colin.
The examination was apparently over, and judging from his expression, he had moved on to the guilt phase. And he would feel guilty, no doubt about it, even though he’d risked his life to protect her and his unborn child, who he didn’t even know existed.
Danielle sighed. The timing was off. Everything about this was off. But Colin needed to know that she was pregnant. Wishing that she had rehearsed it, she opened her mouth to tell him. However, she didn’t manage to say a single word.
Colin kissed her.
&nb
sp; Hard.
With a groan rumbling deep within his chest, he hauled her to him and kissed her as if this would be the last kiss he’d ever give or receive. In some ways it was punishing. So rough. With all the emotion of the moment. He poured everything into that brutal kiss.
But then it changed. He changed. The grip he had on her arm softened. So did his mouth. He eased her to him, into his arms, so that he was embracing her. He kissed her cheek. Then, her forehead. Before landing another of those emotional kisses onto her lips.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Yes, this was the guilt playing out, and it reminded her of the other times he’d no doubt had to dodge bullets while on the job. He carried two scars on his body for the times when dodging hadn’t been possible.
Those scars had tormented her.
Until today, she hadn’t been able to understand the toll the danger could take on a person. She’d only been able to see it from her point of view, and in the past, she’d reacted out of fear of losing him—while he had been dealing with the strain that she had now experienced firsthand.
“You saved my life,” she reminded him. In the back of her mind, she considered that Boyd might be hearing this intimate conversation, but she didn’t care.
“You shouldn’t have been out there in the first place,” Colin mumbled. He groaned, stepped back and scrubbed his hand over his face.
He probably would have added more about that, but his phone rang. “It’s Boyd,” he said, glancing at the screen. He answered it, put it on speaker and headed for the desk where he’d left his notes.
“Put the doc on the phone,” Boyd insisted.
That immediately alarmed her. “Is something wrong with Luke?” She hurried toward Colin and the desk so she’d be able to hear Boyd better.
“Nothing’s wrong. The kid just wants to talk to you.”
There was a shuffle of movement on the other end of the line, and a moment later she heard Luke. “Thank you for the video game.”
Despite the horrible situation, Danielle smiled. Unlike the other times she’d spoken to Luke, this time he was clearly happy. “You’re welcome. Have you opened it already?”
“Yep, and it’s in the PlayStation, ready for me to start. You got any good hints like you did last time?”
Danielle thought of the various levels and the obstacles he might face. But there was one real obstacle that she needed to work into the conversation. With Boyd’s decision to delay the exchange, there was no telling how all of this would play out. She needed to prepare Luke for the worst.
“There aren’t any rivers in this game,” she said, keeping her voice calm. She hoped. She didn’t want Boyd to suspect anything. “But there are some dangers. You know what danger means, right?”
“It’s like when things aren’t safe. Like playing with matches and stuff like that.”
“You’re right. Well, in the game there might be some levels where the explorer isn’t safe. Maybe there’s a mad lion or something out there, and you want to get your explorer away from him.” And she hoped she wasn’t scaring or confusing him. “Anyway, if that happens, have your explorer hide.”
“Hide?” Luke questioned. “But won’t that be like cheating?”
“No. It’d be the smart thing to do.” She paused. “Do you understand?”
Luke didn’t answer right away, which hopefully meant he was thinking about it. “Sure. I guess. But maybe he won’t have to hide.”
“Maybe not.”
He paused again. “I really like the game, but I want to see my dad. When can I see him, Dr. Connolly?”
“Soon. Agent Forester and I are working on it. And we’ll tell your dad that you’re okay, that you’re ready to start Safari Explorer Two.”
“Yeah. He’ll like that.” Luke sounded happy again. “Tell him I’m brushin’ my teeth, and I’m sleeping in my sleeping bag in the basement. It’s dark down here, but Mr. Boyd puts on the lights for me so I won’t be scared.”
“That’s enough,” Boyd interrupted, obviously snatching the phone. Unlike the happy Luke, he sounded concerned. And probably was. After all, Luke had just told them where they were spending the nights. That info might come in handy if Dylan did find a way in through the tunnels.
“What you trying to do?” Boyd challenged. “Pump the kid for information?”
“Not at all. We were just talking about his new video game and what he wanted me to say to his father.”
“Right. Well, not to worry. We won’t be staying in the basement tonight. In fact, there’s no telling where I’ll have the kid in this big ol’ house.”
Yes, no telling, and that was the problem. Still, she was betting that Boyd would stay close to the basement and tunnels while he looked for that money. For now, however, she needed to make sure her conversation with Luke hadn’t left Boyd riled.
“Luke seems to like using the sleeping bag,” Danielle remarked.
“Who cares what he likes,” Boyd snarled.
“You should. Remember, the happier Luke is, the easier he’ll make things for you. Maybe you can pretend that using his sleeping bag is a game. Like camping. You could even give him his own flashlight to make sure he doesn’t get scared of the dark.”
“I’ll do that,” he said in a tone that indicated he had no intentions of carrying it out.
“Don’t hang up, Boyd,” Colin insisted. “We need to talk about this helicopter situation. There’s a chance of bad weather tomorrow, and I want to bring in the chopper tonight. That should give you plenty of time to use the metal detector.”
“Bad weather, huh? I hadn’t heard about that.”
Neither had Danielle, and she wondered if it was true. Maybe Colin was bluffing to get the man to move.
“Look,” Boyd said a moment later, “my boss wants this money. Heck, it’s his cash in a way since Del Gardo was always stealing customers and such. Anyway, my boss won’t be happy if I waltz out of here with nothing.”
“But you’ll have plenty of something. You’ll have the ransom. Certainly your boss won’t care whether the fifty million comes from Del Gardo or Griffin Vaughn.”
“Maybe.” And for the first time, it sounded as if Boyd was actually giving that idea some thought.
“Why don’t you call your boss and see what he has to say?” Colin persisted. “Tell him that things are getting uncomfortable with Luke, that you’re worried the FBI might try to storm the place.”
“You wouldn’t,” Boyd snapped.
“Not unless we thought Luke was in imminent danger. If that happened, then we wouldn’t have a choice. You, on the other hand, have choices. My advice? Convince your boss to take the fifty million that the Vaughns are willing to pay, you give us Luke, and then you ride the helicopter out of here tonight to the destination of your choice.”
“Not tonight.”
Colin didn’t question that, and Danielle sat there with her breath held, waiting to see where Boyd would go with this.
“Not tonight,” Boyd repeated. “But tomorrow for sure.”
Colin huffed. “You promised noon today. So, why should I believe you’ll go through with it tomorrow?”
“Because I will.” Gone was his usual snarky tone. The man was serious, and even though she hated to believe anything a monster like Boyd would say, this was the first time she had any real hope that the release would actually happen.
Boyd hung up, and Colin and she stood there. “This doesn’t get easier,” Colin mumbled.
“No, but I think you made some headway there. I really think he’ll let Luke go tomorrow.”
Colin made a sound to indicate he wasn’t so sure.
There were footsteps in the direction of the closet, and the door flew open. Bobby stuck out his head. “Boyd’s calling his boss, Nicky Wayne.”
That sent Colin running for the closet, and Danielle was right behind them. They went down some steep steps and into the tunnel. There were two halogen lights illuminating the area, and Bobby led them to t
he equipment that he had sitting on the floor. It was obvious he’d been using the equipment bag as a seat.
“Forester might have a point, Nicky,” Boyd said. “Maybe it’s time to cut our losses and get the hell out of here.”
Silence, because they couldn’t hear Nicky Wayne’s side of the conversation. The only thing they could do was wait and pray.
“All right,” Boyd finally said. “Tomorrow at noon I’m out of here. When I get to the pickup point, I’ll give you the account number for the ransom money, and then you can get me to the place we discussed. I figure I’ll need to be out of the country for a long while.”
Danielle wanted to cheer. Obviously, Colin did, too, because he hooked his arm around her and gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek. Hardly the hot, sexy lip-lock they’d experienced earlier, but it soothed her as nothing else could have.
And that wasn’t good.
Once this was over, she really did need to take the time to sort out her feelings for Colin.
Boyd ended the call, and Colin and she were about to make their way up the steps, but Boyd’s phone rang, and they stopped to listen. Danielle started praying again. Hopefully, Nicky Wayne wasn’t calling back with second thoughts.
“It’s you,” Boyd greeted the caller. He hadn’t used the caller’s name, unlike the conversation he’d had with his boss.
So, who was this?
The caller obviously had a lot to say because Boyd stayed quiet for at least a full minute. “Well, I’m betting it’d be a lot of money. How close are you to making this happen?”
Danielle stooped down, hoping to hear the caller’s response, but she couldn’t. Maybe this had nothing to do with Luke or the kidnapping.
But she had a sickening feeling that it did.
“Excuse me?” Boyd said, surprise in his voice. He paused, obviously waiting for an answer from the caller. “That’s what I thought you said. You gotta be kidding me.”
Colin edged closer and stooped down next to her.
“Risks? What risks?” Boyd challenged. “I’m the one taking the risks here. My face is on wanted posters in every FBI office in this country, and you’re sitting back feeding me information while nobody knows you’re doing it.”
She’s Positive Page 10