“You shot at me and Kayla,” Conner said. His voice sounded hard even to his own ears. “Now you won’t hurt anyone else.”
“But they missed their checkin.”
Conner caught the cuffs Locke tossed him.
“They should have called by now!”
*
Kayla huddled in the interrogation room. That man scared her so much. He wasn’t the one who shoved her against the truck—that was Tim—but he had terrorized them over and over again. Was she really supposed to believe now that he had cared about Sofija and Lena all along? That he’d been waiting to know they were safe before—what?—joining them?
She watched Conner lead the man away from her, purposely shielding her from anything Manny might potentially do. He was determined to be the hero, and she loved him for it. Kayla knew that now. She wasn’t falling for him as he’d said. She was already gone.
But she didn’t want him to act the hero if he was going to give his life for the cause. Nothing was worth that.
Not even her.
He needed to live. To have a full and long life, happy with a family—kids. Whether they were hers, too, or not didn’t matter, did it? Nothing mattered more than him being loved and finding peace. Conner was a comfort she hadn’t realized she’d needed before now. When her mom had died, her father had wanted space, so he’d left her alone. What difference would it have made if she’d had someone to lean on?
Kayla supposed they were a lot alike. Each willing to do whatever it took to see the other have a future. But that would come later. When this was over.
Kayla’s phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Kayla Harris.” Jan Barton’s voice was like flint. “All these women and children, so scared.” Someone whimpered in the background. “They don’t have to be, if you do every single thing I tell you to. If you don’t, I start shooting them. One by one until you fall into line. Understand, Ms. Harris?”
SIXTEEN
Kayla couldn’t think. Conner had told her to stay put, but she needed air. Kayla shoved her way through the sheriff’s office until she collided with Conner. She clutched the phone to her ear and took in great heaping breaths. Her head spun, and the world threatened to flip on its axis. How could Jan do this? She was supposed to be an innocent in need of help, and now…
“Did you kill the sheriff, Jan? Was that you?”
Conner’s head whipped around to Locke. He let go of her with one hand and snapped his fingers. Locke returned from locking up Manny and got out his phone. But how would making calls help? Jan was holding all those women and children hostage. Thirteen people whose lives depended on her, who might die if Kayla made the wrong choice. Because she’d thought Jan Barton was innocent.
“What do you want?”
Jan chuckled through the phone. How could Kayla have thought this woman was the victim? She should have known. She should have seen something in Jan that was off. Something.
“Just tell me, Jan.”
“Andis Bamir’s wife and daughter,” Jan said. “Where are they?”
“I don’t know. That’s the point of how this whole thing works.”
“Then these people all die. Because you don’t know.” Her voice turned shrill. “You find them. You get back the fake bills and watermark stencils they took. I don’t care what you have to do, Ms. Harris. You get them back, and you do it fast.”
Fake bills? Watermark stencils?
Andis had been making counterfeit money, and Jan knew about it. She was involved in the operation and now Kayla was supposed to find a woman who had disappeared on purpose? Andis’s wife and daughter had been given what they needed to escape and leave absolutely no trail—though apparently there had been a plan to contact Manny.
If he’d been telling the truth.
Her computer could be used to find them only if they used the email account. Andis would only be able to pull old emails off her account. Unless Sofija used a computer or a phone for some reason, no one should have been able to find them.
Emails, internet use, phone calls. Those were traceable. Kayla had warned them against logging on to social media accounts, contacting friends or even making new accounts. It was best to stay below the radar.
Which meant there was no way to find them. Not unless Andis’s wife and daughter drew attention to themselves in some way.
Instead of telling Jan that, she said, “So you can kill them, or so you can make more fake money? Because it’s really not my fault you got nothing off the laptop.”
“I get to spend the money. And yeah,” Jan said, “I do a little killing sometimes. Nothing big, but I get my point across.”
“Like Tim and the sheriff?”
Jan laughed. “That was just for fun.”
“So I bring Andis’s wife and daughter to you, and you murder them? You take back this money and the stencils, and you continue to break the law. Is that it?”
Jan Barton dissolved into cackles of laughter. “Cute. ‘Break the law’ like it’s some big deal. That’s real cute.”
Kayla wished she could see the woman’s face. She wanted to punch it.
“I get paid. That’s how this works. I earned that money, and they’ll learn no one takes from Andis.” Jan paused. “We get back to work making superbills and everyone is happy.”
“Except an innocent woman and her daughter will be dead.” Even if she could find them, which she couldn’t.
“There are worse things than being dead.”
Kayla pressed her lips together. Jan wanted her to be complicit in the death of a woman and child who only wanted a better life—and had stolen from Andis in the process? “I doubt the woman you plan on killing, or her daughter, will be too happy.”
“That’s the price they pay for leaving Andis.” Jan huffed out a laugh. “I wouldn’t do it. Not worth it. But then, he needs me.”
Kayla squeezed her eyes shut. She’d taken Jan’s word on faith and it had turned around and bitten her. Always believing the best, always trusting that the innocent were the ones who needed protecting.
Hadn’t Conner taught her that people weren’t so simple as to be “good” or “bad”? Not all one thing all the time. People were far more complicated than the labels they were stuck with or the categories society placed them in. Each one was an individual. And she had put them in harm’s way.
“All these sniveling women. Kids screaming.” Jan groaned. “It’s starting to bother me.”
And she was going to react by killing them. “Let them go, leave them all alone, and I’ll find Andis’s wife and daughter for you.”
“How about I stay here until you do that, instead?”
Not that it was a question. Jan was giving her no options. “Killing those people won’t make me find them faster.”
“Sure it will. That’s why they’re my hostages.”
Kayla gripped the phone. Someone came to stand beside her. She backed up and looked. Conner. His face was soft as he moved close and put his head next to hers, his arms loose around her. Not to comfort her, though it had that effect, but to hear what Jan was saying.
“Don’t hurt them,” Kayla said, strengthened by Conner’s support. “I’ll try to find Andis’s family, and you can leave the women and children alone. They don’t deserve to be pulled into this.”
“Because they’re so innocent?”
“They’re trying to start over, the same way Sofija and Lena are trying to start over. Give them all the chance to build the lives they want, Jan. If you take that from them, who are you but a bully?”
“Not the first time I’ve been called that. Good thing I don’t mind, or I might have popped off one of these kids.” She was quiet for a second. “Though, they’re wailing so loud it’s getting annoying.”
“Jan! Don’t hurt them.”
“Find Andis’s wife and daughter and I won’t start shooting.”
“It’ll take time.” Time enough for Locke to see where his team at the house
were, and rescue the hostages. “You’ll have to wait.”
“Ticktock. Bang.”
Jan hung up.
Kayla looked up at him. “She’s going to kill them. How do I find out where Sofija and Lena went?”
Conner took hold of her shoulders. “You don’t. They don’t need to be found for us to finish this. They’re better off safe.”
“She’s going to kill the hostages!” Hadn’t he heard that part? She couldn’t be responsible for the people she’d tried to save being hurt. Kayla didn’t think she would be able to keep doing this if she had put them in danger. Lord, why is Jan doing this? She deceived us all. Don’t let her lies hurt those women and children. Keep them safe.
Kayla’s mind cleared enough that she could ask, “So what are we going to do, if we’re not going to help them?”
“Why does Jan want Sofija and Lena?”
Kayla explained about the money and the stencils. Conner’s eyes widened. “They have the watermark stencils?” When she nodded, he said, “That means they have the evidence that will put Andis away for counterfeiting. We can get the production of those superbills stopped once and for all if we get those stencils. No one will be able to use them. But we have to deal with Jan Barton first.”
“How?”
Conner gestured toward Locke. The man’s eyes were shadowed almost completely black when he looked up. “Locke?”
He swallowed. Had she ever seen him at a loss for words? “The agents at the shelter aren’t answering.”
Kayla said, “Jan has them?”
“Or she killed them.” Locke stood like his body was frozen.
Conner shifted so that he stood shoulder to shoulder with Kayla. She grabbed his hand in hers and held on tight. Conner said, “Let’s get suited up and go get them.”
*
It took time for a deputy to take over the sheriff’s office crime scene. That had been a fun conversation Conner hadn’t wanted to have. Surprise, I’m a Secret Service agent. Surprise, the sheriff is dead. He didn’t envy the deputy having to take over that job. There would be a lot of cleanup on this, but first there were people to save.
Conner glanced at Kayla beside him in the backseat. “I think you’d better pray.”
Kayla wrinkled her nose. “If you think it’s going to help, then you should pray, too.”
He smirked, though there was little humor there. “Maybe I will.”
“Good.”
Conner’s lips twitched. Faith was important to her, and if she was going to spur him on to being a man who went to God with his needs, he was glad for it. Being a Christian would only make him a better person, so what was there to lose?
Conner said a silent prayer, mostly just to keep his word to Kayla. If God could pull through for them on this, Conner knew He would on everything for the rest of their lives. He could find out more about what that meant after he took care of this mess.
Kayla tapped Locke on the shoulder. “Take the next left.”
Locke gripped the wheel so tight Conner figured when he let go, there would be grooves from his fingers. Conner prayed for the agents at the house, that they would be safe. He prayed for the women and children there, that Jan Barton wouldn’t jump the gun and start shooting. They needed time to get there and coordinate a rescue operation. He had to figure out how to keep Kayla safe outside while they went in.
What to do with Manny.
How to bring down Andis for good.
How to neutralize Jan Barton without anyone getting hurt in the cross fire.
Prayer flowed, though he kept the words in his mind. It had taken him a long time to get to this point. To surrender and finally admit he needed help. This was over his head. Even with part of a team to work with, he still couldn’t handle all the things that might go wrong.
Locke turned the corner without indicating. He shut his lights off and crawled down the dirt road toward the ranch house. Kayla had done well finding a house that was secluded and yet close enough to town it didn’t take emergency services twenty minutes to get there.
Lights were on in the living room. Two vans and a truck had been parked along the circle of the drive, but no one was outside.
Locke parked the car out of sight and turned off the engine. “We’re cutting it close for us to breach before Jan Barton starts getting impatient.” He shifted in his seat to face Kayla. “If she calls back, try to stall her. Ask questions. What does she know? Where does she think they might have gone? How much money did Sofija take? That kind of thing. Okay?”
Kayla nodded, her eyes on the house and her fingers nervously smoothing out the rumples in her jeans. Conner grabbed her hand and shot her a smile. His body hurt, and no doubt hers did, too. Neither of them needed to be here right now. They should probably be seeing a doctor, not preparing to conduct a raid to save a bunch of hostages.
She returned his smile and then looked back at Locke. “Is it just us? Shouldn’t we have help, a team or something?”
“My team is here somewhere. I doubt Jan Barton managed to best them, but we have to find out what happened. Why they aren’t answering phones.”
“We?” Conner asked him. “Kayla will be in the car.”
Locke shook his head. “We need her help. She stays with you—you keep her safe. She can get everyone out after we’ve cleared the place.” Locke handed Kayla a gun. Smaller than both his and Conner’s, it fit perfectly in her hand. “You remember what I taught you?”
She gripped it with confidence, as though she respected the weapon, even as she lifted one eyebrow. “I still don’t like guns.”
“Just because you don’t like them, doesn’t mean they can’t kill you.”
Locke climbed out of the car.
“Are you sure about that?” Conner motioned to the weapon.
Kayla gave him a half smile. “I’ll only use it if I have to.”
Conner nodded and they got out. Night had fallen, and wind whipped through his hair. The breeze ruffled his collar against his neck. Was Kayla okay? He glanced back. Was she cold? Conner shook his head. They could worry about that after. When she wasn’t in imminent danger.
He didn’t agree with Locke’s decision to include her. Conner prayed it was only Jan Barton in there. Kayla wouldn’t be in danger then, because she wouldn’t get in Jan’s line of sight. He would make sure of that. Problem solved.
They passed a car, blue with government plates. Conner cracked the passenger door and looked inside. Blood had pooled on the driver’s seat.
“Locke.”
“I see it.” But he didn’t stop. Conner and Kayla followed as they made their way along the edge of the drive.
Finally, Locke slowed and lowered to a crouch behind a truck. “Okay, tell me about the house, the outbuildings. Everything.”
Kayla explained the layout, then pointed to the barn. “That’s mostly storage for farm equipment. They have a garden, and they grow a lot of vegetables and fruits. Berries, stuff like that.”
Locke glanced at Conner, who nodded. “Let’s check the barn first.” The Secret Service detail could be holed up in there if they had a man down. Then again, they could have been found and killed. They could be hostages. There were just too many variables as to why they weren’t answering their phones.
Locke led the way again. Conner put Kayla between them, and they raced in the dark to the barn and around the back to a small door.
Locke pushed it open a couple of inches and looked inside. Relief relaxed his body. “Guys.”
Inside the barn, two agents sat with a third bleeding from his stomach. The relief on the female agent’s face at the sight of Locke was profound. And interesting.
“What happened?” Conner put his arm around Kayla.
The female agent flushed. “It was my fault. I thought she was one of them. They kept coming out with snacks and coffee. She hit me.” The agent touched the back of her head and winced. “Then she fired on the guys and ran off with all of our phones, guns. Ammo. We have nothin
g. I was just about to start out and go get help when you showed up.”
Locke said, “She wanted entry to the house.”
“It’s worse than that.”
“What is?” Kayla asked.
The female agent kept her gaze on her team leader, her chin high as she faced Locke. “She wired the house. Trip wires and C-4. If we go in, the whole place will blow.”
SEVENTEEN
“I was in the air force. I won’t be much help diffusing bombs,” Conner admitted.
The female agent shot him a grin. EMTs had snuck in and taken the injured agent to the hospital—no lights, no sirens. At least until they’d been out of earshot of the house.
This tiny county had no bomb squad. The sheriff’s department personnel were all tied up with the sheriff’s death. Locke had decided they weren’t going to involve them when emotions would be high. And the closest team of federal agents was three hours away. The best they had were the people in this room, which thankfully, wasn’t too shabby.
Locke motioned to the two remaining agents, one of whom had blood on his shirt and hands. “You saw her set the bombs, right?”
“Some of them.”
The female agent nodded. “Trip wires. She connected them so they wrap around the whole house. Even if we get past the circle, who’s to say she didn’t wire all the doors and windows after she was inside. And I think I saw others, too. Males.”
“I can get in.”
Conner spun to face Kayla. “Whatever you’re thinking, the answer is no.”
“It’s the best solution.” She looked scared, but she kept her chin high. “Jan will open the door if I tell her I know where Sofija and Lena are. If I tell her I can get back the stencils and the superbills they stole. You know it would work.”
“I know you could get shot, and I know there’s no way I’m going to let that happen.”
Locke said, “I agree with Conner.”
“So I do it,” the female agent said. “I won’t pass for Kayla up close, but if we swap clothes… I could wear a hat to hide my hair.” The agent touched her temple and the dark hair there. She had to be Hawaiian, or maybe Native American. The agent continued, “I could get to the door, hopefully inside. I could disarm Jan Barton. Or at least try.”
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