Stolen Identity

by Lisa Harris

  “She’s been shot, but I can’t tell where…”

  Sirens blared in the distance. Danielle felt her chest heave. This wasn’t how things were supposed to end… Even with her betrayal, she didn’t want Kate dead.

  “Kate? Talk to me.”

  Kate’s gaze shifted. “He…”

  “You’re going to be okay.”

  “I’m…sorry. So sorry….”

  “Kate?”

  “He knows…”

  “Knows what?”

  “He knows where Lauryn is.”

  An ambulance stopped beside them. Danielle moved back while the paramedics took over. People scrambled around her like she was standing inside a hornet’s nest. Danielle pressed her hands against her ears as tears streamed down her face.

  Jason pulled her into his arms. “What did she say?”

  “Lauryn.” Danielle pulled away and stumbled backward. “He knows where Lauryn is.”

  SEVENTEEN

  He knew where Lauryn was.

  Danielle grabbed her cell from her purse and frantically dialed her mother’s number, letting the phone ring until the voice message picked up. This is Maggie Taylor, I’m sorry I’m not available…

  Danielle hung up and tried again. After the third time with no answer, she was fighting to breathe. “My mother’s not answering, Jason.”

  “I couldn’t get my father, either.” The same worry that had taken hold of her reflected in his eyes. “But I did speak to Detective Rodriguez. He’s sending a team to my father’s cabin to make sure they are okay. We’ll meet them there and give our statements then as to what just happened.”

  Danielle grasped his sleeve as the paramedics placed Kate onto a stretcher and lifted her into the ambulance. Danielle searched the growing spectator crowd, wondering if he’d returned to the scene of the crime. Like vultures circling around her, he was after them. The Hacker…Swindler…Ian… Whatever name he went by, he wasn’t just after Kate. He was after her baby.

  “We don’t know he’s found them.” Jason pressed his hands gently against her shoulders and forced her to look up at him. “Take a deep breath and listen to me. There could be a dozen reasons as to why they aren’t answering, which means we need to assume they are okay, while taking extra precautions.”

  “Don’t try and pacify me, Jason.” She pulled away from him and hurried toward the car. “I’ve seen firsthand what this man can do, first with Garrett and now with Kate. We were foolish to think that we could somehow outsmart him.”

  At the car, Danielle conceded by handing him the keys. Even she wouldn’t argue with him this time that she was in no condition to drive. But despite the fear circulating through her heart, neither was she ready to give up. This guy wasn’t going to win.

  God, I need You to take care of my baby. To protect her from whatever evil plans have been laid out.

  She slid on her seat belt as Jason pulled out of the driveway of the church. Images of Kate lying on the ground, red blood staining the gray sidewalk, flashed in her mind. How had this happened?

  Danielle rubbed her temples, trying to waylay the headache that was coming on. “I don’t understand how Kate could be involved in this. I thought I knew her.”

  “You said she mentioned someone named Ian?”

  “Yes.” Danielle took a deep breath. Focusing on solving the problem was the distraction she needed at the moment.

  “What else did she say?”

  “She said…he won’t stop. Not until he gets what was promised.”

  “The information Garrett had?” he asked, stopping at a traffic light.

  “I’m assuming. She was shot before she could tell me anything else.”

  “Philip’s phone is programmed into my iPhone. Look under favorites, then push speakerphone. He’s going to wonder where we went.”

  Danielle’s hands shook as she picked up the phone and called him. “Philip, this is Danielle. I’m in the car with Jason, and we’re headed to his father’s cabin.”

  “What just happened? By the time I got to the street corner, the police had already cordoned off the street.”

  “Kate was shot in a drive-by shooting.”

  “Are the two of you okay?”

  “A little shaken, but okay,” Danielle answered.

  “We’re headed back to the cabin right now to check on Danielle’s mom and daughter,” Jason stated, “but in the meantime I need you to do something.”

  “Anything.”

  “Kate mentioned the name Ian. I know it’s a long shot, but see if you can dig further into her background and find a connection between that name and Kate.”

  “I’m on it.”

  *

  Fifteen minutes later, Jason pulled into the long dirt road leading to Eddie’s cabin. The gate was open. Danielle scanned the tree line, struck by the eerie silence. Something was missing. It was quiet. Too quiet.

  The dogs.

  Danielle tried to look deeper in the thick foliage. They should be here. “Where are Charlie and Chase?”

  “I don’t see them.”

  The squad car had pulled into the circular gravel drive in front of them and signaled for them to stay in the car.

  Danielle started to open the door.

  “Danielle, wait.” Jason took her hand. “Let them do their job. If Lauryn is in any kind of danger, they know how to deal with it.”

  Jaw tensed, she watched as Detective Rodriguez ran up the front porch beside his partner. It was the same scene she’d watched on a hundred cop shows. But now it was her family’s lives on the line.

  Seconds dragged by. Rodriguez kicked open the door. A moment later, he signaled for them to come.

  Danielle bolted out of the car, and up the front porch.

  “Where are they?” She stopped short in the doorway. Lauryn’s crayons lay scattered across the dining room floor. “Lauryn? Where is she?”

  Jason was right behind her. “Dad? Are you okay?”

  Eddie sat in the recliner in the corner of the room while one of the police officers worked to untie the rope knotted around his wrists and ankles.

  “Besides the whopping headache, I suppose I’ll live.”

  “Where’s Lauryn?” Danielle’s worst nightmare was playing out in front of her. She picked up one of the broken crayons. “Where is she… Where is my mother?”

  “I’m sorry, Danielle.” Eddie managed to stand. “I don’t know how he did it, but he got in. He must have subdued the dogs—there wasn’t any warning. I tried to be so careful and keep them safe, but he hit me, tied me up and now…they’re gone.”

  Danielle felt her legs collapse beneath her. Jason caught her, wrapped his arm tightly around her waist, then led her to the couch.

  The room spun. This can’t be happening. They can’t be gone.

  “Danielle?”

  She heard Jason’s distorted voice, coming from far away.

  “Danielle?”

  “They have to be out there.” She tried to get up. “Maybe they just went out for a walk with the dogs. Lauryn loves the dogs. We’ve got to go find them…”

  Her mind struggled to focus. She wasn’t making sense, she knew it, but she just couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that something had happened to them. She’d lost Quinton suddenly. One moment he was there, eating French toast with her at the kitchen table. An hour later, they told her there’d been an accident. Everyone had been sorry, but there had been nothing anyone could do.

  She couldn’t lose Lauryn, as well. And her mother…

  Someone brought her a glass of water. She took a sip and felt her stomach churn.

  “Mrs. Corbett, are you okay?”

  Danielle looked up at the officer crouching in front of her. She didn’t know what to say. How could she be okay? Her baby was gone.

  “I know this is a shock for you,” he continued, “but I need to get as much information as I can so we can find whoever took your daughter. Let’s start with Mr. Ryan and what happened here. Then I’m g
oing to need to talk to you about what happened back at the church. Do you understand?”

  She nodded.

  Detective Rodriguez turned to Jason’s father. “Start from the beginning, Mr. Ryan.”

  “We…we were all at the table talking.” Eddie’s fingers tapped against the wooden arm of his chair. “Lauryn was coloring. I was trying to impress Maggie with stories of life as a P.I. It all sounds stupid now considering I let some criminal snatch them from my protection in broad daylight.” His voice broke. “I’m so…so…sorry.”

  *

  Jason kept his arm around Danielle, but turned to his father. He knew his father well enough to know that it was going to take a long time for him to get past this. “It wasn’t your fault, Dad.”

  “Your son is right.” Detective Rodriguez moved to the chair beside Eddie. “And we’re going to do everything we can to get them back, but for now, I need you to go slowly through everything that happened when they were taken. The more we know about what happened and who took them, the better our chances of finding them quickly.”

  “Okay.” Eddie rubbed the back of his head where he’d been hit. “Like I said, we were sitting at the table. I heard one of the dogs yelp, so I went out onto the porch to see what happened. At first I didn’t see anything, but then…” He swallowed hard. “He was on the porch. He had a gun. He pointed it at me, told Maggie and Lauryn to come with him or he would shoot us all. He must have hit me with the butt of the gun after that, because the next thing I remember is waking up with my hands tied behind me.”

  “Can you give us a description of the man?”

  “He was…tall…thin…” Eddie shook his head. “It all happened so fast, then he knocked me down.”

  “Dad, wait a minute.” Jason glanced over at the table where his father had left some of his surveillance gadgets. “You’ve probably got him on tape.”

  “What do you mean?” The detective followed his father across the room.

  “Jason is right. I don’t have all these gadgets around my house just for fun. This is what happens when you put husbands in jail for beating their wives. There are always a few crazy ones out there who would like nothing more than to let you pay for taking them down.”

  “So you are saying you got his photo on a surveillance tape?” the detective asked.

  “Yep.” His dad sat down at his computer and dumped a pile of papers onto the floor. “I’ve got the outside of the house, both front and back rigged with video surveillance cameras. They’re hidden, though, so most people who come don’t even notice they’re out there.”

  Jason’s phone rang. “It’s Philip. Maybe he’s got something for us.”

  “Okay, I found a connection with the name Kate gave Danielle. She has a half brother named Ian Gallaway.”

  “What do we know about him?” Jason asked.

  “Not much, unfortunately, except for the fact that he is a computer whiz. He seems to have wiped his online trail pretty clean, which makes sense considering his profession. Apparently he goes by a number of different names including DragonRider. He’s wanted in a half dozen states for fraud charges. Nothing big time yet, but he’s never been caught so far.”

  “Great. Keep digging. I’ll call you when we’re done here.” Jason hung up, his eyes focused on the monitor. “There he is.”

  The detective turned to Danielle. “Does he look familiar?”

  “No, but he fits the build of the man we saw in the truck who tried to run us off the road, and maybe even the man who broke into my shop.” Danielle moved back to the edge of the couch and clasped her hands in front of her. “What about Kate? She’s the key here.”

  Detective Rodriguez shook his head. “She’s still unresponsive. The hospital will let us know if anything changes.”

  A second officer came in from outside. “Found both of your dogs. Looks like they were both injected with some kind of sedative, but I think they are going to be okay.”

  Jason turned back to Detective Rodriguez as his father headed outside to check on the dogs. “So what do we do now?”

  “We wait for him to contact us.”

  *

  Danielle checked her phone for an email message like she’d been doing the past two hours. Philip had arrived and helped them set up a sort of command center in Jason’s dad’s living room, searching for clues, anything the kidnapper might have left behind. So far, though, there had been no demands, no communication. Nothing. Kate was still in surgery, which left them looking for evidence in the dark.

  “I don’t understand.” Danielle sat down and took a sip of the coffee Eddie had made. It was strong. Too strong, but she needed the caffeine. The room had finally stopped spinning, but her mind had yet to stop going over everything that could happen. “If he took them, why not let us know his demands?”

  They were missing something. And it all went back to the information. And that they still had no idea where to find the information they were looking for.

  Jason grabbed one of the dining room chairs and slid onto it backward, clutching the rails on either side. “He mentioned something on the phone that has nagged at me.”

  “What is that?” Danielle asked.

  “Garrett believed that anything could be hacked given enough time and patience. The last time I talked to him he reminded me that nothing was secure, both online and even his phone.”

  “What did he mean?” Danielle asked. “That someone was tracking him?”

  “He was worried about sending files. He believed they would have been compromised. Dad, you mentioned how Garrett should have done things the old-fashioned way. What if he found another way to get the stuff to me?”

  “Like sending it via the post office or FedEx?” Danielle asked.

  “Yeah.” Philip scooted back from the computer where he had been working. “That’s possible. And it would explain why I can’t find it on his computer.”

  “Dad…” Jason crossed the room, stopping at a tall stack of unopened mail in the cluttered corner, still unsorted. What if Garrett sent the information to his father?

  “Why would he send something to me?”

  “Because snail mail can’t be hacked.” Jason gathered up the pile of junk mail and dumped it all on the table.

  “Jason?”

  “When’s the last time you went through your junk mail, Dad?”

  “Don’t ask.”

  “Is there more?” he demanded.

  His dad frowned, then pointed at another stack. “Over there.”

  Danielle started on the pile in the living room while he tackled the dining room. It was a long shot, but anything was better than sitting around and doing nothing.

  A few minutes later, Danielle handed him an envelope. “Jason. I think I’ve got it.”

  It was addressed to J. T. Ryan from Garrett Peterson.

  “What’s inside it?” Philip asked.

  Jason ripped open the envelope. “Looks like a key to a post office box and a handwritten letter.”

  Jason paused before reading the letter. Seeing Garrett’s handwriting and signature sent shivers up his spine. It was like receiving something from a ghost.

  Jason,

  You have to understand that I never meant for things to end this way. I’m trying to make things right, but if I don’t, I’m sending this letter to your father. I don’t trust technology and assume that they will eventually search your place for the information I have. I should have told you the truth weeks ago. Should have told you the last time we spoke, but when I realize what I’ve done… How many people are hurt—my parents, friends, you, even our business—I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you. Maybe I really am a coward at heart, but trust me when I say that none of this was ever supposed to happen.

  The funny thing is that all of this began when I thought I finally found that one person. That soul mate I’ve been searching for. She was perfect for me, Jason. You’d think so. Or at least in a different life she would have been. Crazy how what I thought
was real turned out to be fake. Including her. Which was another reason why I couldn’t bring myself to tell you that your best friend and hacker extraordinaire had been taken in by one of the oldest cons in the book. Love really does make you blind.

  And I know what you’d be saying right now if the situation wasn’t so serious. You’d remind me that I never had good taste in women. The ironic thing about it is that in spite of everything that has happened, I still somehow believe she really did love me. But none of that really matters anymore.

  So here is the bottom line. If something goes wrong today, this post office box will have in it everything you need to take him down. And he needs to be taken down. He saw in me an opportunity to take his career to the next level, and I’m not the only one he’s targeting. I found out about Danielle Corbett and tried to warn her. Don’t let him win.

  Everything you need to turn him over to the authorities is there, including the password. I’m sure that Philip’s on top of all this and will have already figured out what the guy wants. I just hope he didn’t cause you all the trouble he caused me. All I know, though, is that if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. I’m meeting him at the pier now to try and put an end to this.

  I’m sorry for everything,

  Garrett

  Jason finished reading the letter and sat down next to Danielle on the couch. “I can’t believe he didn’t trust me enough to tell me what was going on.”

  “None of this was your fault, Jason.”

  “Maybe not, but still…I don’t know whether I should be furious with him, or compliment him for his cleverness in getting the information to me. He lost his life over a stupid computer program. His life was worth a whole lot more.”

  “So, what do we do now?” she asked, desperation creeping into her voice.

  “We contact Ian Gallaway. It’s time to make a trade.”

  EIGHTEEN

  Danielle pressed through the congested boardwalk beside Jason, trying to calm the panic roiling inside her. Ian was here somewhere. Mingling in the crowd, waiting for them. He’d finally answered their last text and agreed to meet. Their directions had been simple. They would meet him at the west end of the city’s annual Seafood Festival. Garrett’s information in exchange for Lauryn and her mother. His response had been just as brief. Come alone. No police. No games.