“My pleasure.” He touched his lips to hers and she was so glad God hadn’t given up on her after all.
THANKSGIVING DAY
1:15 A.M.
“You were almost cremated alive, Jackie, you need to stay put and rest,” Ron said.
Jackie rubbed her eyes and glared at those who made a semicircle around her hospital bed. Ron, David, Adam, Elizabeth, and Ian. Dear sweet Ian. She needed them all to leave so she could get dressed. But in a minute. First she needed some answers. “Where’s Holly?” she asked.
“Down the hall,” Ian said. “She’s stable, so they transported her here. I just checked on her a few minutes before you were rolled into this room.”
“Has she woken up yet?”
“No.” Ian cleared his throat. “Not yet.”
“We need her to wake up, Ian,” Jackie said. “We have to get her friend’s name. They’re going to attack the parade.” She looked at Elizabeth. “You have to find Holly’s friend and warn her. Lucy’s class is going to be on one of the floats. What are you doing to stop it? Have they canceled it yet?” Jackie felt uncharacteristic hysteria rising up in her and she swallowed, trying to force it back.
Elizabeth pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “I recommended canceling it when we first found out, but it’s simply too late. There are already people in the city at the hotels and just … everywhere. If we cancel the parade, these people will just find another way to release the virus. And,” she drew in a deep breath, “we have to consider the source. Even though you’ve been proven innocent, for the past few days you’ve been a terrorist doing everything you could do to elude capture. My Special Agent in Charge still isn’t 100 percent positive you’re not involved somehow and is reluctant to trust anything you have to say.”
“What?” Ian shouted.
“But the people—” Jackie said at the same time.
Ian pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“And I heard them talking,” Jackie said. “I heard them while I was shut up in that box—” Her voice shook and she pulled in a deep breath. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to shut her eyes and sleep again. Not without horrific memories crowding her brain.
“I know. I know.”
“No, you don’t. I heard them specifically say they were going to target the parade. You have to convince the FBI to cancel it, postpone it, whatever.”
“They won’t,” Elizabeth said softly.
David rubbed his chin and exchanged a glance with Adam. “Please tell me they’re upping security.”
“Of course. While they can’t cancel it, they are taking it seriously and pulling out all the stops to make sure security is extremely tight. They’re doing metal detectors, all bags will be scanned.” She shrugged. “It will be like going through airport security.”
“This is crazy,” Adam said and shook his head.
“What are we going to do?” Jackie whispered.
“You’re going to stay put and rest,” Ian said. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Jackie,” Elizabeth said. “One of them escaped. He had a motorcycle hidden off the property. We chased him, but he got away. Did you see any of them? Could you describe them to a sketch artist?”
“No.” She rubbed her eyes. They felt gritty and burned. “I remember the crash and then nothing until I woke up in the box.” She just couldn’t say “coffin” yet. “But—” She gasped and sat up.
“What?”
“I heard them clearly.”
“Yes?” Elizabeth asked.
“So I could identify their voices. One spoke with a slight accent.”
“What kind of accent?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, I’d have to hear it again. I wasn’t exactly filing that kind of information away at the time.”
“Of course.”
“But—”
Elizabeth’s phone rang and she stepped out of the room to answer it. Jackie wished she could listen in on the conversation. “Okay, y’all need to leave. I’m going to get dressed and get out of this hospital. We’ve got terrorists to stop.”
1:45 A.M.
“I’ve got more on this code. It’s all related to the keyboard,” Tyesha said.
“When was the last time you slept, Ty?”
Ty huffed a soft laugh. “I don’t remember. It’s not important. You ready?”
“Sure. Go ahead.” Elizabeth pressed the phone to her ear and walked to the nurse’s desk to find a pen and paper.
“Okay, we’ve got New York on Standby and smallpox delivered. I had all kinds of combinations for the third line, but one stands out to me.”
“What?”
“MTDP,” Tyesha said.
“What does that—” It clicked. “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.” She wrote it down.
“That’s what I think, but we already figured that out from the date.”
“Right. Okay, then the next line was the date and time of the parade.” She went ahead and wrote that too.
“Right.”
“The next line says ‘masks in floor.’ It didn’t take me long to find the pattern. It’s three letters to the left of the symbol written in the code.”
“Masks in floor. In the floor of what?”
“Maybe the floor of the float? Whoever’s going to release this virus isn’t going to want to take a chance on exposing himself. Unless he’s suicidal. The mention of masks makes me think that’s not the case.”
“Yes, that makes sense.”
“But which one?”
“I have no idea. You’ve almost got it all.”
“I think Holly’s right and the contact person is Tate R. No last name of course, but I think the letters after that are a phone number. It’s tricky and I don’t know if it’s the right one, but I came up with 212-264-5651. Moving up two from the initial letter in the code to the left and picking the number. I’m pretty sure the 1, 2, and 3 are in there as a distraction. They’re not necessary. I think.”
“Did you try the number?”
“No. I didn’t want to. If there’s a bomb involved—”
Elizabeth rubbed her gritty eyes. “Calling the number could set it off. Of course.”
“We traced the number, though, but nothing. It’s probably a throwaway phone.”
She nodded. Figured. “Okay, thanks. Has there been any change on the status of the parade?”
“It’s still a go.”
She closed her eyes. “Then we’re going to have to work fast.”
“Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Will do.”
Elizabeth hung up and turned to find Jackie standing behind her, dressed and looking extremely rough around the edges. Ian stood beside her, hands held as though he figured he might need to catch her when she toppled over. “You need to rest.”
Jackie didn’t topple. She stepped forward, a ferocious frown on her face. “You really think I can do that when you and I both know terrorists are going to strike soon? My friend’s daughter is in danger. I need to know Maria’s last name.”
“Her last name is Fox.”
Jackie blinked, the frown faded. “Okay. How did you find that out?”
“We called the principal and got the name of the children’s teacher. She answered and we got the last name from her.”
“Oh. Well, good. So did you call Maria?”
“Yes. Well, someone did, but she’s not answering. I’ll know as soon as they get ahold of her.”
“Okay. So now what?”
“We start screening every single person involved with the parade.”
Jackie’s eyes widened. “There’s no time for that.”
“We don’t have any other choice. It’s a place to start until we come up with a better plan.”
4:16 A.M.
Maria rolled over to look at the clock. She gave a contented sigh and snuggled back into the warmth of her husband. She couldn’t believ
e it when he’d said he could stay the night and even take her to work in the morning. When they’d walked in the door, he’d given her a gentle shove toward their bedroom. “Go pack a bag. A big one for you and Lewis.”
At his voice, Lewis had looked up from his game of Sorry with his friend Lucy. His eyes had flown wide and he’d given an ecstatic cry, bolted across the den and into his father’s arms. Lucy had clapped her happiness at seeing her friend’s joy. Lucy. Such a sweet child. Maria could only pray her mother would pull through and live to watch her grow up.
She pushed the sad thoughts away and let her lips curve into a smile. Lucy would go back to Carissa’s, and she and her family would go on a well-deserved vacation. She’d packed her bag and then, unable to help herself, went snooping. She’d found the brochure and plane tickets in her husband’s coat pocket while he and Lewis had wrestled on the den floor. They were going to Mexico to an all-inclusive resort. Today. After the parade.
Together.
34
THANKSGIVING DAY
6:35 A.M.
Jackie rubbed her eyes and tried to shove aside the fatigue that wanted to grip her in a headlock. She looked at the others around the table in the FBI conference room. David, Ian, Adam, and Sam, who’d left the hospital AMA—against medical advice—and looked like he was on the verge of passing out.
“We’re running out of time,” Jackie said.
Elizabeth looked up from her computer. “I know.”
The door opened and Scott Mitchell stepped into the room. Elizabeth shot to her feet. “Anything?”
“We’ve done background checks on all of the float companies and their employees that are working directly on the floats. There’s nothing that raises a huge red flag. There are some employees that have previous records, but no one with any outstanding warrants and no one with terrorist ties. There are only thirty-one floats. We’ve started checking them all, but it’s going to take time.”
“We don’t have time,” Jackie said and popped to her feet to pace the room. “There’s got to be a way to cancel the parade or at least warn people not to go.”
Sam snorted. “Do you know how much money is involved in that parade? How many people and volunteers? Spectators are already lining the streets as we speak. People camped out in Central Park last night. Canceling isn’t an option.”
“So how many people will die today because no one wants to call off a parade? A parade!” Jackie asked. “Would you want to die for that? Wouldn’t you want some notice if you were going to take your kids to watch it? At least a chance to say, ‘I’m not going’?”
Sam started to respond, then went white, grabbed his side, and settled back in his chair with a grimace. Jackie almost felt sorry for him. He shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t want to die for it, but I also understand that calling it off at this late date would be useless. Whatever they’re going to do, they can still do.”
“Then they have to be stopped,” Ian said. He held up his phone. “I still can’t get Maria.”
Jackie closed her eyes, the stress sending her blood pressure sky high. She pulled in several deep breaths, sending up a prayer of thanks for the ability to do so. When she opened her eyes, Ian was staring at her with concern. “I’m fine,” she said before he could ask.
She turned to the ADIC. “How many float companies are involved in this parade?”
“Three,” Mitchell said.
“Can you check their financials? See if any of them have made a significant deposit?”
“Of course. And we’re working on that. But if there are explosives involved or even someone in the actual parade who plans to unleash the virus among the crowd, there are over ten thousand participants to clear. We can’t do that in the next—” he glanced at his watch—“two hours.”
Jackie sighed and buried her face in her hands. Waiting for something, anything, to come through, was sending her impatience levels soaring. She needed to be doing something. She lifted her head. “I’m going down there.”
“Where?”
“To where the parade begins. They’ll be lining up the floats shortly. I’m going to listen.”
“Listen?”
“To people talk. I’ll recognize the voices from the mortuary if I hear them.”
Elizabeth huffed. “That’s a needle in a haystack.”
Jackie strode to the door. “I know, but it’s better than sitting here doing nothing.”
Ian stepped beside her. “I’ll go too.”
She clasped his hand in hers and looked at Elizabeth. “We’ll need your badge to get into the secure areas.”
The woman studied her for a moment, then nodded and told Mitchell, “I’m going with them.”
“Thank you.” Jackie pulled open the door and headed for the elevator.
Ian stepped to the back of the elevator and dialed the nurse’s station on Holly’s neuro floor.
“Regional Neurology. How may I help you?”
“This is Ian Lockwood. I’m Holly Kent’s cousin. I just wanted to check on her condition.” The doors slid open and he followed Jackie and Elizabeth out to the car.
“She seems to be trying to wake up. Her vitals are good.”
He slid in the backseat of Elizabeth’s car and let Jackie have the front. He felt bruised and battered. Every muscle ached and he had a headache that made him halfway sick, but there was no way he was staying behind.
Ian closed his eyes and sent up a prayer of thanks. “Thank God. Will you be sure to call me as soon as she wakes up and can talk?”
“Of course.”
“And if she asks about her daughter, Lucy, tell her everything is just fine.” It wasn’t a lie. Lucy was fine right now. And they were going to make sure she stayed that way.
“I’ll be glad to.”
“Thanks.”
Ian hung up and leaned his head against the back of the seat. Lord, please let her wake up.
“Any change?”
Jackie’s worried question brought his head up. “Yes, the nurse said she was trying to wake up, but wasn’t all the way there yet.”
She frowned and nodded. Her top teeth settled into her lower lip—a sure sign she was working on some problem. “Which float is Lucy on?”
“The toy store one,” Elizabeth said. “Manguson Toys.”
“If we pull her off of there, she’s going to hate us forever,” Ian said.
“If we can figure out what the threat is and where it’s coming from, we won’t have to pull anyone and no one will even know danger was anywhere near them,” Jackie said.
Elizabeth nodded. “That’s the plan. But if we don’t, then I want to get her and get out of there.”
7:10 A.M.
Leo rolled over with a groan. He was so tired. He’d been running on fumes the past week, trying to make sure he kept all of his plates spinning. He reached for Maria and frowned when he only felt cold sheets. He forced his eyes open and they landed on the alarm clock.
With a curse, he shoved off the blankets. He’d overslept. Maria had turned off the alarm. Adrenaline blazing, he grabbed his clothes and his uniform and dressed in record time. He was supposed to be there. He couldn’t botch this. His marriage depended on it.
He raced into Lewis’s room to find his mother-in-law making up the child’s bed. “Naomi, where’s Lewis?”
She looked up and gave him that special frown she always seemed to reserve for him. He knew she didn’t approve of him, thought he wasn’t good enough for her precious Maria. And she was probably right, but …
“Maria wanted him and Lucy to be with her this morning.”
“What? Why?” He didn’t have time for this.
Her eyes slid back to the bed and she fluffed a pillow. Her shoulder lifted in a small shrug. “I cannot say.”
“Of course you can say. Why would she take Lewis and Lucy to work with her on one of the busiest days of her job? She won’t be able to watch him properly. The children could wander off and get lost.”
Naomi waved a dismissing hand. “They will be fine. It is a special day and I suppose Maria wanted to share it with them. She said you would be coming shortly.”
“Look, I know you don’t think I’m good enough for Maria, but I’m trying. I really am.” Why did he blurt that out? He cursed his wayward tongue. The stress was getting to him.
She lifted a brow. “No, you’re not good enough, but it doesn’t matter because no one would be good enough.”
“Well, you got that right.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m supposed to be working security at the parade and I’m late.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Why didn’t you go with her to help?”
“I’m an old woman. Parades are not for me.”
“Old woman? You’re only fifty-five years old.”
“Exactly.”
Leo rolled his eyes and raced back into the bedroom to gather his things. He spun to head to the front door and pulled up short when he came face-to-face with his mother-in-law. “What?”
“You think a trip to Mexico will make everything all right?”
Leo drew in a sharp breath. “What are you talking about? How do you know—”
“I know a lot of things. I may be an old woman, but I have friends. Like Greta at the travel agency.”
Seriously?
“It’s just a trip, Naomi. Don’t get snippy because you weren’t invited.”
She narrowed her eyes. “My daughter and grandson are everything to me. Hurt them and I’ll make you pay.”
Make him pay? Who did she think she was? He was the one with the gun. He shook his head. “I don’t have time for this.”
She stepped in front of him. “I’m serious. I think I will be coming to the parade after all. I think I will be watching you.”
He stared at her. “Watching me?”
“You plan to leave and not come back, don’t you? You plan to take my daughter and grandson and disappear.” She gave a laugh, devoid of humor, and her eyes hardened. “I don’t think you want to do that. You really don’t want to cross me.”
A sliver of unease traveled up his spine. He’d mostly ignored his mother-in-law over the past few years, but today, he took another look at her. And wrote her off. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He shoved past Naomi and, with one last look around, stepped out the front door. Today was the day he and Maria would start over and he couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he presented her with the plane tickets.
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