by Laura Scott
Once again he was thankful for Paige’s efforts in restoring his home to normal. The ruined furniture had been removed, the walls painted, everything thoroughly scrubbed. New furniture was arriving within the week.
She had gone far beyond the parameters of her job. She’d offered her help with no thought of herself. He thought of his own job. Designing software had been fulfilling, but he wanted more. He wanted to do more, to help others the way Paige did.
Was joining the US Marshals the answer? He was beginning to think it was.
When he went to sleep, it was with a hopeful heart.
But morning brought a new set of questions with the arrival of a text.
When Paige showed up, he handed her his cell phone. “Someone sent me a text claiming to have information about the murders and wants to meet.” He watched as she scrolled through the lengthy message with its directions to a location forty-five minutes away. You’ll find a trailer. Go inside and wait, the text concluded.
“A setup,” Paige said at once.
“I wouldn’t be surprised, but we can’t afford to ignore anything.”
“You’re right. I just don’t like anonymous notes.”
“I agree. Look, if you don’t want to go—”
“I thought we’d been through this. Let’s do it.”
Following the directions given in the text, they reached the appointed area in less than forty minutes.
They found the trailer, which was little more than a rusted-out bucket, but it managed to contain the necessities, including a sink, stove, table and bed. Liam pushed open a narrow door and found a cramped bathroom that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in months. He opened a cupboard in the kitchen, closed it. “Not much here to see.”
“No. But someone is living here.” She pointed to a dirty cup and saucer in the minuscule sink.
A feeling of foreboding swept over him. Liam lifted his head, sniffed the air. “Smell that?”
“Propane,” they both said at once.
He tried the front door and found it locked from the outside. “Check the back.”
Paige ran to the back. “It’s locked, too.” She rammed a shoulder against the door. It wasn’t just locked—something was wedging it shut.
Two propane tanks had flanked the side of the trailer. If they caught fire, they’d blow in a second. His fears were confirmed when he caught sight of a darkly clad figure creeping around the trailer. If the individual threw a match...
“Stand back.” He threw himself at the door.
It didn’t budge.
Again.
Same result.
“Get on my back. We’re getting out of here. Now.”
She did as he instructed and climbed onto his back. With their combined weight, he managed to break down the door. Outside, he didn’t set her down but kept running until they reached the forest line.
Just as they ducked behind the trees, the trailer exploded. Flames shot into the air as the fire ignited the propane. Succeeding explosions continued until only the fire remained.
One more minute inside the trailer and he and Paige would have been toast.
Paige swiped at the sweat pouring down her arms. “You saved my life. Again.”
“I’m thinking it was a team effort.”
“All the same, thanks.” She checked her cell for service. “We’ve got to call this in.”
“I wish we’d found something.”
“All we know for certain is that someone wanted us dead.”
Relief shuddered through him that they had identified the odor and gotten out in time.
They checked out what was left of the trailer. Its blackened door lay to the side, a crowbar threaded through the handle. No wonder it hadn’t budged when he had kicked it.
Someone had tried to murder them.
Paige fisted her hands on her hips. “We were set up.”
“Yeah. But who did it?”
That question stuck in his mind as they waited for the police to arrive. It always came back to that.
Detective Reineke arrived, along with two black-and-white units.
“You two sure have a way of riling folks,” he observed.
“Riling folks is what you call having someone try to kill us and almost succeeding?” Liam challenged, pointing to the crowbar wedged into the door handle. “Is that proof enough for you?”
“Look, Mr. McKenzie and Ms. Walker, I’m sorry our department didn’t take you more seriously at first, but we’re on the case now. Trouble is, you haven’t given us much to go on. As far as that crowbar goes, we’ll take it in, check for fingerprints, but I’m not expecting to find anything.”
Liam faced him unflinchingly. “I’m not expecting you to find anything, either.”
“What caused you to come out here in the first place?”
“We got a note.” He pulled up the text on his phone and showed it to Reineke.
The detective took a picture of it. “Our CSU folks will go over the trailer, take apart what’s left of it, but I don’t expect to find much.”
Liam gestured to the door with the crowbar wedged in the handle. “We weren’t meant to walk away from this.”
“All the more reason for you to leave the investigating to us.”
“You refused to believe us, so we investigated on our own. This was an ambush.”
“I’m still looking for a motive.”
Paige got in Reineke’s face. “Liam’s given you the motive. Someone is picking off the survivors of that bus accident. We don’t know all the ins and outs of it yet, but the connection is clear.”
“I’m still not sold on it. I’ll grant you that you and Mr. McKenzie have someone who’s trying to kill you, but these attacks haven’t been made to look like accidents. Wasn’t that your theory? That the killer was making the killings look like accidents? If that’s the case, why hasn’t he—or she—kept to the script?”
“The first attack on Liam was made to look like an accident,” Paige pointed out. “It was only when he really started investigating that the attacks escalated.” She sent Reineke a scathing look. “Seems to me that it should be obvious to you that the killer is getting desperate because we’re getting close to the truth.”
He flushed. “You’re right, ma’am. I should have seen that.”
“Mr. McKenzie, Ms. Walker,” Reineke continued, “you’re dealing with someone who’s proven he doesn’t mind killing. You’re both fortunate to be alive. Let the police take it from here. I promise that we won’t drop the ball. By the way, a body was found not far from the hospital. There was a bullet in the man’s shoulder, but that wasn’t what killed him. He took a double tap to the forehead, probably a nine millimeter. Can’t be sure, since the bullets were jacketed.” The detective divided a look between them. “I can see that I’m not getting anywhere. All I can do is to warn you to be careful.” He stomped off.
Liam recalled the terrifying moments of nearly being trapped in the trailer, but it wasn’t fear that washed through him now.
It was fury.
TWELVE
The rest of the day was spent making yet another statement at the police station. That took longer than it should have as Liam and Paige did their best to convince Detective Reineke yet again that the attacks were related to the accident.
He’d come around in time, but time was something they didn’t have.
When Liam received a call, he frowned at the unfamiliar number on the display before answering.
“We have your son.”
His first thought upon hearing the electronically distorted voice was that someone was playing a cruel joke on him. Jonah was safe with his parents. In Savannah. No one knew he was there but Paige and her boss, Shelley Judd. There was no way they would have leaked the information, but a determined individual would find it relativ
ely easy to figure out where he had taken Jonah.
Instinctively, he looked at Paige. The worry in her eyes echoed his own.
“What are you talking about?”
“Your son. Cute little boy named Jonah. You think he’s with your parents, right?” The caller named his parents, their address. “Go ahead, call them. I’ll call back in five minutes.”
Hands trembling, Liam called his parents. His mother answered at once. “Jonah’s missing. We’ve had the police here. At first we thought he had just wandered away, but...” Her voice broke.
Liam spared a precious minute to reassure first her, then his father, that he would get Jonah back. “I’ve got to keep the line clear,” he said tersely and ended the call.
He hit the record function on his phone. The kidnapper called back exactly five minutes after they’d first talked. “If you want to see your son alive, stop your investigation into the accidents. Jonah will be released when we’re satisfied that you’ve obeyed our instructions. Do as you’re told and you’ll see your son again. Easy-peasy.” The voice was straight from a nightmare.
The call was disconnected.
Though both he and Paige knew there was little to no possibility of tracing it quickly and without a warrant, she called S&J and asked if the firm’s IT person could run a reverse-trace program. This might not be possible, since they were almost positive this was a virtual number, which meant no one could see the caller’s real number.
Liam listened as Paige explained the situation to the S&J operative, but, inside, he shook with terror. He couldn’t give in to it. Coldness such as he’d never known invaded him. Were it possible for his blood to turn to ice, it would have at this moment. His insides tightened with such force that he felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“I did this. If I hadn’t been so arrogant, thinking that I could keep Jonah safe and continue the investigation, my son would be home with me right now. If something happens to him...” He stopped, unable to put what came next into words. Waves of guilt-tainted fear washed over him.
Get a hold of yourself, man. The bracing words did nothing to banish the unbearable horror of knowing his son was in the hands of a murderer, though.
“The person who took Jonah is to blame. Not you. We don’t know that the threats against you and Jonah would stop even if you backed off. Someone is playing a very dangerous game, and since you’re one of the survivors, they wanted you dead before you started investigating.”
“In the unit when we faced something horrific, we were taught to ignore and override. How do I ignore my son’s kidnapping? How do I override that?” His voice rose with every word. The shouted words stunned because they came from him.
He paced across the room, back and forth, clenching and unclenching his hands, as if the motion itself would bring Jonah home safely.
Losing control wasn’t like him. It wasn’t like him at all. He took a breath. Another. When he had himself under control, he asked, “What do we do now?”
“Do you have a record function on your phone?”
He nodded. “Jonah and I have a game where I leave a message for him on the phone, record it, and then he can play it back as many times as he wants.”
“Good. I want to hear the call again. We can’t tell anything from the voice—it’s too heavily processed—but maybe the words themselves will tell us something.”
Liam hit the playback function, and they both listened to the chilling message.
“‘Easy-peasy,’” Paige said, repeating a phrase. “We heard that not long ago.”
Reva had used the words while talking about dismissing people who didn’t like her. It had been a catchphrase of hers from years ago. He remembered Marie teasing her about it.
“Reva,” they said in unison.
Shock shook Liam to his core, but it explained why the attack on her had failed and how the men who shot at him and Paige at the hospital knew they’d be there. Reva had set it all up, making herself appear a victim and, at the same time, using the opportunity to try to take them out.
Identifying the murderer/kidnapper had been the easy part. Finding Jonah and rescuing him was another matter.
“I want to do a run on Reva,” Paige said, “especially any properties she owns. Residential and commercial.”
Liam was silent for a moment. “Years ago, her father owned a paper mill operation. I don’t think he ever sold it, even after the factory shut down.”
Paige did a property search and found what they were looking for. “The property is still in his name. It’s about a half hour from here.”
She brought up a picture of the factory. “It looks to be fairly secluded. Perfect for holding a hostage. Also, she’d need a place to manufacture the things that caused the accidents. Not exactly something she could do at home.”
“She may not be there,” Liam pointed out. “She could have some hired guns she’d left with Jonah.”
“I think she has to be there. She wants control of everything. It’s part of who she is. If she’s there—and I think she is—we’ll take her down together and then find Jonah.”
He shook his head. “No. I’ll go in by myself. I’ll keep her attention while you look for Jonah.”
“Think it through,” Paige said. “Reva has to be feeling desperate. Otherwise, she’d never have taken Jonah. She won’t hesitate to kill you or anyone else who gets in her way. She’s proved that. Let me go with you and watch your back. Besides, Reva will be suspicious if we don’t go in together.”
He’d already thought about that and decided it couldn’t be helped. “We’ll have to risk it. Finding Jonah comes first. It has to.” Fear clogged his throat, making it difficult to get the words out. “You’re a great operative, Paige, but you’re not a parent. You don’t understand what it is like to know your child is in danger and to feel helpless to do anything about it.”
Liam respected Paige’s abilities, but he’d spoken only the truth. She wasn’t a parent and couldn’t imagine the terror he was going through. What right did she have to tell him what to do?
“You’re right,” she said. “We’ll do it your way.”
He lifted a brow. “You’re giving in? Just like that?”
“No. Not just like that. I’m saying that we’ll do it your way because it’s your son. It has to be your decision.”
“Thank you.”
She crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t say anything, only held him.
“I’m here,” she murmured against his chest. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
As Paige closed her arms around him, warmth seeped into him, banishing some of the brutal cold that had overtaken him when he’d received the call.
How had she known that he just needed to be held? Her arms were strong, her breath sweet as it fanned his face. The knowledge that she was on his side bolstered his own flagging courage.
Nothing had ever scared him the way this had. He’d faced down terrorists determined to kill him, had fast roped from a helicopter in the middle of the night to a ship bobbing in the ocean and had parachuted out of a plane miles above the earth. He’d done all that and more, but none of it compared to the gut-wrenching fear of knowing his son was in the hands of a murderer.
If he lost Jonah... He didn’t finish the thought. Couldn’t. Not if he wanted to keep any measure of sanity.
“We’ll get Jonah back,” Paige said. The certainty in her voice calmed his nerves, and he held on to it as he would a lifeline. “We’re not alone. The Lord is on our side.”
She was right. He felt the Lord’s presence. How had he ever doubted it? The Lord had been with him when he’d returned again and again to save his friends trapped in the bus. He had also been with him in the horror of war, bringing him home safely. And the Lord was with him now.
He wanted to tell Paige of his feelings, but now wa
sn’t the time.
Gently, he set her away from him. “Let’s do this.”
“If you’re ready.”
“I’ll never be ready for seeing my son in danger, but I’m ready to do whatever I need to get him out of it.”
For Liam, that said it all.
As he had done before every op, he wiped his mind clean of worry. Worry never helped and often hindered. Instead, he let his thoughts wander to past Delta ops, bringing up the distinct whir of an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, the black Nomex uniforms he and his teammates wore, the feel of an assault rifle strapped to his shoulder. He had none of those here, only the H&K USP pistol at his side and a folding knife, a Benchmade 9050 automatic with its lethal needle-thin point, concealed in his boot.
He considered calling Reineke and letting him know what was going on, but he still didn’t fully trust the detective after he’d been so dismissive.
On the plus side, though, he had a partner who had proved herself over and over. He’d worked with some of the best operators in the business, and Paige outshone them all. He’d go into battle with her any day.
Focused on what needed to be done, he regulated his breathing. The familiar routine was comforting. He knew he could depend upon Paige to get Jonah out. All he had to do was face down a murderer who had shown she had no problem killing anyone who got in her way.
* * *
The drive to the factory was made in grim silence. What was there to say? Paige gave Liam space. That was the most she could do for him. She drove, not minding the quiet. Sometimes, silence was a gift.
From the look he sent her, he felt the same. She prayed silently. Lord, we need You. Jonah needs You. Please get us through this. Give me the strength and wisdom to know what to do.
More settled now, she turned to Liam, hoping he could feel the peace that prayer had given her, but the air of subdued menace that emanated from him held her tongue.
Competing thoughts crowded her mind, and the silence grew until it filled the small space. It no longer felt like a gift but was now a barrier between them. There was a quiet, desperate taste to the air. She licked her lips in an attempt to get rid of it, but it persisted.