by Lisa Harris
“Jonas,” she said. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.”
Agents started shouting orders at the passengers. Several argued back. The hallway around them filled with people evacuating the terminal as the siren continued to wail. Madison shoved her way through the crowded concourse, back toward the gate agent who was still standing at the podium.
“We need to get back on the plane.”
“I’m sorry, but we’ve got a security issue.”
She held up her badge. “What’s going on?”
“They’re evacuating the terminal.” The woman dropped her voice and leaned forward. “There’s a possible bomb threat.”
“We need on that plane.”
The woman nodded, then opened the door to the jetway for them.
“Why don’t you have Patterson put a trace on Bianca’s phone, while you stay out here and keep looking for her,” Jonas said. “I’ll search the plane.”
Madison made a call to the marshals in Denver who were still acting as their backup.
“She’s missing? How is that possible?” Patterson asked.
“We never saw her come off the plane, and now they’re evacuating the terminal, so the place is in complete chaos. She must have slipped through the crowd.”
“I’ll find her.”
Jonas came out a minute later, shaking his head. How had they lost her? Madison felt like a fish swimming upstream as she split off from Jonas toward the end of the terminal. She scanned the crowd, but so far there wasn’t anyone matching Bianca’s description. Only dozens of unfamiliar travelers, all carrying backpacks or rolling carry-on bags.
Her frustration rose as the announcement continued to repeat over the intercom.
An agent confronted Madison as she searched the crowd. “We’re going to have to ask you to leave, ma’am. This terminal is being evacuated.”
“I understand.” She held up her badge as Jonas jogged back over to join her. “We’re US Marshals. My partner and I are looking for a key witness who was on one of the planes.”
“What’s going on?” Jonas asked.
The woman scanned both of their badges before answering. “An unattended bag was discovered by one of our dogs. We’re waiting for the bomb squad as a precaution.”
Madison frowned. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Flights were going to be delayed as law enforcement investigated the bag. People would panic. Somehow Barrick was behind this.
Her phone rang again. “What have you got, Patterson?”
“She’s in the terminal.”
“You need to narrow it down. We’re looking at dozens of gates and we’re running out of time. I also need officers in the international terminal looking for both of them.”
“I’m on it. We’ve got officers stationed at the end of the terminal and have sent out photos of her. Wait a minute . . . I’ve got a ping on her phone.”
“Okay, where?”
“There’s a restroom about thirty feet behind you. Looks like it’s coming from there or at least nearby.”
“I’m on it.”
Madison ran through the crowded terminal toward the bathrooms, wondering how they’d missed her. But there were dozens of places she could have hidden if she hadn’t evacuated.
The women’s bathroom was quiet as she slipped in and checked the stalls one by one.
Nothing.
She checked the counters and the trash. Something caught her eye.
“Patterson, we’ve got a problem. I found Bianca’s phone in the trash, but she’s long gone.”
He sighed. “All right. I’ll do some more searching.”
Madison ended the call and hurried out of the restroom, Bianca’s phone in her hand. Irritation ate at her. Jonas was outside, waiting for her. “She’s gone.”
Jonas frowned. “She can’t go far, and it’s pretty clear she’s left this terminal.”
She wished the airport wasn’t so big. It made it too easy to miss something. “We’re looking at a hundred and fifty thousand people passing through here, and the evacuation is already causing chaos,” she said.
“Exactly what they wanted.”
“So she knows—or at least she believes we’re after her.”
Her phone rang and she dug it out of her pocket, standing in the almost empty terminal.
“She’s got another flight booked,” Patterson said. “United Airlines to Newark, leaving out of terminal E in less than an hour.”
“Have backup meet us there, but make sure every TSA agent, airline employee, and law enforcement officer in this airport is still looking for her.” She turned to Jonas. “We found her. Terminal E. She’s got a flight out of here.”
Jonas shook his head. “I don’t think she’ll be there.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s too obvious. She knows we’ll find that out.”
Madison nodded. “She’s going to leave the airport.”
Thirty-One
They found her waiting for a rideshare outside Terminal B.
Jonas pulled out his weapon as Bianca looked to run, but there was nowhere left to go. “Put your hands in the air. It’s over.”
They contacted airport security, then escorted Bianca to a secure office inside the Airport-IAH division of the Houston police department, wondering what had brought her to this point. How could Barrick have been so convincing that she wasn’t able to see through his lies?
Soon Madison and Jonas were sitting across from Bianca as she stared at the table, avoiding Jonas’s gaze. “How’d you find me?”
“Barrick has proven himself to be the master of misdirection. Something spooked you, and he helped you run. It made sense that you’d try to ditch your next flight.”
“You were on the plane with me, weren’t you?”
Madison nodded.
“It’s ironic. Truth is, I never saw you. I just . . . I don’t know. I panicked. There was this guy at the gate who kept looking at me. I was convinced he knew who I was. I didn’t know what to do.”
Madison rested her elbows on the table. “We need to know what the plan is, Bianca. We need to know where Damon is.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. He’s innocent and this . . . this is his only chance to live a normal life.”
“Running for the rest of his life? That’s hardly normal,” Jonas said. “But what if everything he’s ever told you is a lie? What if he was simply using you to gain access to your money?”
“That’s not possible. We were planning to go away together, because that plane crash . . . it was like a second chance for both of us.”
“Was being the key word. Because you won’t be traveling to meet him, I can assure you of that. Your best option right now—your only option—is to cooperate.”
“The only thing he’s guilty of in all of this is getting a forged passport. But what was he supposed to do? He was stripped of everything that was his. He had no choice. If he wants to stay out of prison, he has to leave the country.”
Jonas glanced at the clock on the wall, irritated. Every second that passed was another second Barrick was getting away. How could she be so blinded to who Barrick really was?
“Where is he?” Jonas asked.
Bianca’s jaw clenched, but she just stared at the table in front of her.
“So is this how things are going to play out?” Madison asked. “Because here’s the thing. We will find him. And even if he is innocent of murder, which I’m convinced he isn’t, the consequences of using a forged passport are pretty stiff. Up to fifteen years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine. On top of that, there’s a side dish of felony crimes served up. He will go back to prison.”
Bianca shook her head. “He’s smart. Smarter than you think.”
“And you’re willing to go to prison for helping him escape?” Jonas caught her gaze. “Because we can prove what we’re saying.”
“How?”
“For starters, check your bank accounts. See how m
uch money is left.”
Bianca didn’t flinch. “He’s not after my money. It’s a perk. Sure. And it will allow us to do what we want to do, but he loves me—”
“Just check.”
Madison slid Bianca’s phone across the table, then waited.
“There must be a mistake.”
“Why do you say that?” Madison asked.
“Because . . .” Bianca dropped the phone onto the table, her hand shaking. “He wouldn’t just take my money.”
“How much is missing?”
“There was about a hundred thousand in there.” Bianca’s face was pale. “But the rest of my money is safe. He had me move six million into an account offshore so we could have easy access. But without my signature”—she struggled to take a breath—“he can’t touch it.”
“So he still needs you,” Jonas said.
“This is a nightmare.” Bianca pressed her fingers against her temples. “I thought he was planning ahead. I gave him access to that account so he could arrange our passports and tickets and whatever we’d need once we left the country. I trusted him. No, I don’t care what you say, there’s an explanation.”
“I’m sorry,” Madison said. “I know this isn’t easy, but we need your help to find him, Bianca. He’s done this before to other women. And we now believe that at least two of those women are dead.”
“No. You don’t understand.” Bianca’s expression was resolute. “He told me this might happen. He said if I was ever brought in, you would try to confuse me. Get me to say what you want to hear. But you don’t know him like I do. This . . . this doesn’t change anything.” She pushed the phone across the table.
“There’s more,” Madison said. “Remember Detective Randall? He found some interesting things in his investigation about your husband, Jim, who died fourteen months ago.”
“What does he have to do with any of this?”
“There were a few interesting inconsistencies with his death that we found in his case files.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Detective Randall is convinced your husband didn’t die of natural causes, and in fact, we’ve asked to reopen the case.”
“That’s not possible. My husband died of a heart attack. I was always begging him to lose weight. To eat right and stop drinking, but he never listened to me.”
“Did you know he’d filed for divorce?”
Bianca’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
“Two days before he died. But you knew that. Because if he divorced you—especially if it was found out you were having an affair—you would have lost everything, wouldn’t you?”
“I didn’t kill my husband,” Bianca said.
“Of course you didn’t,” Madison said. “We think Damon Barrick did.”
“No. This is nothing more than another one of your tricks. You’re trying to get me to confess something that didn’t happen. I know Damon. He wasn’t even around the weekend my husband died. Jim and I had gone to spend a few days in Aspen.”
“But you were having an affair with Damon while your husband was still alive.”
“No . . . yes . . . it doesn’t matter. Any sparks had died out in our marriage years before, but that didn’t mean I would kill him. There was no reason to. He left everything to me if he died, yes, but I always had access to what we owned.”
“But it was financially advantageous for Damon,” Madison said. “And what else did he tell you? That he loved you. That the two of you would find a way to leave the country together.”
“This was never about money.”
“A hundred thousand gives him enough to get out of the country.”
“No. He wanted me to go with him.”
“You told us you broke things off with him when he went to prison,” Jonas said, “but you didn’t, did you?”
“No . . . I . . .” Bianca fidgeted with her ring. “He had this crazy plan that he was going to escape, and I needed to be ready. I transferred money and did everything he told me to do so we’d be ready to run once he escaped.”
“So you waited.”
“He said I should trust him.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have done that.” Jonas tried to keep the irritation out of his voice. “How long will it be until he dumps you just like the other women? All he really wants is your money.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“But I think a part of you does believe us,” Madison said. “Otherwise you would have given him full access to your offshore account as well. Right?”
Bianca stared at the table. “I know what you’re doing. You feel sorry for me. You wonder how I can still believe he’s innocent after everything you’ve told me.”
Madison tilted her head. “It is hard to understand why you risked everything for him.”
“Why does any woman put her heart on the line like I did? We do it for love. For adventure. And yes, I still love him.”
“And you believe he loves you?”
“You can show me all the evidence you want, but I know Damon. I know he loves me. You don’t have to understand, but my first husband . . . he provided for me financially, but ours was more a marriage of convenience. Two people who had a lot in common and whose marriage was, well, convenient. But there wasn’t a whole lot of love between us.”
“Just tell us where he is,” Madison said.
Bianca dismissed the request with a shake of her head. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what name he’s using.”
“We have more proof, if what we’ve given you isn’t enough.” Jonas pulled up a photo of Stephanie Phillips on his phone. “Recognize her?”
“No.”
“This is Stephanie Phillips. We have growing evidence that Damon killed her. He’s a con man. A grifter who has swindled millions of dollars from at least three women.”
Bianca wiped away a tear off her cheek. “None of this is true.”
“Think about it,” Madison said. “What do you think he’ll do when he gets the rest of your money?”
“You are so wrong.” Her voice rose. “Damon would never hurt me. He loves me.”
Jonas could see the struggle in the woman’s eyes and the hesitation in her voice and knew they were winning. She’d banked everything on one man’s promises, and every last one had just shattered into a million pieces.
“It’s time to stop playing games, Bianca.” Jonas switched photos. “This is Daisy Porter—”
“No. I never saw this as a game. I gave up everything for him.” Her shoulders dropped, defeat etching her face. “Left everything. If it was nothing more than a lie . . .”
“I’m sorry,” Madison said.
Bianca avoided their gazes. Silence fell between them for a moment before she asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“We need you to help us bring him in. What exactly was the plan?”
She took the tissue Madison offered her and blew her nose before continuing. “After I landed, I—I panicked. Damon had already arrived on a different flight and told me he’d make a distraction. Then he told me he’d arranged a ride for me to meet him. I don’t know. If he thinks I’ve been compromised . . . or I’ve turned on him . . .”
“Call him and let him know your luggage was late and you’re on your way.”
She hesitated, then dialed and placed the call on speaker. “Damon—”
“Where are you?” a low voice replied.
“I’m on my way. I’m sorry. My bag was late. I missed my ride.”
“We’re running out of time. Is anyone following you?”
“No.”
There was a slight pause on the other end. “I’ll send the driver back for you. His name’s Tyler.”
“Are you sure that’s safe?”
“Do you trust me?”
Bianca hesitated, but only for a brief moment. “You know I do. Where are we meeting?”
“I’ve got us flights out of the Hobby airport. It’s better if we don’t leave to
gether.” Barrick hung up the call.
Madison signaled at Jonas. “I need to talk to you outside.”
He stepped into the hallway behind her, then closed the door. “Patterson’s trying to trace Barrick’s phone, but in the meantime, we can put a tracking device on her, and she’ll lead us right to him.”
“Maybe, but we need to be careful.”
“You think he’s onto us?”
“I don’t think he’d risk his life for her,” Madison said. “He wants his hands on that money, but he’ll get rid of her if he thinks anything is off. He’s not going to let anything stop him from getting out of the country.”
He tried to read her expression. “Agreed.”
“I’ll go in her place,” Madison said. “The driver doesn’t know what she looks like. Then you can follow me, but at least having someone in the car will ensure we don’t spook him.”
“What happens when you step out of the car and Barrick realizes who you are?”
“You’ll be right there surrounding him.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. There are too many variables we can’t control. Too many things that can go wrong.”
“If Patterson can trace his phone, there’s a good chance you can take him down before I even get there. But we need insurance that he doesn’t change his plan or disappear again.” She shot him a smile. “You’re not going to talk me out of this, are you?”
“Not unless Michaels pulls the plug on the plan. You’re the most capable marshal I know.”
She smiled. “Well said.”
Michaels turned out to be easy to convince. After hanging up with the chief deputy, Jonas instructed one of the officers to hold Bianca at the station. Then he and Madison headed back through the crowded airport to meet Bianca’s ride.
“We’re tracking you on both your phone and the tracking device in your shoe,” Jonas said.
“Good, because you’re not worried or anything, are you?”
“It’s always better to be safe than sorry.”
“I think your overprotection has to do with that bet we made.” She raised her eyebrows. “You’re worried he’s going to get away and we won’t have our chowder celebration dinner.”
“This guy isn’t getting away, no matter how far he goes. And yes, I’m getting my chowder dinner as well.” He stopped beside her, then turned and brushed his hand across her shoulder before catching her gaze. “Just promise me you’ll be careful. I don’t completely trust Bianca, and I certainly don’t trust Barrick.”
