Daddy Devastating

by Delores Fossen

Russ unfolded the paper, and Julia glanced over and saw the numbers.

  “It’s a phone number,” Aaron explained. “But it’s probably for one of those prepaid cells that can’t be traced.”

  “How do you know that?” Russ asked.

  “Because I tried to call it, and when no one answered, I phoned directory assistance. They said the account didn’t have any minutes remaining, so it was no longer active. Now, why would Marita have been calling someone with a prepaid phone?”

  Julia could think of one reason—maybe the nanny was phoning a friend who just happened to have that type of cell service.

  “If you thought this was important,” Russ said, “you should have turned it in to the FBI office near your home in Houston.”

  “We couldn’t. I had to see you, to show you.” Tracy’s voice was still a whisper, but the low tone couldn’t conceal the emotion.

  “Tracy.” Julia reached across the table and placed her hand on the woman’s. “It’ll be okay. They’ll find your son.”

  Tracy stiffened, probably because she didn’t care for the intimate gesture offered to her by a stranger, but she finally nodded. “Silas said it could all be over soon. I pray he’s right.”

  From the corner of her eye, Julia saw Russ scowl. Like her, he was probably wondering what else Silas had told them that he shouldn’t have.

  “Here’s what I need you to do.” Russ set down his coffee cup and directed his comments to the Richardsons. “I need you to go home and wait.”

  “You’re not helping by being here,” Silas added. “In fact, you could jeopardize the plan for us to rescue your son.”

  Tracy gasped, and tears instantly sprang to her eyes. Beside her, her husband didn’t make a move to comfort, her as Julia had done.

  “We can put up more money,” Aaron told Russ. “When you meet with the buyer, offer him two million.”

  “Three,” Tracy insisted. “Or more. Offer him whatever he wants. I just want Matthew back safely with me.”

  Aaron didn’t immediately jump to agree to that, but he finally nodded. “Offer them whatever’s necessary.”

  “Money might not be an issue if the seller loses trust in me,” Russ pointed out. “So, finish your coffee, hug Julia goodbye, and then leave. If anyone asks, you were in town on business and dropped by the hotel to say a quick hello to an old friend. That’s it.”

  Aaron gulped down the coffee and shook his head. “I knew we shouldn’t have come. I told Tracy, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “Because you didn’t listen to me,” Tracy fired back. “I can’t sit around like a block of ice, waiting.” She looked at Julia. “I just can’t.”

  Julia could relate, unfortunately. If Emily had been taken, she would have done worse than shown up in the San Saba. She would have P.I.s out searching for the baby, and no one—not even the FBI—could have stopped her.

  Tracy took a sip of coffee and seemed to calm down a bit. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been myself since Matthew was taken. I shouldn’t have had the nanny take him to his pediatric checkup. If I’d been with him, I would have fought to the death to stop them from taking him.” Her pale green eyes landed on Russ, then Silas. “You’re doing your best. I know that. But please check on the nanny. Make sure she wasn’t calling the person who stole Matthew.”

  “Let’s go,” Aaron insisted, getting to his feet.

  Tracy stood, too, and as Russ had instructed, she gave Julia a hug. “Please,” she whispered to Julia. “Bring my baby back to me.”

  “I’ll try,” Julia promised. She watched them walk out of the café, and then sank back in her chair next to Russ. “What now?”

  But Russ didn’t answer. His attention was on Silas. “We’ll talk later,” Russ said. And it sounded like a warning.

  “You have a right to be upset—” Silas started.

  “I said we’ll talk later,” Russ interrupted.

  Silas looked ready to argue, but his phone rang. He glanced down at the screen and then excused himself so he could walk to the other side of the room and take the call.

  “You don’t trust him?” Julia asked, following Russ’s suddenly stony gaze that was aimed at his partner.

  “I’m not sure.” He blew out a weary breath and scrubbed his hand over his face. “But then, I’m not sure I trust the Richardsons. Meeting them was a real eye-opener.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “I mean they put their son in more danger by coming here. They’re not stupid, and they should have known that.”

  “True, but I think they’re working from a purely emotional level. Well, Tracy is anyway. I’m not so sure about Aaron. He seems immune to her tears.”

  “Yeah. Their marriage doesn’t seem to be on solid ground, does it?”

  Julia agreed. “This might seem like a callous question, but why are you, as the intended buyer, offering so much money for the child? I mean, won’t the large amount make Milo suspicious? Because I suspect someone greedy and resourceful, like your theoretical buyer, could go into a poor neighborhood and buy a child for far less than a million.”

  Russ nodded. “That happens. But Milo’s selling the Richardsons’ baby as a blue blood. Solid genes. Good potential. And the other thing Milo’s got going for him is that, initially, he had more than one buyer. Or so he said. We think it was a ploy to pump up the price, but he turned down our initial bid. When we upped the price, it was accepted.”

  “Accepted,” Julia mumbled, in disgust. And if Russ had been a real baby broker, then the money would have been exchanged, and the child would be forever lost to his parents.

  Julia wasn’t in the mood for coffee, but she drank some, and hoped the caffeine would ease the headache she had from lack of sleep. “Will you do more checking on the nanny?”

  “I will. And I’ll check more on the Richardsons, too….” The last part of that trailed off, because Silas returned to the table.

  The man didn’t sit, and there were beads of sweat on his upper lip. “We have a problem.”

  Russ groaned. “Not with Milo.”

  “Yes, Milo,” Silas confirmed. “That was one of his henchmen on the phone. Milo wants to change the time of the meeting.”

  Julia’s stomach clenched. “Not another delay?”

  Silas shook his head. “Just the opposite. Milo says the meeting happens now, or it doesn’t happen at all. He’s giving you fifteen minutes to get to the state park. If you’re not there, then the sale is off, and he finds another buyer.”

  Chapter Seven

  Russ pulled Julia’s Jaguar into the space at the far end of the parking lot of Mendoza State Park. In the hurried instructions he’d gotten on the drive over, it was where the head of the security detail, Chris Soto, had told him to park. It was a spot where the agents could keep Julia and him under surveillance.

  But it was also a spot that left them out in the open.

  Russ wasn’t sure he liked that. Yes, it would make it easier for security to keep an eye on them, but he felt too exposed. Normally, he would have just accepted it as part of the job, but with Julia there, he didn’t want to blindly accept anything.

  “The fifteen minutes are nearly up,” Julia pointed out. For the entire ride, she had her attention fastened to her watch.

  Time was indeed running out, but Russ still took a moment to check their surroundings. He didn’t see any agents on the security detail, which was probably a good thing, because that meant they were adequately hidden. But there were people milling about—families using the playground equipment and joggers on the red gravel track that wound through the park.

  If Milo was indeed planning some kind of attack here, he’d have to do it in a very public place. Hopefully, Milo wouldn’t want to draw that type of attention to himself.

  “Here’s the one rule you have to remember,” Russ told Julia, “if anything—and I mean anything—goes wrong, you run for cover.”

  She nodded and drew in several shallow breaths. She was pale and tre
mbling, too, but she didn’t look to be on the verge of a panic attack. Well not yet, anyway. The meeting hadn’t even started.

  He checked to make sure his gun was in place in the slide holster at the back of his jeans. It was. Milo might search him and find the weapon, but Milo already believed that Russ was no saint. The man would no doubt expect Russ to be armed. Of course, Milo might also demand that Russ surrender the gun, but that was something he’d deal with if it came up.

  Russ opened the car door, and Julia got out with him. Russ waited until she was by his side before they started the short walk to the picnic table that was just off a grassy path. Above the table was a flat, wooden roof, but the sides were wide-open.

  Milo was there, sitting at the table and smoking a cigarette. And he wasn’t alone. There was a tall, auburn-haired woman with him. Not seated. She appeared to be pacing. She wore a pale blue business suit. Which meant she could be carrying a concealed weapon.

  “Who is she?” Julia asked in a whisper.

  “I’m not sure.”

  Russ stopped, even though Milo and the woman had obviously spotted them, and he fired off a text message to Silas asking him for details. He hated to use Silas for this or anything else, but with the rush on the meeting, there hadn’t been time to request another agent.

  Sylvia Hartman, Silas texted back, Milo’s asst. Not armed.

  Good on the “not armed” part. But it did make Russ wonder why Silas hadn’t called him about this possible glitch. Of course, with all the chaos going on to get Julia and him to the location, and arranging for an agent to guard Emily, Silas had likely had his hands full. For this, Russ would give the agent the benefit of the doubt.

  “Jimmy,” Milo greeted him. He didn’t stand, nor did he put out his cigarette. But he did turn his attention to Julia. “So glad you could make it.”

  “You didn’t give me a choice,” Julia fired back.

  Milo gave a brief, oily smile. “True. I thought your fiancé might want to speed things along if you were with him.”

  “And what about her?” Russ asked, indicating Sylvia. “Is she here to speed things along, too?”

  “Absolutely,” the woman insisted. “I’m Sylvia Hartman. I work for Milo.”

  She took what seemed to be a PDA from her purse, but it wasn’t a PDA. Russ knew what was about to happen next.

  Sylvia moved closer to them, and without actually touching them, she ran the device first over Russ. Then, Julia.

  “They aren’t wearing wires,” Sylvia said to Milo.

  “Are you?” Russ demanded of Milo.

  “No need for one,” Milo said calmly. “I can relay anything said here to my boss.”

  To Z, the real buyer behind all of this. And that meant someone from the FBI would follow Milo from this meeting. So far though, following hadn’t helped. Agents had tailed him the night before when he’d left the alley next to the bar, but the man had simply gone home.

  “Now that I’m sure we can talk in private,” Sylvia continued, “I can tell you that I’ve been dealing with the details of the possible transfer.”

  “Possible?” Russ demanded, aiming that at Milo and not his assistant.

  “Possible,” Milo repeated. “Why don’t you sit, and we’ll discuss it.”

  “I’d prefer to stand. And I’d prefer to hurry. Julia’s anxious to get back.”

  “I’m sure she is.” Milo let that hang in the air for several moments. “What, with her being a new mom and all. Hmmm. You certainly look good for a woman who just had a baby two weeks ago.”

  Julia shrugged and looked surprisingly calm. “I’ll pass that along to my personal trainer.”

  Russ nearly smiled. Nearly. But he didn’t care for the way Milo was studying Julia.

  “If we’re done with small talk,” Russ started, “can we finally get down to business?”

  It was Sylvia who answered, not Milo. “Sure. We assume your buyer is still onboard with this?”

  Russ nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “Good. Because the exchange will take place tomorrow night, right here in the park.”

  Russ was shaking his head before she finished. “Tomorrow night? Why not sooner? The buyer’s anxious to get this over with.”

  “Well, we’re anxious, too,” Sylvia insisted, “but it can’t happen before tomorrow. Logistics issues. I’m sure you understand.”

  “No. I don’t, and my buyer won’t be pleased.” Russ didn’t know how far he could push this. He wanted the deal to go down sooner than later, but he didn’t want to blow it completely by not budging on the final hour.

  “Well?” Milo questioned. “Does that mean everything is off?”

  Russ took his time answering. Even though Milo seemed beyond calm, he hoped the man was as unsettled about this as Russ was. “Everything’s on. What time?”

  “Eight p.m.,” Sylvia said. “Now, as for payment. The seller has had a change of heart.”

  Beside him, Russ felt Julia tense. “What the hell does that mean?” Russ asked.

  “He no longer wants one million. He wants two.”

  Russ cursed. “For one kid? Come on. Two million?” Even though the Richardsons had agreed to that and more, Russ didn’t want to put more of their money on the table if it wasn’t necessary. “The agreement was for one.”

  Sylvia glanced at Milo, and he was the one to continue. “The seller is aware that the baby’s parents might be willing to compensate him more than your buyer.”

  And this was something Milo would have known right from the start. “So why not just go to the parents?”

  Milo gave another of those smiles and put his cigarette out on the table. “Because it’s too risky. The parents have probably contacted the authorities, and any exchange might be…scrutinized. We’d rather deal with you and your buyer. The question is, would you rather deal with us?”

  Again, Russ hesitated, and he looked at Julia to see how she was handling all of this. She was nibbling on her bottom lip, but there were still no signs of panic.

  “I’ll contact the buyer,” Russ finally said. “But if he agrees to the substantial jump in price, then that’s it. That’s the bottom line. I don’t want you jerking us around.”

  Milo stood and stared at Russ from the other side of the picnic table. “Ditto.”

  “Am I supposed to know what that means?” Russ made sure he looked Milo straight in the eyes when he asked that.

  But Milo only shrugged. “Tomorrow. Eight p.m.” He reached in his pocket and extracted a folded piece of notepaper. “That’s the bank where we want the money deposited. Once we’ve verified the deposit, you’ll get the goods.”

  “Not so fast,” Russ tossed back. “Who will be at this meeting?”

  “Me, of course. You. And Sylvia. The baby will be nearby.”

  “How nearby?” Russ demanded.

  “Within minutes. Don’t worry. We have no desire to keep this child any longer than absolutely necessary, and I’m sure your buyers feel the same.”

  “Buyer,” Russ corrected.

  But maybe Milo hadn’t made a mistake. After all, the Richardsons had come to the hotel, and Milo could have figured out who they were. Milo might even believe the parents hadn’t gone to the cops and were now in the running to outbid any other buyer to get their baby back.

  “Right,” Milo murmured. He walked closer and extended his hand for Russ to shake. Russ did, though he wanted to grab the SOB and beat the information out of him. Maybe before this was over, he’d get the chance to make Milo pay for this.

  “Julia,” Milo said, in the same tone as a goodbye. But he still took a moment to look her over from head to toe. It wasn’t a casual look, but one from a man who was admiring the view.

  Russ shot the man a glare. Yet another reason to beat him senseless.

  Milo only smiled, turned and walked away. But Sylvia didn’t. She stayed put and stared at both of them.

  “Nothing can go wrong tomorrow night,” Sylvia said, her voice practically
a whisper now. And she certainly wasn’t as calm as she’d been with Milo around.

  Russ decided to push that lack of calmness a bit. “I don’t want anything to go wrong, either, but my buyer is only willing to go so far. No more price jumps. No changes on the meeting time and place. This goes down just as we agreed.”

  She didn’t nod, but she did swallow hard and walk closer. “There’s a lot at stake here. Milo’s anxious.” Sylvia looked at Julia. “Mainly because of you. He didn’t like that you just showed up here in San Saba when things were all coming to a conclusion.”

  “I didn’t know about this deal,” Julia insisted. “I came to tell Jimmy about the baby, that’s all. I had no idea about Jimmy’s deal with Milo.”

  “And I don’t want her involved in this,” Russ added. “I especially don’t want her at the exchange tomorrow night.”

  “I don’t think it’ll be possible to exclude Julia,” Sylvia said, under her breath. She glanced around, as if to make sure no one was listening. Then, she moved even closer to Julia. “Milo is going to insist you be there.”

  Ah, hell. Russ was afraid this was going to happen. That’s why he’d insisted on knowing who would be at the meeting. “Give me Milo’s number. I need to talk to him.”

  “It won’t do any good. As I said, he’s anxious. He thinks this could all be a sting operation.”

  And Russ could perhaps thank the Richardsons for that. Milo might not have known who they were, but anyone’s arrival at this point could have given him reason to be alarmed.

  “For your sake, I hope it’s not a sting,” Sylvia continued. “Or anything else, other than a simple sale.” She didn’t direct that comment to Russ but to Julia.

  “Is that some kind of warning?” Julia demanded.

  “You bet it is.” Sylvia gathered her things from the table. “Because Milo said, if anything goes wrong at the meeting tomorrow night, then he’ll retaliate by taking your daughter.”

  JULIA TRIED NOT TO PANIC, but it was nearly impossible to stay calm. She didn’t even wait for Sylvia to leave before starting for her car. She had to get back to the hotel so she could protect Emily.