That gray cashmere sweater cost more than Dani made in a month. She’d know it anywhere. “They’re taking Mrs. O’Donnell.”
Choo-Choo’s arms gave way and he landed on his chest with an oof. He and Dani could only stare at the rigid posture of their supervisor as she was manhandled by kidnappers. To Dani it was like seeing Superman taken down by forest gnomes. Somehow it didn’t seem possible that guns would work on Mrs. O’Donnell. The team of men shouted into radios and gestured to one another and Dani could hear answering shouts coming from the other side of the building.
“Maybe they’re pulling out now that they’ve taken her?” She wanted to hope.
Choo-Choo looked back at her, doubt all over his face. “Or maybe now that they’ve got what they’ve come for and think they’re missing someone who’s hiding in the building, they’re just going to blow the building sky high and erase all evidence.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, both realizing which scenario was more likely. Dani broke the silence first.
“This would be an ideal time to get off this roof.”
“Agreed. Sun porch.”
“Sun porch?”
He scrambled over the peak, holding out his hand to pull her over before breaking into an easy jog across the roof to the northwest corner at the back of the house. “I figured the path down last summer when I was sitting outside smoking. The layout of this house isn’t much different than where I spent sixth and seventh grade in Switzerland.”
“What?” Dani hurried to catch up with him. “You knew how to get down this whole time?”
“Maybe it was Belgium. I don’t remember.”
“You knew how to get down this whole time and didn’t say anything?”
He grabbed her by the waist of her jeans to keep her from tripping over a gutter junction she didn’t see. “I knew how to get down, Dani. What I didn’t know was how to get down and not get shot by the balaclava-wearing death squad below, okay?”
“And now?” She resisted the urge to look down at the steep drop below her.
“And now I would rather take my chances dodging a bullet than seeing how far I can fly when propelled by several pounds of well-placed C-four.” He pulled her to the edge of a narrow gable that dropped off near the corner of the house. He planted himself on his butt, feet flat in front of him, and urged her to do the same. Once she was in position, he slowly sat-crawled toward the edge.
His feet slid off the roof, his body twisted, and he gripped the gutter braces on the edge of the roof. “Real simple, Dani. Just drop down and hold on. It’s not far.” Before she could talk herself out of it, she swung her legs out into space. She felt Choo-Choo’s strong grip around her waist as she let go of the gutter and crumpled onto a lower section of level roof. He took her hand, leading her several feet to the left, positioning her to drop or shimmy or slide down from one architectural feature to another. Before she knew it, Choo-Choo lowered her softly onto the tile roof of the sun porch off of the garden room.
Choo-Choo held his finger to his lips and Dani nodded. She had been paying no attention whatsoever to what was happening on the grounds below them, concentrating fully on not falling to her death. Now, perched on trembling legs on the hot roof, she could hear voices directly beneath them. She realized with some shock that this was the door she had come in through what seemed like days earlier.
A radio crackled close enough beneath her to make her feel physically ill.
“Cleaners are on the ground, sir.”
“And our rabbit?”
“Still in the hole, sir. I repeat, we have no sign of our rabbit.”
They could hear a sigh through the radio, then the man’s low voice came back. “Roger that. Place the cleaners, cover everything. I want everyone inside that house right now placing cleaners. We’ve got the locks. We’re going to seal that house up; she’s not getting out. And Duncan, when you set the detonators, I want a full team head count inside the building before we open the locks, am I understood? I don’t want anyone unaccounted for.”
“Yes sir. Team is ready to clean.”
“One more thing, Duncan. Don’t be chintzy with the firepower. Let’s teach that little bitch a lesson about the dangers of lying.”
“Yes sir.” Dani could hear the chuckle in Duncan’s voice and she flipped her middle finger toward the spot in the roof she imagined him standing under. Heavy footsteps sounded across the flagstone patio beneath them and orders were shouted within the house. When the sounds diminished, Choo-Choo risked a whisper.
“Think they’re all inside?” He heard a metallic click. “Oh, okay I guess we can go.”
“What?” Dani gripped his arm as he started to rise.
“That was the locks. The electronic locks have been thrown.”
“So, what does that mean? They’re locked in with their own bombs?”
Choo-Choo shrugged. “I guess so, yeah. I guess they’ve locked down the doors until they get the explosives set. Making sure somebody”—he wagged his finger at her—“doesn’t try to sneak out behind the killers.” He slid to the edge of the roof and Dani was certain she would be sick when he tipped his head over the edge and looked around. “All gone.”
She followed him to the edge of the roof that hung over a low evergreen hedge. “No time like the present, I guess.” She could see the fear in her friend’s eyes. It felt like they were just passing a terror ball back and forth, only enough courage in the air for one of them at a time. This was her turn. “We drop. We stay low. Go by the rose garden and past the hedges. The truck is parked in the gate so as long as we beat the driver to it, we can get through. When you run, Choo-Choo, run like hell. Remember, it’s really hard to shoot a moving target.”
He lowered himself off the edge of the roof, hanging by his hands before dropping softly onto the patio. “How sure of that are you?”
Dani tried not to grunt too loudly as he kept her from falling all the way into the hedges. “Kind of sure?” They crouched behind the hedges, listening for any sign of alarms.
“Terrible answer.”
“I’ll give you a better one when we’re in the car.”
“Deal.” He grabbed her hand and they took off running.
Dani Britton had never been good at gauging distances. If someone had asked her yesterday the distance between the sun porch and the rear gate she would have hesitated, probably answering that it was somewhere between fifty feet and fifty yards. After her dash with Choo-Choo, however, Dani would have answered the question with certainty: the distance between the sun porch and the rear gate was approximately one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles. With the low autumn sun in their eyes and death at their backs Dani felt pretty confident they had broken more than one land speed record, every pounding step certain to be cut short with a bullet.
With his long legs, Choo-Choo hit the gate several seconds before she did and she saw his shoulder slam into the truck in his haste to get through the gap. The impact made him stagger several steps and it looked like it hurt. Seeing this did nothing to prevent her from doing the very same thing as she hurried to clear the gap, and as she careened off the black metal she wondered how much her shoulder would ache when she could be bothered to think about things like that. He was in the passenger’s seat of her car before she reached the handle.
Although she well knew there was no way to silently start a car, she couldn’t help but turn the key gingerly. Choo-Choo rolled his window down to listen for any cries or alarms while Dani dropped the car in reverse.
“Are you going to drive the whole way in reverse?”
She pointed to the branches scraping the windows. “See any place to turn around?”
“Probably a moot point. The explosion will probably kill us anyway.”
“Jesus, Choo-Choo, do you ever have a positive thought?” She slapped his head with the hand she’d slung over the back of his seat as she drove backward. “Get my phone out of my purse and plug it into the charger.”
“The phones are jammed. They jammed the cell phones.”
“All over North America? They jammed every cell phone in the United States or do you think there might be a limit to the jamming signal? We are driving away from Rasmund, remember? Away? Out of range?”
“All right, you don’t have to be a bitch about it.” He pulled out his phone and held it up for her to see. “No signal. No bars. Nothing. Happy?”
“Try mine.”
“Why would yours work if mine doesn’t? Your service is crap. I told you th—”
She threw the car into park with a jerk and grabbed Choo-Choo by the collar of his soft flannel shirt. He stiffened and pressed himself against the window. “Listen to me. I swear to God, I love you, but if you don’t get your shit together I’m going to drag you back to Rasmund and beg them to shoot you. I know you’re scared. I’m scared too, but right now what we need is teamwork and positive thinking. Can you do that for me? Can you just focus on possibilities? I think we’re both very aware of the negatives. Let’s try to find some positives, okay?”
He nodded his head with small jerky movements, his pale cheeks mottled with tears and embarrassment. Dani resisted the immediate urge to apologize for being hard. There was too much at stake. Instead she fished her phone from her purse, plugged it into the car charger, and pressed it into Choo-Choo’s damp hand.
“Are we okay?” He nodded again and she squeezed his hand. “Okay. Check both of them as we drive. The first one that gets a signal, call nine-one-one.”
Booker pulled the hood off the bound woman. The client was right—she was stunning. She was the kind of woman who would have intimidated him if he were capable of being intimidated. He smiled at her steely frown. “Tell me what you know about this Dani.”
The radio interrupted them.
“Let’s teach that little bitch a lesson about the dangers of lying.” Booker grinned as he slipped the radio back into his jacket pocket. He tapped the driver on the shoulder. “You know where you’re taking our guest? Good. I’m putting her hood back on. If she gives you any shit at all, shoot her in the kneecaps. We’ve got to keep her alive. It doesn’t mean she has to enjoy it.”
“Uh, sir?” The driver turned to him. He was young and the only member of the team Booker hadn’t met before. That’s why Booker had told him to stay in the truck. He looked nervous. “What about the rest of the team? Are they all going to fit in the other truck?”
“We’ll have plenty of room. You just worry about our precious cargo. And her.” Booker patted the sour-looking woman on the knee, grabbed his bag, and hopped from the rear of the truck. They’d have plenty of time to chat later. Right now he had a team to take care of.
He took his time along the flagstone walkway around the estate. Such a beautiful building. Sure it was probably built on the blood, sweat, and misery of slaves and prisoners, but that really didn’t diminish its grandeur. He trailed his finger over a marble porch railing. Several pounds of C4, now that would diminish its grandeur. It was a shame really. Whoever owned the property would probably replace it with some hideous pseudo-historical monstrosity.
His radio crackled as he cleared a thick hedge of rosemary bushes. Gorgeous. Booker bent down to inhale the woody scent. He wouldn’t have thought the climate temperate enough to grow a Mediterranean plant like this year round.
“Cleaners are in place, sir.”
“Excellent, Duncan. Let me know when you have a full team head count.”
“Yes sir.” Booker took his time getting to the back garden door. He opened his laptop and brought up the program controlling the building’s electronic system. He kept the channel open to listen as Duncan’s team counted off as they lined up to leave. “All accounted for, sir.”
“Well done, Duncan. Starting countdown to detonation.”
“What? Sir?” The door barely moved under the pounding of his heavy fist. “We need you to unlock the door, sir. Sir? The timers. You need to open the locks.”
Booker watched the countdown on his laptop as he strolled away from the house toward the truck at the rear gate. “But if I open the locks, then people will get out. That’s not the mission. It’s important we stay on mission.” He switched off the radio in the middle of Duncan’s tirade. The glass on all the lower floors was bulletproof and unbreakable. They wouldn’t have time to engineer another way out before the building blew, Booker knew. He’d worked with Duncan and his crew before. He could give them a day and a half and they still wouldn’t be able to come up with a solution. Geniuses they were not. He was glad to be ending the association.
Booker squinted at the door of the truck parked in the rear gate. The dirt road had left a fine grit of red dust over the shiny black finish. Something had smudged that finish off the door at two places. He studied the smudge. Something had rubbed up against the door. Something coming from the direction of Rasmund.
It took several minutes for Dani’s phone to charge enough to turn on. They finally hit the county road and Dani was able to turn the car forward. Choo-Choo banged his knees several times on the dashboard as the old car jerked but kept his eyes glued to the two phones. Dani wanted to pet him, to reassure him, but she was scared herself.
“Got it.” He straightened in his seat and showed her his phone. “Mine.”
She rolled her eyes. “Just dial.”
“I’m putting it on speaker.” He dialed and held the phone up between them. Dani wondered if he expected her to speak to the operator, if he had handed over complete control to her. With his other hand he flipped through apps on her phone.
“Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?”
Choo-Choo looked at her with wide eyes and Dani leaned toward the phone. “Is this really nine-one-one?” It was a stupid question, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Excuse me? Ma’am, what is your emergency?” It definitely wasn’t the smooth-talking man from the black trucks. This voice had a twang and just enough fatigue in it to suggest prank calls were no novelty.
“There’s been a shooting. Men with guns. At Rasmund. Rasmund Historical Society.”
The operator’s tone was all business. “Are you hurt? Where exactly are you?”
“No, we’re running. Everyone’s dead. Rasmund Historical.” They could hear the clatter of computer keys in the background. Dani mentally kicked herself for missing that detail when her first call was intercepted. Dispatch centers were busy places. The operator was already contacting law enforcement.
“Tell them about the bombs,” Choo-Choo said.
“Ma’am, can you tell me your name?”
More keys clattered and Dani hesitated. Sure it sounded like 911 but she was no expert. “Look, they’re there right now planning to blow it up. They’re putting in bombs. Get the bomb squad.” Dani could see Choo-Choo scowling at the phone in his other hand.
There was a pause. “Ma’am. I’d like you to stay on the line with me. Will you do that?”
“Shit.” Choo-Choo cut off the call. He thumbed the screen on her phone that he held in his other hand.
Dani took her hand off the wheel long enough to jab his arm. “What?”
“You got a text message.”
When he said nothing else, just stared at the phone, Dani gripped the wheel so tightly her knuckles hurt. “I don’t suppose you could read it to me, huh? I’m kind of busy driving our getaway car.” He held up the phone so she could see the familiar image on the screen. “That’s me. That’s my Rasmund ID photo. From my badge. What’s the message?”
He cleared his throat and read with no intonation. “‘Hi Dani. Gee, you don’t look like the type to be disgruntled. I guess you never know who’s gonna blow. LOL.’”
Dani’s mouth went dry. “Disgruntled? What does that mean?”
Choo-Choo just shook his head, struggling for words. “I think maybe… they know that you… I think they’re going to blame you for this.”
“Me? Who’s going to blame me? Who is that?”
&
nbsp; He said nothing and when the phone beeped again, he flinched so badly he nearly dropped the phone. “Another text.”
“Oh hooray. What’s it say?”
He swallowed hard and Dani envied him the ability to do so. Her mouth had turned to dust. “It says ‘Hop away, bunny rabbit. Hop hop hop.’ And then a smiley face.”
The phone beeped once more. “Fuck, now what? ‘LMAO’?”
“Uh-uh.” Choo-Choo held the phone up so she could see it. “It just says ‘Boom.’”
“Boom?”
“Boom.”
When the woods behind them rumbled and the fireball blazed through the sky, the impact shook the old car. Neither Dani nor Choo-Choo jumped.
CHAPTER FIVE
They drove without speaking until they reached the highway. If she turned left, she would wind up at the little Italian café where Hickman used to take them all for lunch after a job. Right took her back to D.C. She glanced at Choo-Choo, who nodded. She turned right.
Her eyes flitted over every car and rescue vehicle that screamed past them. Choo-Choo kept flipping through the phones but she could tell he too kept track of the horizon. Dani’s mind felt both empty and frantic and she struggled to put words together.
“Text them back.”
“And say what?” Choo-Choo asked.
“Ask them what they want.”
“They want us dead.”
“Tell them we’ve got information that they want.”
“But we don’t.”
“We’ll bluff.” She gripped the wheel hard as she accelerated toward the city. “Take a picture of the Rasmund pouch and send it to that number. Tell them they didn’t get everything and we’re going to the Feds. Tell them we want to make a deal.”
“A deal? Are you out of your mind? What if what they came for was Mrs. O’Donnell? I don’t want to make a deal. I want to disappear.”
“And let me take the blame for all that back there? And how are we supposed to disappear? With what, Choo-Choo? I have about fourteen dollars in my wallet and five of that I owe to Fay.” She realized what she had said but she wouldn’t let her mind go there. “We need to get some kind of advantage or at least stop circling the drain like this. We work for Rasmund, goddamn it, not some pissant private eye. We have connections. We have people in high places. Mrs. O’Donnell has people in high places.”
The Widow File Page 6
