“Samantha Rite, this is Special Agent James Donovan of the CIA.” He got right to the point. “I need to meet with you as soon as possible.”
Sam stared down at the phone in disbelief. “Why on earth do you need to meet with me?”
“We believe your life may be in danger,” the caller responded.
This must be some kind of joke and it wasn’t one bit funny. She had enough to worry about right now. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that last part. Did you just say my life was in danger?”
The caller ignored her question and continued talking. “I’m in town now and close to your office. I can meet you there or someplace else … if you prefer.” He paused for a second before he went on. “We need to meet today. The sooner the better.”
He quickly continued before Sam could interrupt again. “Lee Windsor asked me to contact you. He’s still in Central America and wasn’t able to make it himself. Since this is of utmost urgency, I agreed to come here and meet you instead.”
Sam let out a mental sigh of relief. Well, at least Lee wasn’t blowing her off. There had only been one short text from him since she got home. Last she knew, he was still in Belize and she was beginning to wonder ….
She snapped back to the conversation at hand. “I’m not meeting you anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”
Poor Lee, Donovan thought. This lady sounded like a real handful. Maybe he just caught her at a bad time….
Donovan repeated himself as he tried to stress the urgency in meeting, “Like I said before, there’s a good chance your life may be in danger.”
It looked as if Sam wasn’t going to get any more information out of this Donovan fellow until she agreed to meet him. She mentally shrugged. It was probably best to err on the side of caution.
“OK, I’ll meet you after I get out of work. There’s a pub right around the corner from my office. But I can’t make it until around 6,” she warned.
As soon as she hung up, she texted Lee. “I just got a call from a man who said he was Special Agent Donovan. He told me my life was in danger and he mentioned your name. Do you know what this is about?” Sam set her phone down. Hopefully, he would reply.
She spent the rest of the afternoon trying to focus on work but a thread of concern kept winding its way into her thoughts. Was she really in danger?
Her mind wandered back to her recent vacation. She and her sister had planned a girls-only cruise – a 40th birthday celebration with a week spent in paradise. A much-needed escape after a really difficult year.
She let out a small sigh. Sam found out her husband had been cheating on her with a woman in his office – a much younger woman at that. It seemed like everyone in the world knew about it - except her. By the time the whole affair was out in the open, there was no chance of salvaging their marriage. Not that Anthony had tried – or even wanted to. The ink wasn’t even dry on the divorce papers before the jerk married the “other woman.”
The cruise hadn’t exactly turned out as planned. Her sister had an accident and couldn’t go so Sam ended up going by herself. Looking back, she was glad she went. Even if it did leave her with piles of work.
Everything had been going great until the day their ship made a final port stop in Belize. Her plan had been to go cave tubing up in the rainforest that day. Little did she know that their tour group would be taken hostage en route to the cave. After several harrowing hours, many of which Sam spent desperately praying, they were miraculously rescued by the U.S. military – and Lee.
Sam smiled as she thought about Lee. She was attracted to him from the moment she set eyes on him, even though he had been very standoffish, almost rude. It wasn’t until the last day of her vacation she found out why. He was working undercover to track down wanted criminals - who just so happened to be the ones that abducted her and others during their excursion.
After it was over and they had all been rescued, Lee and Sam spent her last evening in the city getting to know each other. They discovered they had a lot in common and both had grown up in small Midwestern towns.
As the evening ended, they exchanged numbers and Lee assured her once he was back in the States he would give her a call. She had heard from him exactly once - a very brief text message, telling her he was wrapping things up and would call her soon. She was beginning to wonder if he really was interested, after all…
Until now. Somehow this must have something to do with the abduction in Belize. But what could anyone possibly want with her? The whole idea made her more than a little jittery.
Looking back, she wished she had just told this detective to come to her office right then so she could get this over with!
The hands on the clock seemed to stop as the rest of the afternoon dragged on. She kept glancing at her phone but Lee never replied.
Finally it was 5:30 and time to go meet this mysterious Agent Donovan. She grabbed her coat and purse and headed to the elevator. As she punched the down button, she looked at her watch for the umpteenth time as she tapped her foot on the floor. The elevator was taking forever!
When she finally reached the first floor, the doors slid silently open. Sam peeked around before stepping out. Although she couldn’t see anyone, she had a nagging feeling that eyes were following her and she suddenly had a strong urge to start running. Instead, she strode across the lobby as fast as her high-heeled shoes would allow.
Once outside, she stopped to collect her thoughts, shaking her head as if to clear it. I am so paranoid these days. With a quick look around, she impulsively decided to take a shortcut through the adjacent parking garage, knowing it would get her to the meeting place faster. It would also give her a chance to drop her briefcase off in her car.
When she got to the edge of the garage, she suddenly realized just how dark it was inside. Dark and isolated. She stood still for a minute as she peered inside, giving her eyes time to adjust to the lack of light. Before she could change her mind and head back the way she had just come, she forced herself to start walking, making a quick beeline for her car.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she got to her car. She glanced down at the keys in her hand and for a second, was tempted to jump inside and drive off - forget about meeting this Donovan character.
Just then, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She narrowed her eyes as she looked in that direction but couldn’t make anything out. A slight shiver ran down her spine. She was certain she had seen something move. She tossed her bag in the car and quickly locked it.
Sticking to the outer edge of the garage, Sam made her way towards the exit door as fast as her legs would take her, telling herself the entire time that there was nothing to be afraid of – there was nothing there.
Soon, she rounded the corner of the garage – the exit door was in sight. She let out a sigh of relief.
Just as she put her hand on the knob, someone stepped out of the shadows and grabbed her from behind. She felt a sudden jolt of fear as a wet rag was shoved into her face.
Sam turned and twisted as she frantically fought to free herself from the ironclad grip that was around her waist. The rag that covered her nose and mouth reeking of strong chemicals. Within seconds, a fog circled her brain. She tried to scream but no sound would come out. As she slipped into unconsciousness, Sam whispered a name …. Lee.
Click Here for Winds of Deception, Samantha Rite Series Book 2!
Click Here for Tides of Deception, Samantha Rite Series Book 3!
Other Books by Author, Hope Callaghan:
Who Murdered Mr. Malone? Garden Girls Mystery Series Book 1
Grandkids Gone Wild: Garden Girls Mystery Series Book 2
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Waves of Deception (Samantha Rite Series Book 1) Page 8
