by Wendy Byrne
"Where's my photo? I know there's one of me in there somewhere." Judging by the women's drugged-out state, it had to be taken when she first arrived at Marco's.
She drew in a shaky breath and brought her hands together. The trembling started in her fingertips and worked through her hands to her arms to her shoulders, and on down until her whole body quivered.
He scrolled through the photos, finally stopping at a picture that looked like her, but didn't at the same time. Her eyes were closed as she was propped as if a naked rag doll against the wall of Marco's basement. "Who took that picture?" She wanted to look away, but at the same time couldn't. Seeing herself displayed in that way made everything more real.
"I'm not sure. I'm guessing maybe Petre or Arte." He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "Sabrina, do not get sucked into this."
Although inside Sabrina felt close to tears, she knew they'd never fall. They never did. "How can I not?" Her voice sounded strained and raw, as it had to pass through the wash of emotions trying to keep it in place.
"Tell me what Caitlyn looks like."
Sabrina nodded. "Red hair, about five feet five, green eyes, freckles across the bridge of her nose." With a family that loved her more than life itself. She could picture their faces tinged with hope when she said she'd bring Caitlyn back to them. A shiver worked its way inside her chest and squeezed. Time was running out. Was she still alive? "This is perverted. What kind of man gets off on this stuff?"
"That's what we're trying to find out, isn't it?"
She opened her eyes again, steeling herself for the task at hand. This had to be done. And it might lead to Caitlyn. She could do this if she kept that thought in mind.
"How many pages are there?"
"Thirty or so. About four pictures per page."
Her fingers twitched on her lap as she fought the urge to press a button and remove it all from her memory. But she couldn't. "I need to find Caitlyn."
After the first few pages, she began to get immune. Maybe her perspective changed. Maybe she was able to focus on their faces, scrutinizing each for that silly lopsided grin, the huge, expressive eyes, the freckles across Caitlyn's nose and cheeks. That was now her focus.
Her heart felt it before her mind registered the picture. Then a moan erupted from her throat, starting somewhere deep down inside the pit of her belly.
Seeing it in blazing Technicolor heightened the madness. Made it all the more real. All the more frightening.
Tears hovered near the surface, but still refused to fall. Still her heart squeezed within her chest as emotion, raw and potent, set up inside and fought for control. As if he knew somehow, Kane stood her up and enveloped her in his arms and held her tight.
"We're going to find her, Sabrina."
"How?" Somehow the vulnerability slipped out more easily than she ever could have imagined.
"I'm not sure. But I know for damn sure we're smarter than whoever's behind this organization."
Desperate for a break in the crushing pressure lodged inside her chest, she bit off a chuckle. "Oh yeah, obviously you haven't seen my chemistry grade."
He smiled for the briefest of moments, as if he knew she couldn't focus right now. "I'll see if I can get one of the FBI specialists to take a look to see if there's a hint of a location somewhere in those numbers. There's got to be some kind of a clue that connects those numbers to people. It's the only thing that makes sense."
Bile revisited her throat. "You worked in the accounting end."
He opened his own laptop and pulled up a Excel sheet to show the transactions. "All the money was filtered through an account in Switzerland that can't be traced. Deposits were made under initials, but not necessarily representing their names."
"Is there someway to trace G through his phone?"
He shook his head. "Nope. He went the disposable route."
Trepidation lit up her spine. "We've got to figure out what that next code means. That's got to be about the locations or the names of the buyers." She tapped her fingers against the desk. "Did the FBI run the two lists through their software to find anything to link them?"
Kane shook his head again. "As far as I know, they were concentrating on the hidden file, figuring the first file we found was a red herring."
"But what if it isn't? What if the two lists together somehow complete a picture?" When he didn't interrupt, she continued, "Bring up the original list on Marco's computer."
"The one that had all the random numbers?"
"Maybe the two are connected somehow."
He pulled up the list on Marco's computer and copy and pasted it into a Word file. "Give me Caitlyn's code number and see if we can match up a part of it somehow."
"2L1G(2)71AP4." She read off the code and held her breath. It was hidden there somewhere. She could feel it.
"No exact match. Let me search for combinations." He plunked at the keys some more and shook his head. "It's like finding a needle in a haystack."
"How many codes are listed on Marco's page?" She clicked and un-clicked the pen in her hand several times.
He went through the list. "A hundred and twenty."
She slammed her hand on the table. "And that's how many pictures you said were there, right? No way that's a coincidence. Start with the airport code. LGA."
He went through the list and five numbers popped up. "Got a couple of hits. What do you think?" After highlighting the numbers, he showed her the screen.
She pointed to the number that got her attention. "The same three letters are there. 44AP71GG11L. That's the one." She chewed her lip. "Now, what does it all mean?"
"The airport code is there but backwards." He eliminated LG and A from the sequence.
She high-fived him. "Good call. What else is there?" She studied the numbers until they started to blur together.
"How about the date? When was Caitlyn taken?"
At last he gave her something to focus on. "Around mid-February." She pointed at the number by the girl's photo. "2-1-7-1-4. Sounds like a date to me." The bubble of progress shimmied along her spine.
"What if the G(2) means GG?" He laid it all out. "Left in the first sequence is GP. Maybe initials? To keep with the backwards theme, we have GP but in reverse order."
There were still too many numbers left in the sequence to match up. "Maybe the whole date doesn't get transferred over. Maybe just the year. 1-4 in backwards order."
He ran his fingers through his short hair. "That leaves us with 4711. Could be an address, but that could mean anywhere."
She sucked in her bottom lip and chewed on it. "My guess it's in Europe." Despite the heightened circumstances, she chuckled. "That's really narrowing it down, isn't it?"
"We could have the tech people run that number through the database and see what they come up with."
"My gut says it's not an address. That would be too simple, considering what we've unwound over the last couple of hours." She glanced at the clock and recognized how much time they'd spent. But progress was a good thing, especially considering their lack of it over the last few days. "What else is recorded in numbers?"
"Latitude, longitude?" He plugged the numbers into the computer. "If I reverse the numbers it's in the middle of the Gulf of Eden."
"But what if you don't reverse the numbers. Keep it as is. Where do we end up?"
"In the mountains of Germany." He tapped on the keys. "Let me get a satellite of the location." A few moments later, he turned the computer toward her, a Cheshire grin on his face. "That house is massive."
"Can you find out who owns it?"
"Let me make some calls."
"That's got to be where she is." She grinned while the idea she might be close shimmied through.
* * *
A foreign part of her itched to cuddle deep within his embrace and stay there, sinking into the security of his arms. The more familiar side, the side she trusted to steer her away from trouble, the side she depended on time and time again, understo
od the folly of her thoughts.
Push. Pull. Push. Pull.
Overcome with sensations that warred deep inside, Sabrina longed to escape. Needing to dispel the uncomfortable rush of emotion setting low in her belly, she tossed back the covers and propelled out of bed, slipping on her clothes. Getting too complacent was never a good idea.
He patted the bed. "I had other ideas for starting the morning, but I guess you're ready to get started."
"We have a job to do. And when we're finished we can both go our separate ways. Don't make this sexual thing between us into anything more than it is."
The reassurance of her words brought a level of calm to her chaotic pulse. Although, for the life of her, she couldn't quite understand why that twinge of regret knocked around inside her.
His jaw clenched tight as he stood, yanking on his clothes. "What's going on, Sabrina?"
"Suddenly now you have a problem with me?" She arched her brow and gave him her best sneer. You've gotten careless, Dragi. Don't let things get personal.
He shrugged. "If you're happy with it being a roll in the hay, then so am I."
"Good." She nodded as a twinge of disappointment ebbed through. Being with this man made her feel strange, sick, wonderful, and edgy, all at the same time.
Sabrina didn't want to think about anything more than the here and now. Right now, at this stage of the game, she had no time for warm, fuzzy feelings. Who was she kidding—she didn't have a warm, fuzzy bone in her body. She'd proved that over and over again.
She chewed her lip as she contemplated the risk she might be taking. "On second thought, I think I should go this alone." Sabrina packed up the backpack in the early morning hours and strapped it to her back. That might be the key to getting her head on straight.
Kane shook his head. "Are we back to that again?"
"It's not fair to involve you in this. Your job is up in the air, no matter what you say, or they would have given you more support on this."
"Their lack of support is more about official channels than anything else. They need to make a case against Trinity. That's why I was on the inside."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "And you don't need to make a case?"
He sighed. "There's more than one way to make a charge stick. Trust me, I will not let this guy slip away."
"But you could get killed and it would be all my fault." That was the rub. She didn't want to see anything happen to Kane, which alarmed her. She'd somehow crossed an invisible boundary she swore she never would, and couldn't figure out how to jump back to the safety of numbness.
He laughed, the sound breaking a little of the tension floating between them. "I'm not going to die." He paused. "And we are getting Caitlyn back home."
* * *
"What are we doing here?"
When Kane pulled into the small, nondescript airfield, Sabrina had to force down the shiver. For all her bluster and bravado, small airplanes made her go all squirrelly. As far as she was concerned, they were only marginally safer than flying with a lawn chair attached to helium balloons.
"Easiest and fastest way in. Ron arranged it. Don't want any trouble at the border with the price on our heads."
"I don't know about this, Kane…" There wasn't a 747 in sight.
He shook his head as he dragged her past the hangar and between the two airplanes on the left. "We'll parachute in close enough to give us an edge, but not close enough to be seen. We don't know what we're getting into. And given the remote location, this is the best option."
Suddenly, she felt a little dizzy. "I agree with you one hundred percent, except for the whole parachuting thing."
"How did you think we'd get in there?"
She rolled her eyes and tried to stop the flutter of fear at bay. "Drive like normal people."
"It's so remote, they'll see us coming a mile away. There's a clearing in the forest a couple miles from the house. The pilot will get us in close enough, the parachutes are in back, and I'll give you a short lesson."
"How are we going to get back out with Caitlyn?" She could hear the irritation in her own voice. "Walk? Yeah, sure, that sounds like a wonderful plan."
"I spotted a helicopter pad on top of the garage. Once we're successful securing the place, the FBI has agreed to airlift us out." He gave her a cheesy grin.
"But …I don't…know how to jump…" She gulped down the wad of fear clogging her throat. "…from an airplane."
"Nothing to it. It's like jumping off a giant step."
"I don't think so."
"Sure it is. Just larger scale. Besides, we'll do a tandem, so I'll handle the parachute part. I've parachuted at least a hundred times. You just need to know how to land without breaking something."
When he went through his explanations, she couldn't focus. Her mind was a blur as fear overtook her thought processes.
Jumping out of an airplane? She'd rather be thrown into a cage match with Attila the Hun, and have people chanting "two men enter, one man leaves" than fly through the air. Boundary-less. And totally and completely out of control. She didn't do out of control. He should know that by now.
Heights petrified her. Ever since Max nearly died, it had been her worst nightmare.
Kane brought his hand behind her back, ushering her toward one of the planes. Her mind faded in and out as a bout of panic overwhelmed her. Before she knew it, the pilot started the engine, and Kane strapped on their parachute. Seconds later, they'd lifted off the ground and all options had disappeared.
Sabrina glanced at Kane then out the window of the small plane once again. She gulped, feeling the anxiety forced down her throat and into her gut.
"Couldn't we fly the plane in close and land like normal folks, not some crazy daredevils?"
His lips inched up in a slight smirk before he let loose a chuckle.
"You think this is funny? I'm going to be covered in a cast from my neck to my toes and you're laughing."
He laughed again and she barely resisted the urge to pop him one. "After all the dangerous stuff you do, you're scared about jumping out of a plane?"
She folded her arms across her chest, refusing to give in to his tease. "I don't see the point. I'm sure there's a better way to handle this."
"We're parachuting in because there's no landing strip nearby. The place is in the middle of a forest with only dirt road access. Besides, we don't want to get too close and give ourselves away."
The plane banked to the right then leveled out. Sabrina had a death grip on the seat cushion, while the prospect of breaking every bone in her body seemed inevitable.
"Would it be so bad to hike in? Maybe drive close, then continue on foot."
"Are you crazy? Look out the window. Do you honestly think we have the time to climb up and down those mountains? They know we're getting close."
"Really, I think—" He moved in behind her. The clink sounded seconds before she opened her mouth and let out a bloodcurdling scream.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Every curse word in every language Sabrina knew flew out her mouth as she dropped the twenty thousand feet—that felt as if a million—in slow motion.
She kept her eyes closed for as long as she could, then dared to open her left eye for a fraction of a second. The ground closed in beneath her with amazing speed. Trees surrounded the miniscule patch of green that Kane had decided they could easily land upon.
If she got out of this alive, she was going to strangle him. With her bare hands. When she touched ground, he was one dead FBI agent.
"Come on, Sabrina. Relax." Kane's voice was close, but still he had to shout in order for her to hear him.
If she could open her eyes she could get her bearings. But the sensation of hurtling toward the ground at breakneck speed was more than enough visual for her.
Suddenly, her whole body was yanked up when he pulled on the cord, and she flew back up into the air. Her stomach lurched into her throat as she opened her eyes.
Death was definitely too good
for Kane.
Sucking in a deep breath, she watched as he guided them through the trees to the clearing. His toes touched down first. Her head knocked into his chest. As he unclipped the binding between them, she slipped off her harness, more thankful than ever to be on solid ground.
He was still taking off his harness when she tackled him to the ground. She scrambled off, only to glower at him from a dominant position.
"Ouch."
"If I really wanted to hurt you, believe me, you'd know it." She drew in a breath and forced her hands onto her hips to keep from hitting him again. "You pushed me out of that plane."
"It didn't look as if you were going to do it on your own." He folded his arms across his chest and rocked back on his heels. "And the timing was right."
"I told you I had another plan." Adrenaline spurted through, making her jumpy and nervous.
"What? Waiting around until the damn plane ran out of gas and crashed into the side of the mountain?"
"I—"
"You were scared. I can respect that. You needed a push. I supplied it. Simple as that." A smile brought up his lips. "But you screamed like a girl."
"Excuse me?" Of all the things she expected him to say, that was not one of them.
"I've seen you take a punch like a heavyweight boxer and not mumble a sound. But toss you out of a plane at twenty thousand feet and you're a screaming Mimi." He chuckled. "Yep, you screamed like a girl."
"Maybe that's because I am a girl." Okay, so she didn't feel so mad anymore. He really was kind of funny —even though the joke was at her expense.
And she supposed part of what he said was a compliment. Of sorts.
"I kind of noticed. I had my doubts when I saw you street fight, but as I can now verify, you have all the right equipment."
She chose to ignore his comment. Besides, she didn't have a snappy comeback.
"Let me see that tracker." Sabrina held out her hand. Desperate for a change in the tenor of conversation, to work on a plan of action seemed to be a good strategy.
He pulled the device from his pocket. Sitting down on the grass, he encouraged her to do the same.
