Mario and Bobby started talking about the woman they'd just left. When they implied having just had sex with her, Angela gasped and shot an outraged look at Jake.
"Fucking pricks," she said under her breath, slapping her pen down on her notepad.
Mario and Bobby kept talking.
"What did you think of the picture on Uncle Petrie's computer?"
"The girl? Do you think she is your lady? There is a resemblance."
"His lady?" Angela whispered, and all color drained from her face. She stared wide-eyed at the black box as she gripped her bathrobe and tightened it around her as if suddenly she were freezing. Her lower lip started quivering as she listened to Bobby promise to take care of the detective that evening. There was the sound of a door opening and closing and silence followed.
Angela sprang out of the chair as if something had just bit her. "Crap. Oh my God! Crap!" There was a wild look on her face when she stared at Jake. "You heard this live and immediately called my father?"
Jake nodded, standing slowly. Angela looked pissed as hell. He started around the table, but she shook her head, long damp strands of hair clinging to her robe, looking tousled and adding a wild air to her already-outraged expression.
"He's okay, baby. I promise." That tightening in his gut returned when Jake brushed her hair over her shoulder. "I've taken care of him for now."
Angela spun on Jake, her fury finding a target as she stabbed him in the bare chest with her fingernail. "I am not now nor will I ever be your baby. Babies are unable to take care of themselves, require complete care and attention. If you ever suggest that is how you think of me again, no matter how big you think you are, I will kick your ass." She glared at him, her breathing coming hard as she squinted, narrowing her gaze on him. "Are we clear?" she whispered fiercely.
"Sweetheart," he began, stressing the word as he took her pointed finger in his hand and wrapped his fingers around it, holding her hand when she tried pulling it free. "We're very clear and I apologize for allowing you to think I believed you were incapable of anything. You're quite easily the strongest, most capable woman I've ever met."
She stared at him, not saying a word. Her anger didn't sway, but she didn't lash out again. Jake wasn't sure if she knew how much he meant what he just said, but right now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Angela was pissed her father was in danger, an emotion Jake understood very well. Anytime family met the radar of a perp, fury could blindside rational thinking.
He treaded lightly, knowing he needed to keep her focused but aware if she thought he was coddling her she'd explode again. "How far does your father live from Mario?"
She blinked, frowning. "Probably twenty minutes or so. Why?"
"Within less than ten minutes of that conversation ending, your father was already gone from his house and heading to a hotel for the night."
"Which hotel?"
"He didn't say. Once he's checked in he's calling me back."
"Huh." Angela marched across the room and grabbed her phone. After punching in a number, she began combing her hair with her fingers as she stared at the floor. "He's not answering." Angela sucked in a breath and pulled the phone away from her ear to stare at the screen before listening again. "It went to voice mail."
"Don't leave a message."
"I wasn't going to. He'll see the missed call." She hung up and lifted her gaze to Jake's, searching his face for a moment. "Why did you say not to leave a message?"
Jake shook his head, unwilling to explain that his antenna was tuning in on something that wasn't ringing right to him. "Where did you leave the bugs at Mario's home?"
Angela dropped her phone on the table and walked to her suitcase. She dug through it and pulled out clothes, rolling them in her hands and hugging them against her chest when she straightened and faced Jake. Her expression was still tight and angry.
"There is a bug in Mario's bedroom, next to his computer. I left the other one on the table outside the sliding glass doors on his patio. That is where Mario and Bobby were talking. I don't know who this Bobby person is, though. Mario had several house servants. All of them were in suits and all looked like they were related to Mario or at least men he'd known from his home country."
"When I was scoping out his place I saw a tall blond, probably a few years older than me. He was in jeans and a T-shirt. I watched him enter the outbuilding where, I'm willing to bet good money, the people Mario's abducted for the game are being held."
"We heard Mario and Bobby talking as they came up onto the patio, probably after leaving that outbuilding. I never got a really good look at it. Mario has floodlights on either side of his house facing the yard, but the way the light streams, it doesn't quite reach the outbuilding."
"I noticed that, too. At first I thought it might be because Mario was renting and it was how the owners of the house had set it up. But now I'm thinking it might be intentional. It takes the attention away from that outbuilding by shrouding it in darkness."
"Which Mario would definitely want if he was harboring captives that he's drugged and plans on using for terroristic activity with the game." Angela headed into the bathroom and pushed the bathroom door closed.
It didn't click shut but remained ajar. Jake walked toward it, trying to figure out why it seemed like something wasn't right. "Try calling your father again," Jake suggested, standing outside the bathroom. His attention riveted to the floor when her bathrobe crumpled just inside the door. "He should have called us by now if he'd checked into a room."
Angela was combing her hair with her fingers when she pulled the door open. "What do you mean, if he checked into a room? That's what he said he was doing, isn't it?"
"Yes. And he was pissed when I called him, which at first I didn't question since it was almost one o'clock in the morning."
"What are you saying?" Her hair was still fairly wet and shone black as night as she worked her fingers through it. Apparently she didn't think she was going to bed anytime soon. The jeans she wore hugged her slender hips and clung to her legs like a second skin. They were faded and looked comfortable. She'd tugged a sleeveless pink blouse over her head, and some of her hair was still stuffed under the collar. "Dad doesn't usually wake up grouchy, but you probably shocked him when you called."
"I told him to wake up and he said he was awake," Jake said, replaying his conversation with Huxtable in his head.
"Of course he was awake. You'd just called him."
"Call your dad." Jake backed away from the door to let her out and gestured toward the table where she'd left her phone.
Angela grabbed a brush off the counter and headed out of the bathroom. "You don't think that Bobby guy got to Dad before he made it to a hotel, do you?" She was brushing her hair and looked over her shoulder, her mouth puckered into a circle as she searched Jake's face.
If any of Mario's men were after Huxtable, he was in serious danger, whether they'd caught him yet or not. "Your father told me he'd left the house before we finished our phone call with each other." Jake stared at his phone and Angela's on the table next to the surveillance equipment. "I listened to the conversation between Mario and Bobby as it took place. It wasn't even five minutes later when your dad was no longer at his home. And he didn't give any indication anyone was following him."
Angela picked up her phone, her damp hair shrouding her face as she pushed numbers.
"Wait a minute." Jake grabbed her phone out of her hand.
"What?" she gasped, more surprised than pissed as she looked at Jake, confused.
"Something isn't right here. Your dad hasn't called. He wouldn't tell me where he was going."
"They wouldn't already have him?" Angela's tone rose as she spoke.
Angela loved her father; the bond between the two of them was tight. Jake didn't need to see the two of them together to guess what Angela had with her father was close to what Jake had with his.
"I don't see how they would have him. I just talked to him." Jake kept her phone in
his hand and walked around the table, picking his phone up, too. He stared at both of them, knowing Angela was watching him. "Is your father so arrogant he would think it wasn't crucial for me to know where he was going?"
"My father isn't arrogant," Angela snapped. "He might be confident. He's the best there is. But mister, he isn't any cockier than you are."
If he weren't so focused trying to work his brain around this he might have smiled at the expression on Angela's face.
"If I were dodging someone who'd just decided a mark should be on my head, I'd let my backup know where I was." He gestured with the phones in his hands, ignoring her comment. There was a difference between being cocky and simply knowing you were good. He'd tell anyone that, but changing the subject would make him lose his train of thought and there was something not right with everything that just had played out. He needed to figure out what it was. "So if you don't tell your backup what you're doing--"
"You're my backup."
"I'm not his," Jake finished, staring into Angela's milky gaze. "So if he'd plotted to do something, he might not have put either of us in the loop."
"What?" she whispered.
"Maybe it wouldn't cross his mind to do it." Although it was a rather stupid move. Jake kept that thought to himself, though. "All I know is that if he were checking into a room he would be checked in by now. I can't think of any hotel that would be this slow."
"Unless he thinks our phones aren't safe." She glanced pointedly at the cell phones Jake held in each of his hands.
Jake held his phone up, capturing her tentative stare at the same time and holding it as he spoke. "There is a scrambler in my cell phone, as there is in all of our phones with KFA. Anyone who tries tapping in on our phone conversations will be blessed with a high-pitched, incredibly annoying whine in their ear." He grinned and Angela cocked one eyebrow and tilted her head, giving him the impression she found him either amusing or annoying. Jake was sure he was both, although at the moment he was serious. "Is your phone censored at all?"
"That's a track phone," she explained, nodding at her phone in his other hand. "It's not my real number. I started a new account when I took up residency here. If Mario does a search on me, and I was sure he would, there would be no way he would be able to trace my true identity. Does Dad know your phone is scrambled?"
"Well, obviously you weren't thorough enough." Although when Jake had done a search on her real name, he hadn't found any pictures of her.
When she sucked in a ragged breath, her gaze faltered as she looked away from him. "What picture do you think he's talking about?"
"I've been looking," Jake said, returning his attention to the laptop screen.
"You didn't find it? I guessed that was what you were doing on my laptop when I was listening to Mario and Bobby's conversation. And I don't have a clue what picture they were talking about. There shouldn't be anything anywhere on the Internet that connects me to my father." Before Jake could say anything, Angela marched around the table and held out her hand. "I need to call my dad. Let me use your phone if it scrambles phone calls. We'll search for the picture after a bit. First we secure my father."
Jake placed his phone in her palm but then wrapped his fingers around her hand with his cell in it when she tried pulling away. "Your father doesn't know my phone is scrambled. He might not answer and that might explain why he hasn't called back. If he feels he's being hunted, he might cut himself off from us to protect you."
"I have to know he is okay." She wasn't pleading. There was a firmness in her tone Jake was growing accustomed to hearing. Her father might be an arrogant son of a bitch, but something told Jake he seldom crossed his daughter.
Jake let go of her hand. "Call him."
Angela punched numbers into Jake's phone, then slowly lifted her gaze to his when she put his phone to her ear. He heard it ring, once, twice, three times, as their gazes remained locked. Her anxiety climbed with each ring. Huxtable wasn't going to answer. It was damn near impossible that Mandela would have snagged him considering the time frame. Jake couldn't kick the feeling he was missing something, though.
"Damn it," she whispered, ending the call when it went to voice mail and slowly lowering his phone. Angela snagged her phone from Jake, giving his phone back to him, and punched numbers again.
Jake reached out and stroked her damp hair over her shoulder, enjoying the cool silkiness of it. Angela didn't stop him; in fact, she barely appeared to notice the gesture as she chewed her lip and focused on his chest as she listened to the phone ring.
"God damn it!" she cried out, tossing her phone on the table when no one answered. "Where the hell is he?"
She began pacing but stopped when she neared Jake. "You're the bounty hunter. You're part of KFA. My God, you're damn near a household word," she said, narrowing her gaze on him as if that were an accusation. "Find my dad, Jake. We're not brainstorming or searching for a damned picture until I know he's okay." Her expression more than challenged Jake. With a look, Angela showed him she actually would try kicking his ass if he countered her.
Once again, that tightening in his gut hit him. It spread to his chest, making it hard to breathe for a moment. He would go out in the night and track Huxtable down, whatever it took to calm that frantic look on her face.
"Can you think of a reason your father would lead me to believe he just woke up and it not be true?"
She blinked, exhaling. "I'm sure there could be many reasons."
"Think, Angela. I need to know where to start hunting." When she noticeably relaxed, the tightness inside him grew hot, spreading throughout his body faster than he could take his next breath.
"Okay," she breathed, giving him a quick smile that might have been anything from gratitude to an apology for her offhanded comment. Her milky green eyes showed the turmoil flooding her system. Angela was holding on by a thread and unwilling to show him how much this turn of events affected her. "When he's working a case," she paced to the other end of the room and took her time turning around as she continued speaking, "which is what he's doing right now--"
"You know where he is right now?" he demanded. "What the hell?"
"No!" Angela snapped, her voice sharp. She shot a hostile look at him.
"You aren't making any sense."
"I don't know where he is." Angela looked at him, her expression lined with worry. "Jake, please find him."
He knew at that moment he'd do anything to make her happy. He should take time to analyze the emotions ransacking his system, but now wasn't the time.
"I will, sweetheart," he promised, closing the distance between them. "But you aren't making sense. You said something about his case..."
"Yes." She tucked damp hair behind her ear and appeared to be focusing on his neck. "The missing persons case for Marianna."
"Yes."
"I know he's finding my half-sister." She walked around him, still not focusing on him. "Marianna and I grew up together and he knows how much I love her. When I was sixteen, I moved here to live with Dad, and Marianna and I fell out of touch. She was the perfect little sister. I remember I missed her terribly at first, but Dad and I got to be so close, and I fell in love with the mysteries he would share with me. As soon as I was able, I started working with him, which was long before I was legally able to work a case. Dad would let me do the little things, although they didn't seem so little at the time. I would write down all the clues, or lay out clothes he would wear while undercover. I remember how important that made me feel." Her back was to him when she sighed, lost in her memories. "But Marianna was the perfect kid sister. She never was too far from my thoughts. So when we started talking on the computer, we were instantly best friends and I loved her to death all over again. She is still so absolutely perfect."
"Has your father shared any leads with you? Has he mentioned where he was with this case?"
Angela made a snorting sound and looked at him. "He didn't even want to tell me he was looking for her. He thought it would
distract me from this case."
Jake knew damn good and well how it felt to have family members in danger during the heat of a case. More than once they'd been hot on a trail, ready to crack everything wide open and bring down their guy, when one of them had gone missing. It was one hell of a distraction. Each time it had happened, it had created a fever of intensity in him that burned so hot he would have done whatever it took to bring his family home and back together. He wouldn't go there, though. This wasn't about him.
He didn't realize he'd been scowling at the ground until Angela cursed under her breath. She spun around, turning on him. Jake moved in on her but she warded him off with her hands.
"When Dad is hot on the trail, or is ready to break that big lead, he forgets about the rest of the world. He'd forget to eat if I didn't put a sandwich in his hand as he was hurrying out the door," she said, her eyes suddenly bloodshot. "He really is amazing. Watching him in action can be breathtaking at times."
"So maybe he's hot on the trail of his missing-person case?"
Angela opened her mouth to answer when her cell phone chimed and vibrated across the table at the same time. She jumped on it as if it were alive and she needed to catch it before it ran off.
"It's Dad," she sang out, giving Jake a toothy grin as she answered it before it rang twice. "Where in the hell are you?" she snapped, her smile disappearing so fast Jake wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't been watching her. "Dad!" she shouted, but then pulled the phone from her ear, staring at it with a mystified look on her face.
"What did he say?"
She looked at Jake, frowning. "He said he was fine and not to worry about him, then hung up."
Chapter Eleven
Angela fought the covers when her undercover cell phone woke her up from a troubled sleep. She had been haunted by dreams of Marianna and her dad. Marianna was crying out to Angela, begging for help. Then her father was next to her, insisting she not worry. In the next instance both of them were gone. Angela had never felt so alone. So incredibly alone. No matter where she looked she couldn't find either one of them. She was all by herself. Angela woke up with a knot in her gut. Her phone was still on the table and her room was cold as she hurried to grab it.
Bounty Hunters: 03 Stay Hungry Page 20
