Jackie blinked at the doctor’s order.
But knew what the plan was now. She started to back up when the heart attack victim caught her eye. And winked.
She dropped to her knees beside him, nudging the doctor aside. The aisle didn’t make for much room, but she grabbed his hand when he lifted it toward her.
“Be careful,” he whispered. His palm scraped hers and she curled her fingers around a paper he’d left behind.
She scooted back as the driver slowed the bus to a stop on the shoulder of the highway. The driver was on his microphone and the other passengers muttered amongst themselves.
“Driver! Where’s the AED device?”
“I’ll get it, I’m coming.” The driver grabbed it from the console at the front of the bus and shoved his way past Jackie and Ian.
“Open the door and get the man some air. You people move back!” The doctor shouted orders and people obeyed.
Jackie opened the door. She grabbed Ian’s hand and together, they slipped off the bus, Gus at their heels.
“Where are we going?”
“Wherever we can find shelter and regroup.”
The helicopter roared overhead. Sirens sounded, getting closer by the second. “Stay under cover of the trees,” she panted.
Ian didn’t let go of her hand or Gus’s leash. They leapt over the guardrail and headed down the sloping hill. Jackie swept her gaze left. Then to the right and up above. Had the chopper spotted them racing from the stopped bus?
Once in the midst of a copse of trees that backed up to a field she could see just beyond, she stopped to assess the situation. Ian and Gus came to a halt beside her.
“Did we really just do that?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“So now what?” He glanced around. “They’ll be coming. We need to find some shelter and figure out our next step.”
Jackie nudged him. “That barn over there. Let’s get inside and hope no one’s there.”
He looked up at the clouds hovering above them. “It looks like it’s going to snow.” He breathed deep. “Smells like it too.”
“That would just be our luck right now,” she muttered.
They headed for the barn and Ian opened the door for her. She slipped inside, relieved to be out of the wind. “It’s still cold, but at least we can sit and think for a minute.”
“Maybe there’s an office with some heat.”
“Good idea.” She inhaled the scent of hay and horses. “Hello? Anyone here?” Her only answer came in the form of a nicker from the nearest stall. “Hello?”
“I think we’re good,” Ian said.
It took only a minute to scope out the barn and find what they were looking for. The office was dusty, but one flick of the heater on the wall had warmth pouring through the vents. Jackie sat in the cracked vinyl chair behind the desk and pulled out the piece of paper the “heart attack victim” had slipped into her hand.
Ian sat across from her in the wooden straight-backed chair. Gus settled on the floor at his feet and put his head on his paws.
“What is it?” Ian asked.
“The man on the bus who faked the heart attack gave me this.”
“Faked?”
“He winked at me. The doctor was probably bogus too. Ron set it all up, I’m sure. Just in case.”
Ian blinked. “Wow. That was sharp thinking.”
She gave him a thin smile. “See why I wanted to call in reinforcements?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice soft. “I see.”
“Ron’s coming for us, we’ve just got to get there.”
“Where?”
“To an abandoned gas station not too far away. He gave me the address.”
“All right, then. Let’s get going.”
“Are you forgetting that everyone is looking for us?”
He shot her a sour look. “Not likely. In fact they’re going to be looking for us around here, probably going house to house to make sure we haven’t holed up somewhere.” He looked around, then let his eyes come back to meet hers. “Like in a barn.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “I know. And we need to get moving before they get here, but we also need to take a moment to plan.”
Gus’s head lifted and he turned his attention to the door. Jackie stiffened. A loud screech disturbed the air. Ian slapped the off button of the heater and pulled Gus with him to press his back against the wall. Jackie joined him. Whoever opened the door wouldn’t see them at first, leaving them with the element of surprise.
Footsteps sounded just outside the office. Jackie kept herself pressed against Ian’s side and his warmth wrapped itself around her, making her wish for different circumstances. Gus shifted and sat.
She swallowed and focused on listening. The footsteps stopped, followed by a thud.
“Hey, Jojo boy, you ready for a ride?” The voice sounded like it belonged to a young girl. Jackie relaxed a fraction. Maybe she was just going to take the horse for a ride and wouldn’t come into the office. After several tense moments, the doorknob turned, dashing Jackie’s short-lived hope.
The door opened and the girl stepped into the office and walked over to the heater. Jackie held her breath and could sense Ian doing the same.
Because when the girl turned, there was no way she would miss them.
12
12:40 P.M.
“They couldn’t have just dropped off the face of the earth.” Victor Stroebel stood from behind his desk and walked to the coffeepot. He poured himself a cup, then splashed a generous amount of whiskey in it.
A long sip later, he set the cup down and stared at his hired help. Owning one of South Carolina’s largest construction companies gave him access to all kinds of people. Some good, some not so good. Today he needed the not so good. Nick Stafford had proven useful in the past, and Victor had hopes the man would once again earn his pay. “Wainwright’s an idiot,” he mumbled.
“Sir?”
“Nothing. I just don’t like it when people mess up and I have to clean up behind them. He should never have gone to the cops with his accusation. We could have taken care of the problem without broadcasting—” Victor cursed and shook his head. “Forget it.”
Stafford clasped his hands in front of him and lifted his chin. “The cops are crawling all over the area where the bus stopped. It’s on every news channel available. All we have to do is follow them and they’ll lead us straight to Lockwood and Sellers.”
“Then why aren’t you doing that?”
Nick swallowed, his attempt at growing a spine failing miserably. “Right, we’ll do that right now.” He slapped Hector’s head. “Come on. Let’s move.”
Hector shoved Nick and curled his fingers into a fist. Victor cleared his throat and Hector tightened his jaw, shot another glare at Nick, and strode toward the door. A small smile curved Victor’s lips. He liked that Hector kid.
He turned back to the flat screen television mounted on the wall over his desk.
One thing Nick was right about was the fact that Jackie and Ian were one of the top stories. If not the top story.
His phone rang. With one last look at the screen, he snatched the handset. “Yes.”
“Why do we still have loose ends running around?”
“Because Ian’s got help. Specialized help. If he didn’t, he would be dead by now.”
“Where did he get this help?”
“It looks like a childhood friend came to his rescue. From what I could pull on her, Jackie Sellers used to be a cop. She now works for Operation Refuge—an organization that specializes in making people disappear.”
The curses that blistered the line didn’t even make Victor blink. He might work for Cedric Wainwright, but he wasn’t afraid of him. “Calm down. We’re not finished yet.”
“I hope not.”
“You blew it when you accused Ian of stealing company secrets.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because if the cops get to him first, he’ll talk, tel
l them everything he knows. Which might not be much and they might not actually believe everything he says, but it might be enough to launch an investigation into Wainwright Labs. And while I won’t have any trouble getting to Lockwood once he’s in prison, I’d rather take him out before he has a chance to cast suspicion.”
Wainwright’s long pause made Victor frown. Then he heard the man sigh. “Should I retract the charge? Get the cops to back off? Make them feel like it’s safe to stop running?”
Victor blinked back his surprise. Wainwright didn’t often swallow his pride. He considered the questions. “No. I don’t think that would work. As soon as they stop running, they’ll still talk. I think our original plan to get Lockwood arrested then knocked off in jail isn’t going to work now. He’s got help. He’s been talking. At this point, we need to get to them before law enforcement. We’ll stay on it. I may have a lead on where they’re headed anyway.”
“Where?”
“Holly Kent, Lockwood’s cousin, is an encryption expert. The story is she’s been out of the country doing some kind of seminar for cryptologists on the latest protection software, but I can’t find a record of her flight. She’s not answering her phone either. We’re still looking for her.”
“So why is she still alive?”
“She never got the fax. My guy walked into her office and pulled it off her machine.”
“Good. Then we don’t have to worry about her.”
“No, we have to worry about her. Lockwood is heading toward New York. All the major networks are broadcasting the hunt for them live. If you turn it on, you’ll see the news teams doing helicopter sweeps. Law enforcement’s in the air too. You need to have people nearby who can take them out if they get caught.”
Another pause. When Wainwright spoke, he sounded nervous. “I’ll get someone on it. We can’t have them talking to the cops.”
“I’m guessing he’s going to be looking for Mrs. Kent to help him with the code.”
“Then your people will be waiting.”
“Waiting and watching. You take care of them if the feds catch them first. I’ve got people ready in New York. As soon as Lockwood, Sellers, and Kent are in the same place, we’ll grab them.” He paused. “We’ll have to be careful, though. She lives in a very populated area near Central Park. It’ll be hard to either grab them or kill them without attracting a lot of attention.”
“I want him—them—dead—or in jail. If they’re in jail, they’ll be dead within hours of darkening the door. But if they’re roaming around and figure out what that email means …”
“Or if they show it to the wrong person like Kent …”
“Five years of planning is circling the drain, Victor. Five years. We finally found our inside person, one willing to sell out his country for a few million dollars. This goes down as planned or we’re done.”
“We?”
“Yeah. We. And now I’ll have to report this failure.”
“Report—what? Report to whom?”
“None of your business. Now get this done.”
“I hope it’ll all be wrapped up before nightfall.”
“Hope? Hope?”
“I’ll be in touch.” Victor hung up, not caring that Wainwright was most likely turning all shades of red and purple. He had bigger things to worry about. Like whether or not he was going to lose ten million dollars if the plan didn’t go off as promised. He frowned, though. Wainwright seemed to be the one calling the shots, but apparently there was someone else. Someone even more powerful and more invested in making sure this plan went off as designed. Someone Wainwright didn’t want to inform of Victor’s failure to kill Ian Lockwood. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin as he pondered how to go about finding out exactly who the mastermind was behind the plan. Because once he knew who it was, he could then figure out how to blackmail him for more money.
Ian met the scared brown eyes of the pretty teenager. “Don’t scream.”
Her face bleached white and she brought her hands up to cover her mouth as though to hold back the scream he warned her against.
“We’re not going to hurt you, we were just cold and found your barn and thought we’d warm up.”
“That’s trespassing,” she whispered. But at least she didn’t scream. “Who are you? Why are you here?” She moved, her back pressing against the wall as though wishing it would suck her through to the other side. Her gaze landed on Gus and then moved to Jackie.
“Like he said, we were cold and came looking for a place to warm up.” Jackie rubbed her hands together. “We’re warm now. We didn’t mean to scare you. We’ll leave and you can pretend you never saw us, okay?” She started backing toward the door and the teen seemed to relax a fraction, her fear fading slightly.
“You’re really not going to hurt me?”
“We’re really not,” Jackie said.
“Okay. Um … thanks?” Her eyes bounced back and forth between Jackie and Ian and Gus.
The helicopter buzzed overhead and Jackie hesitated. The girl looked at Ian. Then back to Jackie.
Ian rubbed a hand down his face.
The teen’s eyes narrowed and she swallowed, recognition hitting her gaze. “Wait a minute, you’re the two they’re looking for, aren’t you?” She bit her lip, every ounce of her previous tension returning full force. “Never mind, I never saw you. Just leave. Please.”
“We’re leaving, don’t worry,” Jackie said.
They stepped out of the office, the girl following behind, skittish as one of her colts in the stall. Gus’s ears laid back against his head, his body rigid with tension. The dog was special—highly trained and he’d been great up to this point—but he wasn’t oblivious to the stress and was confused about why his world had suddenly changed.
Ian opened the door of the barn, looked out, then shut it. “I don’t think we’re going to be leaving right away after all.”
“They’re out there?” Jackie asked.
“Not yet, but they’re getting close. The helicopter is right overhead. If we step out there, we’re done for.”
She closed her eyes. “I heard the chopper, but hoped it was further away. All right, let’s think.”
“Why don’t you just turn yourselves in?” the girl asked.
“Because that’s not an option right now. What’s your name?” Ian asked.
“Leigh.” Leigh backed up, away from the two of them, her fear returning.
Ian wanted to pace, but he wasn’t about to let Leigh out of his sight. He figured there was a back door somewhere and he couldn’t let her slip through it and tip off law enforcement.
“All right, Leigh. You’re not stupid, so I’m not going to treat you as though you are. I didn’t do what I’m being accused of doing, I just can’t prove it. And I definitely can’t prove it sitting in a prison cell. We need a way out of here. Have you got any suggestions?”
He didn’t really expect her to just jump on the question and provide a ready answer. Instead, he watched her eyes. They flicked to the left, then back to him. “No.”
“Right. Jackie?”
“Yes?”
He nodded. “This way.”
She took another peek out the window and walked over to him. “Okay, where?”
“Show us, Leigh.”
She jutted her chin. “No.”
Ian stepped forward. “Yes.”
Tears welled in the girl’s eyes. She spun and bolted. Jackie made to chase her, but Ian caught her arm. “Let her go. She’s terrified.”
“And we’re going to be toast as soon as she reports us.”
“Maybe not. When I asked her about a way out of here, she looked to her left.” He walked over to the first door and pulled it open. “Supplies.” He shut it.
Jackie opened the next one. “Ah ha.”
Ian stepped to look over her shoulder. “Ah ha.” Two ATVs sat with keys in the ignition.
“I have a real problem with theft, but we don’t have a choice, I suppose.”
“I’ve got a thousand dollars in cash.”
“Fine, leave it. The machine is older and probably only worth about half that. Ron will have more cash waiting on us when we get to the vehicle, so we can give yours up. We’ll be there within minutes if we can dodge law enforcement long enough. The owner will have his ATV back within the hour.”
Ian set the cash on the shelf and climbed into the driver’s seat.
Jackie peeked out the window. “No one there that I can see.”
“Open the doors. We can’t waste any more time around here. Leigh probably squealed on us as fast as she could.”
Jackie complied and Ian sent up prayers that they hadn’t stayed in the barn too long. He cleared the doors and Jackie shut them, then bolted into the passenger seat. “See that trail?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t take it.”
He understood. “Right.” He could still hear the helicopter up above, looking for them. “You think they got our pictures from the bus station cameras?”
“No doubt. Or from the bus camera itself.”
He took a deep breath. “All right. We need to stay under some cover.”
“We can try to blaze our own trail through the woods or we can head back toward the highway and hope for the best.”
He pressed the gas pedal. “We don’t have a prayer of escape, do we?”
13
1:05 P.M.
Sam glanced at his phone. “They’ve stopped. The ATV is idle.”
Elizabeth pressed the gas. “Does the chopper have it spotted?”
“No, it disappeared into some trees.”
Last night, as part of a federal task force, Sam had been sworn in as a federal US marshal. Now he had federal arrest authority along with Elizabeth, and they’d taken off in pursuit of their suspects with the full intention of using that authority. Minutes before, a teen girl had found Lockwood and Sellers in her barn. They hadn’t hurt her, but they’d taken one of the ATVs—and left around a thousand dollars on a shelf as payment for the machine. An ATV the owner had installed with a GPS chip in case it should ever be stolen. “Guide me.”
“Turn here. Go straight for a mile, then right into the property’s drive.”
No Place to Hide Page 9
