Code Word

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  “Carina?”

  “Bianca.” Carina’s voice came over the phone in a combination of relief and concern. “Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know.” Bianca bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep the tears from coming. She didn’t want to admit that all she wanted was to have her mother there to give her a hug and tell her that everything was going to be okay. Her mother was no longer an option, but Carina made a pretty good second choice. “Seth and Vanessa want me to leave here.”

  “I know. Jay is going to bring me to the same place they’re taking you.”

  “I don’t want to go.” Bianca could hear the whine in her voice and hated that she was so vulnerable and that her freedom was being controlled by so many others without her input or consent.

  “Bianca, please do this for me.” Carina hesitated and then added, “It’s kind of like when Mom sent us out for pizza. It didn’t seem like a big deal, but it was.”

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath and tried to sound strong. “But I’m going to see you tomorrow, right?”

  “Yes. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Carina assured her. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  * * *

  Pizza. Jay stared at Carina as his last conversation with Lou replayed in his mind. “What did you mean by going out for pizza?”

  “I just wanted her to understand how serious all of this is.”

  “But why did you say pizza?”

  “That’s where we were right before my mom died,” Carina told him. “She had sent us out for pizza. I’ve always wondered if maybe she knew someone was coming to the house and maybe she sent us away on purpose.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Pizza was her favorite food. It was odd that she sent us out to get some instead of coming with us or ordering out. She didn’t even ask us to bring her something back.” Carina’s eyes narrowed. “Is something wrong?”

  “When you said that, it reminded me that when I talked to Lou, he told me that if something happened to him, I should tell you to take your sisters out for pizza. Then he said something about keeping up the maintenance on your mom’s car.”

  “What?” Fear and confusion flashed in her eyes. “What do you think he meant by that?”

  “I think he was telling you that if something happened to him, then you’re all in danger.” Jay pulled out his cell phone and texted Seth a simple message. Leave now.

  The response was almost immediate. Be on the road in five.

  “Who were you texting?”

  “Seth. I wanted to make sure they were really leaving now,” Jay told her. “He said they’re leaving in five minutes.”

  Carina looked at him with a new sense of panic. “Do you think there’s any way the family could have found Gianna?”

  “I don’t know. If someone is tracking you down through your cell phone calls, it might be possible.” Jay handed her his cell phone. “Call her up and tell her you want her to get out of her apartment right now. And also tell her to leave her cell phone at home.”

  “Why?”

  “Just trust me. Have her write down this number and then call us on a friend’s phone. That way we can call her back and let her know what to do next.” Jay used his finger and wrote the number for his cell phone in the sand.

  “If someone knows her phone number, wouldn’t they be able to trace a call back to this phone?”

  “It’s blocked. Even another government agency wouldn’t be able to trace it,” Jay assured her.

  Carina did as he asked, but he could tell that Gianna was resisting her request.

  Jay put a hand on her arm and whispered softly, “Tell her about Lou.”

  Tears instantly sprang to her eyes, but she nodded. “Gianna, someone killed Lou. The last thing he said was that if something happened to him for us to go out for pizza.”

  Jay could tell by the way Carina’s body position changed that Gianna was now more receptive to her sister’s demands. While Carina continued to talk to her sister, Jay jogged over to the car to retrieve the second cell phone Seth had given him.

  He considered who he might call for help. He knew anyone on his team would drop everything to help a friend in need, but all of them were currently on the east coast. Gianna was all the way across the country.

  Out of options, he muttered a prayer, using words he had often heard come out of his teammates’ mouths. “Okay, Heavenly Father, what do I do?”

  Mentally, he went through a checklist of his teammates. Brent and Quinn had both grown up in Virginia, and Tristan had lived there since his teenage years. Then there was Seth, who was currently keeping Carina’s other sister safe. He thought of Amy. Unlike the members of the squad, who had all attended college in the east, Amy had graduated from Brigham Young University, the same school Gianna was currently attending.

  Jay dialed her number, relieved when he heard her voice come on the line despite the late hour. “Amy, I need a huge favor.”

  “What can I do?” Amy asked without hesitation.

  “I think my friend’s sister could be in danger, and I need some help getting her off the grid for at least a couple of days,” Jay told her. “She’s out at BYU. I thought that since you went to school there, you might know someone who could help.”

  “Let me think,” Amy said, and Jay could visualize that look of concentration she always had when she was determined to find a solution to what often seemed to be an unsolvable puzzle. “There’s got to be someone.”

  “Carina is talking to her right now. I told her to have Gianna pack up some things and go stay with a friend for now. She’s going to leave her cell phone in her dorm room and then call us from another phone to let us know where she is.”

  “I know who I can call. My old roommate and her husband still live in Provo. He teaches history at the Y.”

  “Do you think they would be willing to help? Without asking too many questions?”

  “I think so,” Amy told him. “Let me call them, and I’ll call you right back.”

  “Thanks, Amy.” Jay walked back over to where Carina still sat on the beach, the phone still to her ear. He could tell she was trying to sound positive as she reassured Gianna, even though he could tell Carina was terrified. After another minute or two, Carina said her good-byes and then turned to Jay with tears in her eyes.

  “I don’t know what I would do if something happened to one of my sisters.”

  “My friend Amy is trying to find someone to help her out there.” Jay gathered Carina close and then simply held her while they both waited for their phones to ring. Carina’s rang first. She followed Jay’s previous example and drew the phone number Gianna gave him in the sand. A moment later, Amy called.

  “Okay, Jay. You’re all set. My friend is going to swing by the store and pick up a burn phone so Gianna will have a way to communicate with you. Then they’re going to take her up to Park City with them for the weekend. Their family has a condo up there they can use,” Amy told him. “I didn’t give them details, but I told them I really don’t want them to take Gianna to their home. I don’t want to put them at risk.”

  Jay thought of his own parents and nodded. “That’s probably wise.”

  “You know, if we can’t put our finger on what’s going on by Sunday, we might want to consider something more permanent.”

  “Are you thinking about WITSEC?” Jay asked.

  “We’re dealing with the mob, Jay. It’s something you need to consider.”

  “Yeah, but I can’t take the chance that some FBI agent on the mob’s payroll will be able to find them.”

  “Let me talk to my brother in the FBI and see if he has any ideas.”

  “I appreciate anything you can do.”

  29

  They were all standing in the kitchen when the deafening blare of the alarm sounded. Seth looked over at his wife, a silent question reflecting in his eyes. They had a choice to make. They could flee, or they could fight.

 
His protective instincts told him to slip out into the night and get Vanessa and Bianca to safety as quickly as possible. Logic told him that while fleeing would solve the immediate danger, fighting might help them understand it.

  Vanessa stared at him during that split second of indecision, and then she reached into her purse where her weapon was stored. Seth nodded his approval and motioned to the stairwell door in the kitchen, a doorway that appeared to be little more than a pantry. He then signaled for her to call the cops.

  Bianca stared up at him, utterly terrified. He put a hand on her shoulder and motioned to Vanessa. He didn’t speak, but he mouthed the words. “Stay with Vanessa.” Then he held one finger over his lips and motioned to the door once more.

  Vanessa put a hand on Bianca’s arm to escort her into their hiding place. Trusting that his wife would protect Bianca and keep her out of sight, Seth moved through the house toward the backyard, where the alarm had been tripped.

  Jay had set up proximity alarms several yards beyond where a series of motion sensors protected the grounds. As expected, the sound of the proximity alarms startled the intruder enough to cause him to change direction.

  Seth stepped out into the night, avoiding the infrared beam that would trip another motion sensor. He could see the movement behind some shrubbery, and he silently started in that direction.

  Part of him wanted to believe that it was just a stray dog or a neighbor who was cutting through the wrong yard. Odds were against it, and he reached for his weapon as he disappeared into the shadows.

  Seth caught the scent of someone, sweat mixed with traces of deodorant. The alarms stopped sounding, and Seth assumed that whoever was weaving his way toward the house had figured out how to disable the system.

  Seth pressed himself against the cinderblock wall that separated the Whitmores’ yard from the next-door neighbor’s and waited. With his dark clothing and dark skin, he knew he was all but invisible beneath the moonless sky. Footsteps padded toward him quietly. He doubted someone without his intensive SEAL training would even hear the person approaching.

  In his mind, he counted down the steps, calculating the angle that the intruder would take as he passed by. Then in a flurry of movement, Seth left the safety of the shadows and struck out. A kick to the midsection, an elbow to the jaw, and the figure clad in black clothing dropped to the ground.

  The gunshot that sounded a second later startled Seth and sent him diving for cover behind a cluster of palm trees. He returned fire, now able to make out another figure near the boat. He didn’t take the time to consider how the second man had escaped his notice. A spray of bullets impacted the trees and the wall behind him.

  He squatted down and squeezed off a burst of gunfire of his own. Even in the darkness, he could see his bullets impact the ground in a line following the path of the shooter. Unprepared for a lengthy gun battle and nearly out of ammunition, Seth rushed back toward the house. He headed straight for the main level guest room where the extra clips were stored and quickly reloaded his gun.

  A door creaked open, but Seth wasn’t able to tell which direction the intruder was headed. Then he heard a jingle of something clattering down the main staircase followed by rapid footsteps.

  Seth rushed down the short hallway into the living area just as the intruder ran toward the sound. “Freeze right there!”

  The man stopped, holding his hands even with his shoulders. The light from the kitchen silhouetted the man and the gun he held.

  “Drop the weapon,” Seth demanded.

  He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. The man started to lower his right hand as though preparing to lay his gun down on the ground. Then he squatted and spun, taking aim as he shot at Seth once again. Seth felt a bullet tear through the flesh of his left arm just as he fired. His target stumbled forward but remained on his feet and headed toward the stairs.

  “Vanessa!” Seth shouted to make sure she knew it wasn’t him coming toward her.

  Stairs creaked, a door opened, and a gunshot sounded.

  Seth prayed that his wife was the shooter, not the victim. “Vanessa? Are you okay?”

  “We’re okay,” she called back. “We’re both okay.”

  * * *

  Bianca couldn’t stop shaking. Vanessa had tried to get her to stay in one of the upstairs bedrooms while she and Seth talked to the police, but she was too afraid to be alone, even if she was only a few rooms away. Instead, she sat quietly at the kitchen table, watching and listening. And trembling.

  A man’s body was still sprawled in the front hallway, now covered with a plain white sheet, as though that could hide the reality that this person had broken in and tried to kill them.

  Shifting, Bianca looked out the window. All of the floodlights were on, and the ripples the breeze made in the swimming pools looked so peaceful. The setting would have been soothing except for the coroner who was currently loading another body onto a stretcher, the black body bag confirming that he too was dead.

  In the living room, Vanessa finished bandaging the gunshot wound on Seth’s arm. Gunshot. Seth claimed it wasn’t serious, just a flesh wound, but that didn’t discount the fact that a bullet had caused the damage.

  Bianca took a breath and felt another shudder rack her body. An hour ago, she had been so annoyed about her life being turned upside down that she hadn’t considered that Jay and his friends were risking their lives to keep her safe. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  “Can you take me through what happened outside?” a policeman asked Seth once Vanessa had finished giving him first aid.

  “Yeah.” Seth nodded. He didn’t even glance down at the bright white bandage that contrasted against his dark skin but instead took the policeman through the night’s events, starting with when the alarm had sounded.

  “Wait a minute.” The policeman looked at Seth, confused. “You said you knocked him out with an elbow to the head?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Was that before or after you shot him?”

  Seth shook his head, and for the first time, Bianca saw confusion on Seth’s face. “I didn’t shoot him.”

  “Someone did.”

  “Yeah.” Seth nodded. “Right after I knocked the first guy out, someone shot in my direction. That’s when I took cover and worked my way back into the house.”

  “Where was the second shooter?”

  “From the sound of the shot, I’d say he was hiding down by the dock.” Seth waved toward the front hall where the body still lay. “I don’t know who that guy is, but I’d bet he had some kind of military or law enforcement training.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I didn’t hear him.”

  The police officer turned and looked out the window at the well-lit yard. “If you were standing over by that wall, how would you expect to hear someone who was all the way down at the dock?”

  “I’m a Navy SEAL. I should have known he was there. Heard him, sensed him, smelled him.” Seth shook his head, his voice filled with conviction. “The fact that I didn’t tells me something.”

  The police officer shrugged as though he wasn’t sure he believed Seth. The older man made some notes in a notepad. When a younger policeman came in from outside, the older one asked, “Do you have an ID on that one?”

  “His name is Guido Manchione. Thirty-eight years old from Chicago.”

  Bianca didn’t recognize the name, but it was definitely Italian. She was sure Carina would assume he had been sent by the family.

  Bianca didn’t know why Carina always seemed to be so liberal with the term, as though everyone who had ever worked with their father was really related to them, but she had to admit that she was starting to believe her sister wasn’t nearly as paranoid as she had always thought.

  She could also admit that her mother and Carina had succeeded in sheltering her from their past. In theory, she understood her background, but her memories didn’t reflect any of the dangers or evils they h
ad always been so afraid of. Her understanding of the mob was straight out of Hollywood, learned from the golden screen and television. Now she knew that reality was a lot scarier and a whole lot more personal.

  The detective scribbled some more notes and motioned to the hall as he issued a command to his partner. “Get an ID on that one.”

  Bianca watched the younger detective shift the sheet so he could press the dead man’s thumb to a handheld device. The detective’s eyes narrowed when he read the little screen. He repeated the process, concern and confusion evident on his face. Slowly, he stood up and faced Seth.

  “Did this man identify himself to you before you shot him?”

  “No.” Seth shook his head. “As I told your partner here, I ran into the bedroom down that hall to get more ammunition. I heard him enter but couldn’t tell where he was until Vanessa threw something down the stairs to draw his attention. That’s when I saw him go into the hall.”

  “Then what?”

  “I told him to freeze. He stopped and acted like he was going to put the gun down.” Seth nodded down at his bandaged arm. “That’s when he shot me.”

  “And you managed to shoot and kill him after he shot you?”

  Vanessa stepped forward and put her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Seth’s shot wounded him. I’m the one who killed him.”

  “And he never identified himself?” the detective asked again.

  “No, why?” Vanessa asked. “Who was he?”

  “Frank Tesan. FBI.”

  “Let me guess,” Bianca spoke up now, her voice wavering as she fought against reality. “He was from Chicago.”

  Everyone looked at her, understanding flashing in Seth’s and Vanessa’s expressions, confusion alighting the detectives’.

  The younger detective regained his composure first. “How did you know that?”

  She looked from the detective to Seth, an unspoken apology on her face. “Lucky guess.”

  30

  Jay glanced over at Carina in the passenger seat. Her eyes were closed and her body relaxed as they approached the little town of Swan Quarter, North Carolina. The window was cracked, Carina’s hair tousled from the wind. Her classic beauty was softer now, her golden skin free of make-up and contrasting against her long, dark lashes.