Show of Force

by Elle James

  “Thank you, Mr. Young. I just want you to know I’m interested in the position. Have a good day.”

  “Same to you, Miss Lansing.” Already, the man’s attention had shifted to the contents of his desktop.

  Riley backed out of the office and turned to leave.

  She had just reached the door leading out of the unit when she noticed Mr. Young leaving his office and locking the door behind him.

  The man hadn’t stayed long and seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere.

  Riley had no desire to share an elevator with the man. When she stepped out into the hallway, she looked for Mack. He was nowhere to be seen. Instead of taking the elevator, Riley took the stairs down to the ground floor. When she exited the stairwell, she sought out Mack in his costume, but still didn’t see him.

  Hoping Mack had found his way out of the building, Riley left Quest and its campus and found her way back to the truck a couple blocks away.

  Mack sat in the driver’s seat, scrubbing the lipstick off his mouth with a napkin. He’d removed the jumpsuit and cap and looked more like himself.

  “Did Young give you the job?” Mack asked.

  Riley snorted. “I don’t think it’s completely up to him. The job will have to be advertised and posted so others can apply. They have to go through the motions, even if they have someone in mind for the position.” She stared out at a vehicle leaving the Quest campus. “That should be Mr. Young. Now would be a good time to follow him.”

  “Did you get a feeling from him that he might have Toby?”

  “I didn’t, but why would Moretti have sent those memos to him in some kind of code?”

  “I don’t know, but let’s follow him and find out what he’s up to.”

  With his lips still brighter red than he liked, Mack pulled out onto the street and fell in behind Bryan Young, staying back far enough the man wouldn’t be suspicious.

  Young drove for twenty minutes, working his way out of town heading west into the countryside.

  Riley sat forward in her seat, her eyes glued to the expensive car in front of her. “Do you think he has Toby?”

  Mack didn’t say it, but his gut wasn’t feeling it. “I don’t know.” And if they spent too much time chasing Young and he turned out to be the wrong man, they’d have wasted time they could be using to go after someone else. Mack pulled out his cell phone. “Call Gus. Ask him how Charlie’s doing.”

  Riley found the right number and hit the call button.

  “Hey, Mack,” Gus answered, his voice coming over the truck’s sound system. “How’s the hunt for the little boy going?”

  “Not well. We don’t have a lot to go on.”

  “Sorry to hear that. We’ve had a little excitement here at the hospital.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “Someone dressed as a nurse tried to slip past us in the middle of the night to get to Charlie.”

  Mack’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “How’s Charlie?”

  “Fine. Getting a little antsy. But she’s fine. Mustang wouldn’t let anyone into Charlie’s room. Not even the doctor on call. Charlie pulled some strings and has her personal physician checking in on her.”

  “Did you run a check on the nurse who tried to get in?”

  “Mustang had the sense to snap a picture of the badge. We ran it against the hospital employees’ database. That nurse reported a missing badge this morning.”

  “Were you able to detain the woman?” Mack asked.

  “No, she left as soon as Mustang snapped a photo of her badge. Mustang wouldn’t leave his post to follow her, and I was on a coffee run. By the time I got word, the woman was gone.”

  “Have Mustang send that photo of her badge and hopefully of the woman to me and Declan.”

  “Already sent to Declan. He passed it on to one of Charlie’s contacts with face recognition software.”

  “Great.”

  “Snow and McCastlain are doubling up on shift. If anyone tries again, we’ll have backup.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Mack said. “Keep Charlie safe.”

  “We’ve got her covered,” Gus said. “Question is, do you need help?”

  “I’ve got Declan chasing down some leads via Charlie’s contacts. Riley and I are following a lead now. Hopefully something will turn up. In the meantime, we’re working against the clock. I fully expect Riley to get a phone call soon if Charlie doesn’t show up in the news as having passed.”

  “We’ll do our best to keep that from happening, but that doesn’t help Riley get her brother back.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Stay in contact.”

  “Will do,” Mack said, and ended the call.

  “Mr. Young just turned off,” Riley said.

  The car in front of them exited the main highway onto a side road.

  Mack slowed the truck, giving Young enough time to pull ahead.

  By the time Mack turned off the main highway, Young had made another turn and disappeared.

  “Damn.” Mack pressed his foot hard on the accelerator.

  “There!” Riley pointed down a street to the right. “He just turned left two blocks down.”

  Mack drove another block and turned right, sped past one block and was well on the way to the second.

  “Slow down.” Riley leaned forward. “He stopped at a house on the next street. Stop the truck. We can walk from here without alerting him to the fact that he’s being followed.”

  Mack pulled the truck to a stop against the curb and shifted into Park.

  Riley was out of her seat and dropping to the ground before he could round the front of the truck. Together, they ran between buildings. Mack could see the car Young had been driving pull into the back alley behind a yellow-and-white cottage.

  Riley slowed to a stop behind a bush and parted the branches. “He’s going in through the back door. He could have Toby in there.” When she started to go around the bushes, he stopped her.

  “Wait and let him get inside.”

  “But—”

  “He could be visiting his mother for all we know,” Mack reminded her.

  As Young climbed the steps to the back porch, the back door opened, and a pretty woman with bleached-blond hair stepped out and flung her arms around Young’s neck.

  “I could be wrong, but that’s not his mother,” Riley said.

  The woman wrapped her arms around Young’s neck and kissed him.

  “And I’d bet that’s not his daughter.”

  “I’ve met his wife,” Riley said. “That’s not her.”

  Chapter Eight

  Riley held back long enough for Mr. Young to get inside the house. Then she ducked around the bush and hurried toward the little yellow-and-white house. Apparently, her department head was having an affair. But did that make him a Russian spy? And did it mean he was the one holding Toby hostage? She doubted it, but they’d come this far; they had to be certain.

  Mack caught up to her and got to the house before her.

  Since he was taller, he could see in through the window without having to climb up onto the porch.

  “See anything?”

  “Just the two of them kissing.”

  “Any sign of Toby?”

  “No.” Mack moved from that window to another. Riley followed. “And the windows aren’t completely covered. You’d think if they had the boy, they’d have him hidden.”

  “You’d think if they were having an affair, they’d hide it better. Any private investigator could have a field day snapping photos.”

  Making a semicircle around the house, Mack checked every window. “From what I can tell, there isn’t a basement. I’m not seeing any sign of anyone other than Young and the woman. And they only have eyes for each other.”

  “Give me a boost,
” Riley demanded.

  Mack cupped his hands. “Have a look.”

  Riley stepped into his palms.

  Mack raised her to eye level with the window.

  As he’d mentioned, Mr. Young and the woman were heavy into kissing and more. Clothes were flying off, and Mr. Young backed the woman against the wall.

  “Good Lord, that’s Rachel from HR.” Riley jerked and knocked her forehead against the glass pane.

  The couple stopped in mid-grope and turned toward the window.

  Riley dropped down, her heart pounding. “They might have seen me. We need to get out of here.”

  “You feel confident they don’t have Toby?” Mack asked as they ran around a thick stand of bushes.

  “Positive.”

  “If you think there might be a chance they have him hidden in a closet, I’ll go knock on the door. They don’t know me. I could make up some story to get them to let me in.”

  “No. I think we’re wasting our time.” Riley stood still for a moment, afraid to move unless Young and his lover caught sight of her.

  The back door opened, and the woman peered out. Mr. Young stood in the shadows behind her.

  Riley held her breath.

  The woman shook her head and turned, closing the door behind her.

  Riley grabbed Mack’s hand. “Come on, we have to check out the other two people on our list. I feel like we’re running out of time.”

  A dog barked as they passed a fence, and someone yelled for it to shut up.

  Riley broke into a run, a sense of urgency making her pulse race and her stomach twist. Mack opened the door for her and then hurried around to get into the driver’s seat.

  “Where to next?” Mack shifted into Drive and pulled out onto the street.

  “Steve Pruett’s place.” Riley stared down at the map function on her cell phone where she’d keyed in Steve’s address. “It’s about twenty minutes from here.”

  “We’ll make it in fifteen.” Mack pushed down hard on the accelerator.

  Riley stared out the window, despair eating away at hope. “I feel like we’re on a wild-goose chase.”

  Mack reached across and gathered Riley’s hand in his. He gave it a gentle squeeze. “As long as Toby’s out there, we can’t give up hope.”

  She nodded, her heart swelling at Mack’s touch. He gave her strength in the simple contact. “I’m not giving up,” she assured him. “But there has to be a better way to find him than chasing down impossible leads.”

  As if on cue, Mack’s cell phone rang.

  Riley lifted it and read the caller ID screen. “Declan.” She slid her finger across the display. “Hey, Declan. Tell me something good.”

  “We had a hit on Steve Pruett.”

  “What kind of hit?”

  “We found a police report about a domestic disturbance at his house a month ago. The neighbor called it in. When they arrived, his girlfriend refused to press charges, even though she had a busted lip. She swore she’d walked into a door.”

  “That doesn’t mean he’s a kidnapper.”

  “No, but we also found information on a debt collection agency. The man owes over $100,000 in credit card bills. Apparently, he likes to live at a level greater than his salary warrants.”

  “Motivation to sell secrets, but not to kill,” Riley said.

  “Unless someone is paying him to have you do the killing,” Declan suggested. “He bears looking into. Grace and I cut our vacation short. We’re back at Charlie’s place with the computer guy who worked with her late husband. He’s an expert hacker. We’ve got him digging into anything to do with Pruett.”

  “Good. We’re on our way to Pruett’s address. Anything you find in the next twenty minutes could help.”

  “Will let you know. And we didn’t find anything on Bryan Young. Other than his wife recently filed for divorce. They’re in marriage counseling, to mediate and salvage their marriage.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Mack muttered.

  Riley’s lips twisted into a wry grin. “Anything on Tracy Gibson?”

  “The most we could find was that she’s drawing unemployment for now. No police record or rap sheet on her.”

  “So far, Pruett’s all we have. If your hacker can get into Moretti’s computer at Quest or his home, have him see what he can dig up.”

  “Will do,” Declan said.

  “We’ll let you know what we find at Pruett’s place.” Mack ended the call with a touch to a button on the steering wheel. “What do you know about Steve Pruett?”

  Riley shook her head. “That’s just it. I don’t know much about any of my coworkers. I was so busy working and spending time on the weekend with my brother. And when the FBI got me involved with finding the leak in our department, I was focused on Moretti. I didn’t see anything in any of the others...because I wasn’t looking.” She clenched her hands into fists. “Too many secrets. I hate living a life of secrets. But how did Pruett find out about mine? No one knew but my parents’ handler, as far as I know. Why would the handler share that information?”

  “Unless he had an agenda of his own and needed to keep his identity secret.”

  Riley glanced down at the map on her phone. “We turn here. Two blocks over and turn to the right.” Once again, her heart beat faster. If Pruett was their man, he could have Toby locked up in his house.

  “Parking now.”

  Before he had the gearshift fully engaged in Park, she was out of the truck and running toward Pruett’s address. Pruett had to be their guy. Toby could be yards away.

  Riley’s heart raced as her legs powered her forward.

  A hand on her arm jerked her back.

  “You can’t go charging up to the house. He’s not just going to hand over Toby.” Mack brought her up short at the corner of a house three doors down from the target address and gripped both her arms, forcing her to look at him. “We have to take it slowly.”

  Riley nodded. “I know. I know. I just...it’s Toby. I have to get him back. He’s bound to be scared to death.”

  “If he’s there, we’ll get him.”

  Riley curled her hands into his shirt. “He has to be there.”

  “We’ll soon find out.” He swept his hand along the side of her cheek and brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. Then he bent and touched his lips to hers. “Let’s do this.” Mack took the lead and slipped behind the houses, following an alley that paralleled the street out front.

  Riley shifted her gaze from the buildings ahead to her cell phone, tracking their progress since they weren’t looking at the numbers on the curb or mailboxes. “This is it,” she said, stopping short of the house. The backyard was surrounded by a chain-link fence. The one before it had a collection of old junk stacked in varying piles. Not Pruett’s house. The yard was pristine. Absent of everything but neatly trimmed grass. He didn’t even have bushes around the foundation.

  “He has a basement.” Riley pointed to a trapdoor with a padlock securing the outside.

  “Let’s see if he’s home.” Mack inched up to one of the windows and peeked inside.

  “See anything?”

  “No movement.”

  Riley eased around the side of the building to the garage and looked through the window into a one-car garage. “No car. He must be out. We can get inside and be out before he returns.”

  “That’s breaking and entering.”

  “I don’t care if I have to smash a window. I’m going in.” Riley dug in her jacket pocket for the file she kept handy for just such an occasion. She climbed the stairs to the back porch and slipped the file into the lock on the door. Within seconds, she had the door open.

  “One of your spy skills?”

  “My father had me tinkering with locks from a very early age,” Riley admitted. “I’m goo
d at it.” As she crossed the threshold into Pruett’s house, she glanced back. “Stay outside. I don’t want you taking the rap for breaking and entering. It’ll be all on me, if I get caught.”

  “You’re not going in alone.” Mack followed her up the stairs and entered the house, closing the door behind them.

  The house was old, with hardwood floors, crisply painted walls and not a cobweb or dust bunny anywhere. The hallway passed a small laundry room. Riley glanced through that doorway and moved on. Mack entered, checked it thoroughly and followed Riley into the kitchen.

  A study in white, the kitchen was like the rest of the house, sparkling clean with white marble countertops and white cabinets with chrome pull handles, polished bright. No fingerprints marring the smooth finish.

  Riley lifted her hands, afraid to touch anything for fear of leaving evidence that she’d been there. A staircase led off the kitchen up to the second floor. Riley hurried up the steps. Two bedrooms were completely empty with no furnishings or wall hangings. The light fixtures were clean, and cobwebs wouldn’t dare make an appearance in the rooms.

  Mack led the way back to the ground floor and found a door beneath the staircase. Using the hem of his T-shirt, he opened the door and flipped on the light switch. A light hung overhead but only illuminated the staircase, nothing beyond.

  Mack went down first.

  Riley held her breath and followed.

  Once they reached the concrete floor below, they had to turn to see into the rest of the basement. A shiny steel toolbox stood in one corner next to a workbench. Behind the workbench was a pegboard with tools hanging neatly. Each tool had an outline on the pegboard. Every tool had a place and every tool was in it.

  Riley had the sudden urge to knock them all down and fling them across the floor in disarray. None of the tools had any dings, dirt or oil on them. They appeared to be barely used.

  Mack made a quick inspection of the rest of the basement. “Nothing here,” he said.

  “No secret doors?” Riley made her own pass through the room. “No hidden rooms?”

  “Nothing.”

  Her heart sank. “Where’s Toby?” she whispered.