Cold Silence (A High Stakes Thriller) (27 page)

Cody glanced at the phone but didn't say anything, and he was thankful. He didn't want to discuss it. He'd been sure she would call. Maybe she'd say no; he deserved no, but at least he thought his Roni would call back.

He clambered up the stairs, as old as he'd ever felt, and set the phone down in its cradle. He left the den light on and shut the others out and locked the door as he left. He crossed the porch slowly, giving the phone a last chance to ring. It didn't.

At the bottom of the stairs, he looked at Cody, sitting behind the driver's seat, waiting for him, and he wondered what he could possibly do for her. He'd located the region of Lake Tahoe where Ryan's bug was found. But it was still easily one hundred acres to cover. And that wasn't something an old man like him could help with.

He met her gaze as she gave him a reassuring smile. He saw her excitement, her hopefulness. When had he lost that? Was it because of Roni, or maybe Florence? He moved around the car to the passenger side and opened the door.

"You got everything?"

She tightened her fists on the steering wheel and stared out the windshield as she nodded.

The colonel climbed in and shut the door. As he pulled the seat belt across his chest, he pictured Ryan's face and felt that same well of hope. "Let's go get him."

Cody's gaze flashed to him, and he felt her presence as though she'd physically touched him. Her eyes were wide and her emotion bare, and for a moment he saw young Roni, needing him in those eyes. Damn it all, what a fool he'd been. Well, he wasn't going to be a fool twice. "Let's go."

With that, Cody put the car in gear and they started for Lake Tahoe, Florence snoring in the backseat.

Chapter 26

Cody saw the headlights turn down the street just as she pulled from the curb. She would have liked to ignore them, especially after all the media in and out. But the driver was waving a hand out of the window and flashing the headlights. When the small car zipped toward her and then swerved to the curb, she knew it was Landon.

"Oh, Lord," the colonel said. "Drives like Mario Andretti."

Landon leaped from the car and crossed to her, glancing down the empty street as though to avoid getting hit.

Cody rolled the window down.

Travis looked at the interior of the car and frowned. "Where are you going?"

She shook her head. "Don't start with a question. Answer one first. What were you thinking, answering those questions? And how the hell did the story leak?"

He shook his head, his gaze firm on hers. "I don't know how it got out. I swear I don't."

"Why didn't you tell me you had an interview, and the kidnapping came up?"

"I tried, but the colonel was there and—"

"He knows everything," she interrupted.

"Well, I didn't know that, and you were in such a rush to get me out of there. But I checked the E-mail. We got a ransom note."

"How much?"

"Two million in cash."

Cody flinched. "Jesus." She looked at the colonel.

"You ought to work to put that money together," the colonel told Travis. "We have to go check out a different lead. Maybe it's time to call the police in," he added, turning to Cody.

She thought about it and nodded.

"What lead are you following up on?"

Cody's cell phone rang. She handed it to the colonel. She couldn't answer it, didn't want to.

"Hello," the colonel answered in a booming voice. He looked at her and nodded. "Thanks for calling me back, Marshall."

He turned his head and she watched him frown.

Travis started to talk again, but she waved him off, focusing on the colonel's conversation.

"Do you know how long he's been there?"

Cody gasped.

The colonel shook his head and she found herself grabbing hold of his shirtsleeve.

"We'd like to come meet your men up there."

There was a pause and Cody held her breath.

"I know where it is."

He motioned for a pen and Cody scrambled for one from the glove box. The colonel wrote on the back of one of the pictures from the website. "We can be there in less than four hours." He paused and nodded. "Thank you again."

He hung up and looked over at Cody. Then he glanced at Travis.

"What is it?" she begged, the expression on his face making her want to cry.

"They've found a body."

The air escaped her lungs in such a rush it was as though she'd been punched. She couldn't find the words.

"Who?" Travis asked.

"The rangers in a small town up past Placerville."

Cody stared at the colonel. "Placerville. Is that...?"

The colonel looked at his hands, his lower lip running over his top teeth as he gave a short nod. "It's up there."

Cody gripped the wheel until there were sharp pains in her hands. In a tight surge, her muscles cramped and she was forced to release her grip. She wished for the pain back, anything that was sharp and real instead of the terrible ache that was growing like a balloon in her chest.

"We don't know yet," the colonel said.

"I want to go. I need to see."

"I don't know if you'll be able to."

"Why not?" she snapped.

"My contact up there wasn't sure of the state of the remains."

She almost choked for breath. "I have to go there."

The colonel nodded. "I have directions and he said he'll send someone up to meet us, but I need to warn you: There's been some animal damage. I don't know how much."

Travis swore softly.

Cody blinked hard and moved her gaze around the inside of the car in an effort to clear her vision.

She swallowed to dislodge the block in her throat. She pictured her baby struggling against a pack of wolves. No, it wouldn't have been like that. She forced the thought away. It wasn't Ryan. It wasn't. But she had to know for sure. "I'm going."

"We could do it with a photo or video, Cody," Travis offered. "You don't have to be there."

Cody slammed her palms against the steering wheel. She turned to the colonel. "I said we're going."

The colonel remained silent, but she knew he would. He would understand.

"Why don't you let me drive, then?"

Cody shook her head.

"We don't need two cars," Travis said. "Why don't you let me drive?"

"You don't need to come. You should be working on getting that money."

"I'll work on it on the way up. I need to be there."

Cody looked at the colonel, too many thoughts in her mind to make a decision on Travis.

"Then you can follow us," the colonel said.

Travis opened his mouth to argue again, but Cody just stared. Without another word, Travis turned his back, got in his car, and slammed the door. He revved the engine unnecessarily high and made a tight U-turn in the street. As he passed, he rolled down the window. "You have enough gas?"

She nodded.

Cody let her foot off the brake. The car rolled forward, but she felt detached. She didn't feel she was moving at all.

As she focused on the dull red lights of the cars in front of her, she remembered the knock at the door the day Mark had died. It was a muffled sound, a series of thuds. Mark's partner, Geoff James, never knocked that way. His knocks were big and loud, thunder that seemed to shake the house, with a bit of rhythm and attitude tied in. Quite simply, they were just like Geoff.

When Cody opened the door to that dull knock and saw Geoff standing alone, she knew Mark was gone. She hadn't even focused on Geoff's face. Just his presence had told her.

She made a turn at the colonel's direction, only vaguely aware of where they were. Just drive. Focus on the road. She trained her eyes on the bumper in front of her, and forced herself not to let her mind even consider that the body the rangers had found was Ryan James Riggs.

* * *

By the time they had passed through Sacramento and were nearing Placerville, the rain had turned to sleet. That meant there would be heavy snow farther up in the mountains. Traffic had slowed to a crawl, and what was normally a four-hour trip looked like it was going to take closer to six. Travis thought about that, about how things were getting more complicated by the minute.

He'd called his attorney, Miles Hoch, and gotten him out of bed to start working on putting assets together to meet the ransom. Miles was also going to talk with the police and get them up to speed. Travis had given him the log-in information for the E-mail account, and the police could access it from any computer.

He had mixed reactions about it all blowing up in the news. In some ways, maybe it made the whole thing easier to have it out in the open. In the half hour he'd been home, he'd gotten more than two dozen phone calls from media and concerned parties. The concern made him feel relieved because now there were others, but he still wondered how the news had gotten out.

He'd stared at that second picture for an hour. There was just something about the surroundings that didn't sit right, and he had no idea what to do about it. That was why he'd had to come with them.

He wasn't going to get a moment's peace about his son or Cody's until R.J. was safely back with his mother. He would do everything he could to make that happen. Even if Cody O'Brien gave him nothing but hell for it. Travis didn't have a clue about her. It didn't matter, he told himself. He would do what he'd come to do. Two million dollars cash was going to take a lot of scraping, and he was glad he wasn't going to be there when Miles tried to figure out where it would come from. Miles was creative, but this was going to require a lot of creativity. Cody had offered her savings, but he would put the money together. He felt it was the least he could do, considering the intended target was Peter.

At least now the authorities were involved. He should have felt some relief about that. But everything Cody had said about her husband left him cold. Back and forth, he'd been wavering like that since he'd pulled into his driveway and seen the first news van.

He'd spent the entire drive up on the phone. He'd called the Placerville police himself, talked to two detectives and the medical examiner. He'd pulled his biggest investor from bed to let him know what was going on and put him in touch with Miles. Miles would break the news that company assets might be needed to reach the ransom total. Everyone seemed to rally. Even Mrs. Pat had taken the news that Peter had barely escaped being kidnapped with amazing togetherness. Now, as they approached Placerville, he just had to wait. The balls were rolling, and a lot of it was out of his control.

With that thought in his head, he followed Cody off the exit to Placerville. As they parked in a small clearing beside a thickly wooded area, the rain had just started up again, and he ignored the frozen mist on his face as he got out of the car.

Cody emerged from her car and he studied her face through the dark haze of the rain. The thin line of her lips, the even steadiness of her gaze—he didn't think he'd ever seen a woman look so determined.

As she set her fierce gaze on him, he found himself taking a step backward, and he couldn't help wondering what man would have the strength to beat that intensity.

Chapter 27