Hidden Legacy (11 page)

“Bijou doesn’t need a vet. I have just the right thing for her. By tomorrow night, she’ll be herself again.”

She wouldn’t leave him. She would always be there.

* * *

“Sleep well?” Juliana asked through the half-opened front door, not quite sure how to deal with Lucas. She’d heard him leave after he’d grabbed Briana’s picture from her. The sharp, strident fall of his footsteps on the porch’s wood had reverberated with his rage. The squealing of tires out of the driveway a few minutes later had echoed the bitterness of his feelings. But she’d known his departure provided only a temporary reprieve. The Phantom was still at large, after all, and the way to him was through Briana.

“I’ve slept better.” He rose from the wicker rocker and stretched the kinks out of his shoulders, making her wonder just how long he’d sat there. He wore age-softened jeans, molding him in all the right places, making it much too easy for her imagination to fill in the details. His running shoes looked road-weary, his gray sweatshirt and his navy polo shirt appeared fresh, if sleep-wrinkled. He cupped Briana’s picture in his left hand. What had he thought? What was he feeling?

She’d woken up stiff and sore, slumped on the living room couch. A peek through the curtains had shown her her car, as well as a green Jeep, in the driveway, and Lucas asleep on the porch. After a quick shower and a change of clothes, she’d felt almost human again, but Lucas’s wrath still hung above her like a sword ready to chop her to pieces. She’d decided to face him now rather than wait. Now she wasn’t sure. He still looked wild and seething with anger.

“Might as well come in,” she said, opening the front door all the way. She wasn’t above begging for a little time—she just didn’t want the neighbors to see her groveling like a guilty puppy. “You’re not exactly being inconspicuous in that chair.”

“And what would the Jones’s think if they saw a strange man sleeping on prim-and-proper Juliana Shales’s front porch.”

He knew her too well. Knew all her soft spots, her chinks, her quirks.

Knew how to hurt her.

She understood his need, would have felt the same if she stood in his shoes. She handed him the mug of coffee she’d poured for herself. “Sounds like you need this more than I do.”

The mailbox squealed as she dug out yesterday’s mail. She nearly cried when she saw Briana’s
National Geographic
—not the kids’ version, the adults’. Briana thought the pictures were more fascinating, and reading the articles together, snuggled on the couch or on her bed, had been one of their favorite shared activities.

A car trolled slowly down the sleepy street, a series of
whaps
marking its path. The newspaper landed with a
thwack
at the base of the stairs. She bent over to pick it up. A cell phone fell from its folds. No sooner had she finished picking it up than it rang.

“Tell your
special
agent there’s no point in trying to trace the origin of the gadget,” the Phantom said without preamble. “I paid cash and gave a false name and address. The service is a calling card.”

“How’s Briana?” She glanced up at Lucas. His fatigue vanished with her words. A predator’s mask settled firmly over his features. His body readied to pounce into action.

“She’s fine. She has quite a healthy appetite. We had six multi-grain pancakes apiece, plus a bowl of fresh strawberries, and orange juice—freshly squeezed, naturally.”

“I want to talk to her.”

“There’s no time. I told you, Miss Shales, that I would take good care of your daughter. I do keep my word.”

“For what that’s worth.”
Shut up, you idiot. Don’t get him mad. Not before you have Briana back in your arms.
“You’re a thief, a kidnapper, a—”

“I do get the picture. Shall we go on with our business?”

“Yes, of course.”
Control, stay in control
. She swallowed, let out a shuddering breath. Briana was all right. She had to be all right. “Where do I meet you?”

“I want you to wrap the Nadyenka Sapphire very carefully and stow it into your red tote bag. The one with the strange-looking cat on the front. It’s distinctive and can’t be missed. Then I want you to get into your car, not the Jeep, and start driving.”

“Which direction?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll call you once you’re moving.”

Lucas spoke into his cell phone. Panic swarmed into her bloodstream.
No, no
. She shook her head madly from side to side.
Don’t ruin this, Lucas
!

“Tell Vassilovich he’s to ride with you.”

“Why?”

“I think you already know the answer to that. I would hurry, if I were you. We’re actually on quite a tight schedule. I trust you have a full tank of gas. If not, I suggest you make a gas station your first stop.”

“Wait—”

The Phantom had already hung up.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she yelled at Lucas, venting her frustration on him. “I told you. No FBI. No agents. This is between him and me, and I really don’t care if you capture your Phantom.”

“What did he say?”

She pushed past him and headed toward the kitchen, trusting he’d follow. “We’re going for a road trip. You, me, and the Nadyenka Sapphire. My car, not yours. That’s it. Do you understand?”

“Juliana—”

She snatched the brooch from the table, wrapped it in a clean kitchen towel. “How much gas did you leave in the car after your joy ride last night?”

“Filled it up before I came back.”

“Well, that’s one relief.” She marched to the front closet and searched amid hers and Briana’s boots and outdoor gear for the Laurel Birch tote bag she used to lug their library books, dumped the books on the floor, and placed the wrapped Sapphire in the bag. How had he known about it? Goose bumps trooped up her arms. He was a shadow following her every move. “I mean it, Lucas, I don’t want to see any agents following us.”

“You won’t.”

Her head snapped back, and she stared at him. “This isn’t a game to me.”

“For me either. There’s safety in numbers.”

“Or, if the Phantom recognizes your agents, the death of a child. Can your conscience accept that? Mine can’t.”

“She
will
be safe.” Lucas took her chin in his hand. The intensity of his gaze ruffled her insides. “Briana is my daughter, too. Don’t you forget that.”

She was his daughter, and he was staking his claim. Holding out a shaky hand, Juliana asked, “Keys?”

“I’ll drive.” He strode toward the door.

“I will.” She grabbed her bag and followed. “I need something to keep me busy. I’ll go crazy just sitting there.”

“He’ll want to talk to you. You can’t talk and drive.”

She decided against arguing. The last thing they needed was to get into an accident because she couldn’t concentrate on the Phantom’s instructions and the road at the same time.

They had barely backed out the driveway when the phone rang.

“Head east on one-oh-one. Take the one-oh-one A exit. Go south.” The Phantom gave her no chance to comment.

She punched the off button and relayed the message to Lucas. Her muscles already shook with a need to act, her heart sped with anticipation, her nerves unraveled with worry. Where were they going? How long before she held Briana safely in her arms again? Would Lucas ruin her chances to get her baby back?

“Where do you think he is?” she asked, wrapping her arms tightly around her torso. Her gaze searched her surroundings, but nothing seemed out of place. “He has to be close to know where we are, what we’re doing.”

Lucas studied his mirrors intently, scrutinized every house they crept by, but didn’t give her an answer.

She couldn’t take any more stretches of silence. “Where is he having us drive?”

Lucas’s organized scan never paused. “He likes drama. The exchange will take place where things are busy, where he can get lost in a crowd and make it difficult for anyone to get a fix on him and follow him. One-oh-one A south. Nashua? Boston? Logan?”

The phone rang.

“Where are you now?” the Phantom asked. Had he lost physical contact?

“One-oh-one A and one-twenty-two.”

“Keep going straight.”

They followed his directions. She peered into every car surrounding them, looking for a man and a child. Nothing but harried people running late for work, honking on horns, cutting each other off, passing. The sight of a mother and her son turning into a day care nearly had her in tears again. Interminable minutes crept by until the phone rang again.

“Turn left on Continental.”

Lucas brought out his own cell phone.

“No!” She made a grab for the instrument. He deftly avoided her.

“If we’re going to catch him, then I have to start setting up some things.”

“He’s testing us. He’s going to have us go on smaller roads to see if you have agents tailing us. He’s not stupid. You said so yourself.”

He ignored her, and barked orders into his phone.

“You’re going to ruin this. You’re taking risks with your own daughter’s life. How can you?”

His jaw twitched. “This is what I do for a living, Juliana. I know what I’m doing. I’m good at it.”

Her throat rasped raw with unshed tears. “This is not just another job. I knew—”

“What did you know, Juliana? You never gave me a say one way or another. What possessed you to turn your back on me when you knew you were pregnant?”

Breathing was like sucking through thin, obstructed straws. Her body was so stiff, she didn’t think she could ever move a muscle again. The phone rang and she stared at it in her lap, unable to reach for it.

Lucas glared at her. “Answer the phone.”

Please, please, please. Let Briana be safe. Let her come back to me. Don’t let the Phantom hurt her. Don’t let Lucas ruin my chances.

“Answer the phone, Juliana!”

With wooden fingers, she grabbed for the phone as if it were a rabid rat. The gadget slipped from her grasp and landed at her feet. It shrilled incessantly, demanding attention.

You’re losing your lifeline with Briana!

With both hands, she fished for the slim phone, and finally managed to grip the instrument.

“Take a left on Daniel Webster Highway. And Miss Shales, next time, I expect a prompt answer. If you miss your exit, you won’t reach your destination in time.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Lucas asked, after she relayed the Phantom’s directions. “You’re going to get him angry if you don’t pick up on the first ring.”

“I’m so scared,” she said, sniffing back tears.

He glanced at her. The muscles of his jaw tensed. “So am I.”

That catch in his voice, that vulnerability in his eyes reassured her more than any placating platitude could have. If he was scared, too, he’d be careful.

He returned his attention to the road. “He’s going to head us towards Manchester. My guess would be the Mall of New Hampshire, the airport, or the bus depot.”

“Because?”

He gave her a small smile. “Because.”

Hop, skip, jump, and assume. He was often right. She had to hang onto that hope. “I don’t care if you catch him. I just want my daughter back.”

“So do I.” He dialed and spoke his deductions into the phone.

The Phantom led them through back roads in Merrimack, Amherst, and Bedford with a roundabout approach through Goffstown into Manchester.

Lucas had three teams spread, until it became clear the airport was the target. Judging by his tone of voice, and the blue streak being cursed at him on alternate phone calls, things weren’t working out as well as he’d planned.

“Everything all right?” Juliana asked, fingers twined tightly around the phone.

“We’re going to be short on manpower. It’ll be easy for him to give us the slip.”

“Briana—”

“Is the most important thing.”

She drew a breath of relief. They understood each other on this one point, if nothing else. He parked illegally, flashing his credentials as security confronted him.

As she stepped out of the car, the scent of pine, discernible even through jet exhaust, enveloped her. While she’d waited for her brother to pick her up on breaks from school, the fresh pine-scented air had always made her feel good. It signaled coming home. Now, as she trotted behind Lucas, she let the familiar scent calm her. Briana was coming home. Today. Now. This ordeal was almost over.

As instructed, they waited inside the front doors. The lobby teemed with activity. People milled about, in a hurry to get home or to make a business appointment. Juliana’s stomach sank. How would they find them in all this chaos?

The phone vibrated in her hand.

“Head for the luggage carousel on the left side. Hurry, Miss Shales. When the eleven thirty-one U.S. Airways flight to Chicago departs, your daughter will be gone forever.”

Chapter 7