No Place to Hide (21 page)

6:15 P.M.

Ian stared at Jackie. He understood a little more about why she blamed herself for her husband’s death. And shock zipped through him at the fact that she’d been pregnant. “You were pregnant?”

“Yes.”

“What happened to the baby?”

Jackie let out a tearful laugh. “It doesn’t matter,” she whispered.

“Of course it does. Did you . . . ?”

She jumped to her feet. “It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past. Let’s leave it there.” She went to her room and slammed the door.

Ian stared at the barrier as he worked through this new information. The past was painful for her, he understood that. There were parts of his past that he still avoided thinking about too.

Jackie had unresolved issues that she needed to deal with. Issues he’d help her work through if she’d let him. But he had a feeling she’d closed a part of herself off from people for so long, she might not remember how to share. To let someone in and be a part of her healing process. Just like he’d like to let her be a part of his.

He debated whether or not to press the issue. Should he go after her or leave her alone? Before he could make a decision, Jackie came out of the room, phone pressed to her ear. “Okay, I’ll fill him in.” She hung up.

“What’s the plan?” he asked.

“David has contacted Elizabeth Miller. He’s set up a meeting with her, telling her that he may know our location, but wants to meet with her before saying anything.”

“And she bought that?”

“David didn’t give her a choice. She’ll take a cab to the location he tells her, then she’ll get in the car with him and he’ll bring her to meet us. He wants to make sure she doesn’t bring anyone with her to surprise us. After the meeting, she can grab a taxi and head to wherever she needs to go to report in.”

“What if she’s wired?”

“She probably will be. But as soon as she gets into the car with David and Adam, they have a way of blocking any radio signals, including cell phones and body wires.” She paused. “But we’ll tell her to get rid of her phone just in case. There’s new technology out there that allows smartphones to stream live. All they need is a computer to track us. The app runs on the background of the phone even when the phone looks like it’s turned off.”

He nodded.

“Once he’s sure it’s safe, he’ll tell us where to meet them.”

“How long do we have?”

“Not long.”

Less than a minute later, Jackie’s phone rang and Ian lifted a brow. “That was fast.”

She shook her head. “It’s not David, it’s Holly.” She slid her finger across the screen.

“Put her on speaker.”

Jackie did. “Hello?”

“I’m at the cabin with Ron.”

Relief tugged at Jackie. “Good.”

“I talked to Lucy. She sounded great.” Jackie could hear the tears in her friend’s voice.

“She’ll be just fine.”

“She’s excited. She gets to ride on a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Maria, another friend who also has a little boy in Lucy’s class, works for a float building company. Somehow Maria arranged for the whole class to ride.”

“The whole class?”

“Well, there are only twelve in the class, but they’re so excited.”

“That’s awesome,” Jackie said, but frowned.

“Lucy actually had to go stay with Maria. Carissa’s son, Micah, has strep throat. She couldn’t reach me so made the decision to send Lucy over to stay with Maria.”

“Are you all right with that?”

“Yes, Maria’s wonderful, she’s just really busy right now, so her mother’s going to have to take care of both kids. She says she’s fine with it. Lucy adores Lewis so she’s happy too. I guess it’s all right. I don’t like not being there for her.”

Jackie heard the underlying meaning behind her friend’s words. “You’ll be there for her.”

Holly changed the subject. “I worked on this code the whole way here and I think I’ve figured more of it out.”

“Great. What?”

“Okay, the first two lines I’m still pretty sure about: New York on Standby and smallpox delivered. The third, fourth, and fifth lines I just can’t figure out what they could be. I think if it’s underlined, it means what you think it means.”

“So Cnt:T8R. That’s underlined. What does that mean? Contact Tater?”

“Or someone named Tate R. And I think the symbols to the right are a phone number.”

Jackie bit her lip. “What number?”

“I’ve worked it several different ways, but when I do it one way, I get a number with a 212 area code.”

“Which is New York.”

“Exactly. I’m not a hundred percent sure, so I want to keep playing with it.”

Finally, they were getting somewhere. “Good job, Holly. I’ll pass this on to Special Agent Miller.”

“Be careful.”

“We will.”

“The FBI are watching me. Lockwood and Sellers must have delivered the tablet to them,” Wainwright told the person on the other end of the line.

“You were stupid leaving it lying around like that. Is my name on there anywhere?”

Wainwright drew in a deep breath and decided to ignore the insult. Besides, it had been stupid. “Of course not. Have you located them?”

“In the mountains of Virginia.”

“How soon can you take care of them?”

“We’re on our way now.”

Wainwright clicked a few keys on his keyboard. It was time for him to vacate the United States. Looked like his pilot was going to earn a bonus this flight. He’d schedule the flight, then have the pilot take him somewhere else off grid. Once the plan was carried out, the money would be wired to his offshore account that was in another name. He didn’t have to be in the United States to get the money.

“If you fail, we’re done,” the voice hissed. “I chose you because you were the one person I thought I could count on.”

“You chose me because I could be bought.”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Don’t worry. Failure isn’t an option. My whole future is riding on this deal.”

“I’m glad we agree.”

Ian and Jackie sat in the back of the cab for ten minutes while they watched the restaurant and those who entered and left.

“You think it’s all right?” Ian asked.

“David texted me and said to come on in. She’s here.”

Jackie took one more look around. “If there are feds here waiting to pounce, I don’t see them.”

“Isn’t that the point?”

She gave a low laugh. “True, but I can usually pick them out when I know they’re around.”

“Hopefully, David was able to keep them from getting directions.”

Ian paid the driver and they slipped from the back of the cab. Jackie had the tablet in her bag. She wrapped the straps around her hand and followed Ian into the restaurant. Adam stood guard just inside the door and gave them a slight nod as they walked past.

Immediately, her eyes landed on David and a woman with jet black hair. Her Asian heritage was evident with her almond eyes and olive complexion. She stood, her expression guarded. Wary. Jackie held out her hand. “Jackie Sellers.”

“Special Agent Elizabeth Miller. Call me Elizabeth.” She dropped Jackie’s hand and let her gaze land on Ian.

“I’m Ian Lockwood,” he said.

He and Elizabeth shook hands. She glanced at David. “I’m feeling a bit outnumbered.”

They all sat. “No need to worry,” David said. “No one here wants any trouble.”

“On the contrary,” Jackie said, pulling the tablet from her bag and pushing it across the table to the agent. “There’s proof of all kinds of trouble on here. You just need to find it.”

“What kind of proof?” Elizabeth didn’t touch the device, instead she reached into her own bag and pulled out a pair of gloves and a large paper bag. She slipped on the gloves and powered the tablet up. “Password?”

Jackie shook her head. “I have no idea.”

Elizabeth turned the device off, slipped the tablet into the bag, and sealed it. She then proceeded to write the contents, the date, and time on the outside of the fold. “Then how do you know there’s evidence of anything on here?”

“Because of whose office I took it from.”

“And if there’s nothing on here, he’ll press charges of theft.”

Jackie held her gaze. “That’s the least of my worries right now. The proof is there, you just have to find it. Of course, I can’t prove the tablet actually belongs to him and he will say it doesn’t if you ask him, but it does, and I’m sure there’s something on there that will prove it.”

The woman nodded. “It’s probably as simple as it being registered in his name or his company’s. I’ll get this to someone who can find out what’s on here. In the meantime, I’m going to have to ask you to turn yourselves in. It really is in your best interests. Obviously you’ve made someone mad and they’re out to get you. We can protect you while you’re in custody.”

Jackie sighed. “We can’t do that. That was the whole reason for meeting you here without any of your backup. Has your cryptologist figured out that coded email yet?”

“Not yet.”

“We’ve got more.”

Elizabeth held up a hand and looked around. “Hold on, where’s the dog?”

Ian and Jackie exchanged a glance. Jackie lifted a brow and shrugged.

“He’s with a friend,” Ian said. “We thought it would be less conspicuous if we didn’t have him with us. Why?”

Elizabeth pinched the bridge of her nose. “So he
is
in Virginia.”

Jackie stilled and looked at David. “How would she know that?”

David shook his head and they stared at Elizabeth. “Dr. Jason Arnold was shot in the head yesterday,” she said.

“What?” Ian yelled and surged to his feet. Jackie grabbed his arm and pulled him down beside her. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I’m saying something now. He’s hanging on to his life by a thread at a hospital in South Carolina.”

Ian blew out a breath. “Oh no. No. This can’t be. He has a daughter—” He swallowed. “Why? Why would they do that?”

“The GPS code.”

“To track us,” Jackie muttered. “Of course.” Her eyes widened. “Ron. Holly,” she whispered.

“Your friends?”

“Yes. They’re not involved in this, but we had to send Gus somewhere. Ron took him and Holly to keep them away from the danger.” She groaned. “Instead, we’ve sent them straight to it.”

“The FBI also has the code and are on the way up there. Your friends will be fine.”

“If the FBI gets there first,” David said. He stood and pulled out his phone. “I’m going to call Ron.”

Ian’s face had lost most of its color. Jackie decided she might start praying after all.

“Is there anything else you can tell me?” Elizabeth asked.

Jackie blinked, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Holly and Ron
weren’t
safe. Gus would lead the killers straight to them. Then again, the FBI were on the way too. “Will they get there in time?” she asked.

“What?”

“The FBI. Will they get there in time?”

“If I had my phone, I could tell you.”

Jackie shot a look at David, who paced in the small hall that led to the restrooms. “He’ll find out.”

Elizabeth’s facial expression didn’t change. “In the meantime, you said you had more. What else?”

Ian still looked shell-shocked. Jackie didn’t blame him. They’d thought they were being so careful. “Um . . . yeah. Yeah.” She filled her in on what Holly had discovered.