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Authors: Lynette Eason

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No Place to Hide (9 page)

BOOK: No Place to Hide
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12

12:40 P.M.

“They couldn’t have just dropped off the face of the earth.” Victor Stroebel stood from behind his desk and walked to the coffeepot. He poured himself a cup, then splashed a generous amount of whiskey in it.

A long sip later, he set the cup down and stared at his hired help. Owning one of South Carolina’s largest construction companies gave him access to all kinds of people. Some good, some not so good. Today he needed the not so good. Nick Stafford had proven useful in the past, and Victor had hopes the man would once again earn his pay. “Wainwright’s an idiot,” he mumbled.

“Sir?”

“Nothing. I just don’t like it when people mess up and I have to clean up behind them. He should never have gone to the cops with his accusation. We could have taken care of the problem without broadcasting—” Victor cursed and shook his head. “Forget it.”

Stafford clasped his hands in front of him and lifted his chin. “The cops are crawling all over the area where the bus stopped.
It’s on every news channel available. All we have to do is follow them and they’ll lead us straight to Lockwood and Sellers.”

“Then why aren’t you doing that?”

Nick swallowed, his attempt at growing a spine failing miserably. “Right, we’ll do that right now.” He slapped Hector’s head. “Come on. Let’s move.”

Hector shoved Nick and curled his fingers into a fist. Victor cleared his throat and Hector tightened his jaw, shot another glare at Nick, and strode toward the door. A small smile curved Victor’s lips. He liked that Hector kid.

He turned back to the flat screen television mounted on the wall over his desk.

One thing Nick was right about was the fact that Jackie and Ian were one of the top stories. If not
the
top story.

His phone rang. With one last look at the screen, he snatched the handset. “Yes.”

“Why do we still have loose ends running around?”

“Because Ian’s got help. Specialized help. If he didn’t, he would be dead by now.”

“Where did he get this help?”

“It looks like a childhood friend came to his rescue. From what I could pull on her, Jackie Sellers used to be a cop. She now works for Operation Refuge—an organization that specializes in making people disappear.”

The curses that blistered the line didn’t even make Victor blink. He might work for Cedric Wainwright, but he wasn’t afraid of him. “Calm down. We’re not finished yet.”

“I hope not.”

“You blew it when you accused Ian of stealing company secrets.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because if the cops get to him first, he’ll talk, tell them every
thing he knows. Which might not be much and they might not actually believe everything he says, but it might be enough to launch an investigation into Wainwright Labs. And while I won’t have any trouble getting to Lockwood once he’s in prison, I’d rather take him out before he has a chance to cast suspicion.”

Wainwright’s long pause made Victor frown. Then he heard the man sigh. “Should I retract the charge? Get the cops to back off? Make them feel like it’s safe to stop running?”

Victor blinked back his surprise. Wainwright didn’t often swallow his pride. He considered the questions. “No. I don’t think that would work. As soon as they stop running, they’ll still talk. I think our original plan to get Lockwood arrested then knocked off in jail isn’t going to work now. He’s got help. He’s been talking. At this point, we need to get to them before law enforcement. We’ll stay on it. I may have a lead on where they’re headed anyway.”

“Where?”

“Holly Kent, Lockwood’s cousin, is an encryption expert. The story is she’s been out of the country doing some kind of seminar for cryptologists on the latest protection software, but I can’t find a record of her flight. She’s not answering her phone either. We’re still looking for her.”

“So why is she still alive?”

“She never got the fax. My guy walked into her office and pulled it off her machine.”

“Good. Then we don’t have to worry about her.”

“No, we have to worry about her. Lockwood is heading toward New York. All the major networks are broadcasting the hunt for them live. If you turn it on, you’ll see the news teams doing helicopter sweeps. Law enforcement’s in the air too. You need to have people nearby who can take them out if they get caught.”

Another pause. When Wainwright spoke, he sounded nervous. “I’ll get someone on it. We can’t have them talking to the cops.”

“I’m guessing he’s going to be looking for Mrs. Kent to help him with the code.”

“Then your people will be waiting.”

“Waiting and watching. You take care of them if the feds catch them first. I’ve got people ready in New York. As soon as Lockwood, Sellers, and Kent are in the same place, we’ll grab them.” He paused. “We’ll have to be careful, though. She lives in a very populated area near Central Park. It’ll be hard to either grab them or kill them without attracting a lot of attention.”

“I want him—them—dead—or in jail. If they’re in jail, they’ll be dead within hours of darkening the door. But if they’re roaming around and figure out what that email means . . .”

“Or if they show it to the wrong person like Kent . . .”

“Five years of planning is circling the drain, Victor. Five years. We finally found our inside person, one willing to sell out his country for a few million dollars. This goes down as planned or we’re done.”

“We?”

“Yeah. We. And now I’ll have to report this failure.”

“Report—what? Report to whom?”

“None of your business. Now get this done.”

“I hope it’ll all be wrapped up before nightfall.”

“Hope? Hope?”

“I’ll be in touch.” Victor hung up, not caring that Wainwright was most likely turning all shades of red and purple. He had bigger things to worry about. Like whether or not he was going to lose ten million dollars if the plan didn’t go off as promised. He frowned, though. Wainwright seemed to be the one calling the shots, but apparently there was someone else. Someone even more powerful and more invested in making sure this plan went
off as designed. Someone Wainwright didn’t want to inform of Victor’s failure to kill Ian Lockwood. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin as he pondered how to go about finding out exactly who the mastermind was behind the plan. Because once he knew who it was, he could then figure out how to blackmail him for more money.

Ian met the scared brown eyes of the pretty teenager. “Don’t scream.”

Her face bleached white and she brought her hands up to cover her mouth as though to hold back the scream he warned her against.

“We’re not going to hurt you, we were just cold and found your barn and thought we’d warm up.”

“That’s trespassing,” she whispered. But at least she didn’t scream. “Who are you? Why are you here?” She moved, her back pressing against the wall as though wishing it would suck her through to the other side. Her gaze landed on Gus and then moved to Jackie.

“Like he said, we were cold and came looking for a place to warm up.” Jackie rubbed her hands together. “We’re warm now. We didn’t mean to scare you. We’ll leave and you can pretend you never saw us, okay?” She started backing toward the door and the teen seemed to relax a fraction, her fear fading slightly.

“You’re really not going to hurt me?”

“We’re really not,” Jackie said.

“Okay. Um . . . thanks?” Her eyes bounced back and forth between Jackie and Ian and Gus.

The helicopter buzzed overhead and Jackie hesitated. The girl looked at Ian. Then back to Jackie.

Ian rubbed a hand down his face.

The teen’s eyes narrowed and she swallowed, recognition hitting her gaze. “Wait a minute, you’re the two they’re looking for, aren’t you?” She bit her lip, every ounce of her previous tension returning full force. “Never mind, I never saw you. Just leave. Please.”

“We’re leaving, don’t worry,” Jackie said.

They stepped out of the office, the girl following behind, skittish as one of her colts in the stall. Gus’s ears laid back against his head, his body rigid with tension. The dog was special—highly trained and he’d been great up to this point—but he wasn’t oblivious to the stress and was confused about why his world had suddenly changed.

Ian opened the door of the barn, looked out, then shut it. “I don’t think we’re going to be leaving right away after all.”

“They’re out there?” Jackie asked.

“Not yet, but they’re getting close. The helicopter is right overhead. If we step out there, we’re done for.”

She closed her eyes. “I heard the chopper, but hoped it was further away. All right, let’s think.”

“Why don’t you just turn yourselves in?” the girl asked.

“Because that’s not an option right now. What’s your name?” Ian asked.

“Leigh.” Leigh backed up, away from the two of them, her fear returning.

Ian wanted to pace, but he wasn’t about to let Leigh out of his sight. He figured there was a back door somewhere and he couldn’t let her slip through it and tip off law enforcement.

“All right, Leigh. You’re not stupid, so I’m not going to treat you as though you are. I didn’t do what I’m being accused of doing, I just can’t prove it. And I definitely can’t prove it sitting in a prison cell. We need a way out of here. Have you got any suggestions?”

He didn’t really expect her to just jump on the question and provide a ready answer. Instead, he watched her eyes. They flicked to the left, then back to him. “No.”

“Right. Jackie?”

“Yes?”

He nodded. “This way.”

She took another peek out the window and walked over to him. “Okay, where?”

“Show us, Leigh.”

She jutted her chin. “No.”

Ian stepped forward. “Yes.”

Tears welled in the girl’s eyes. She spun and bolted. Jackie made to chase her, but Ian caught her arm. “Let her go. She’s terrified.”

“And we’re going to be toast as soon as she reports us.”

“Maybe not. When I asked her about a way out of here, she looked to her left.” He walked over to the first door and pulled it open. “Supplies.” He shut it.

Jackie opened the next one. “Ah ha.”

Ian stepped to look over her shoulder. “Ah ha.” Two ATVs sat with keys in the ignition.

“I have a real problem with theft, but we don’t have a choice, I suppose.”

“I’ve got a thousand dollars in cash.”

“Fine, leave it. The machine is older and probably only worth about half that. Ron will have more cash waiting on us when we get to the vehicle, so we can give yours up. We’ll be there within minutes if we can dodge law enforcement long enough. The owner will have his ATV back within the hour.”

Ian set the cash on the shelf and climbed into the driver’s seat.

Jackie peeked out the window. “No one there that I can see.”

“Open the doors. We can’t waste any more time around here. Leigh probably squealed on us as fast as she could.”

Jackie complied and Ian sent up prayers that they hadn’t stayed in the barn too long. He cleared the doors and Jackie shut them, then bolted into the passenger seat. “See that trail?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t take it.”

He understood. “Right.” He could still hear the helicopter up above, looking for them. “You think they got our pictures from the bus station cameras?”

“No doubt. Or from the bus camera itself.”

He took a deep breath. “All right. We need to stay under some cover.”

“We can try to blaze our own trail through the woods or we can head back toward the highway and hope for the best.”

He pressed the gas pedal. “We don’t have a prayer of escape, do we?”

13

1:05 P.M.

Sam glanced at his phone. “They’ve stopped. The ATV is idle.”

Elizabeth pressed the gas. “Does the chopper have it spotted?”

“No, it disappeared into some trees.”

Last night, as part of a federal task force, Sam had been sworn in as a federal US marshal. Now he had federal arrest authority along with Elizabeth, and they’d taken off in pursuit of their suspects with the full intention of using that authority. Minutes before, a teen girl had found Lockwood and Sellers in her barn. They hadn’t hurt her, but they’d taken one of the ATVs—and left around a thousand dollars on a shelf as payment for the machine. An ATV the owner had installed with a GPS chip in case it should ever be stolen. “Guide me.”

“Turn here. Go straight for a mile, then right into the property’s drive.”

Elizabeth followed his directions only to find other law enforcement officers had beat them there. She and Sam flashed their badges and pulled close to the edge of the woods. Elizabeth climbed from the vehicle and raced toward the stopped ATV, hand on her weapon. Officers surrounded it.

She spotted an agent she’d worked with one other time. “Gayle, fill me in.”

Sam stepped up beside her. Gayle shook her head and pursed her lips. “It was empty when we got here. They took off on foot. We’ve got the K-9’s on the way.”

“Should have had the K-9’s already here,” she snapped.

“Yeah, I know. There was a hold-up somewhere. Traffic accident slowed them down.”

Elizabeth bit her tongue. It wasn’t Gayle’s fault. “Sorry. Which way did they take off?”

“We’re not sure. There were some tracks that make us think they’re heading north.”

“What’s north?”

Gayle lifted her iPad and touched the button at the bottom of the screen. A full-color map appeared. “Here. This area is still pretty remote. An abandoned gas station along this road, a small church, a neighborhood, and two schools. Agents are searching door to door as we speak. The schools are on lockdown.”

Elizabeth nodded. The team was efficient and experienced. Things didn’t always go as planned, but it was going as well as possible. Now if it would just continue to go that way, they would have Lockwood and Sellers in custody before nightfall.

“Are they behind us?” Ian looked back over his shoulder.

“They’re behind us,” Jackie said, dodging a branch. “Just keep going. I’m surprised they don’t have the dogs on us.”

“Thank you, I hadn’t thought of that.”

She ignored his sarcasm. “Just about another mile, I think.”

“How can you tell where we are?”

“I don’t know, it’s a gift.” She really didn’t know how to explain it. She never had any problems with directions or knowing where she was. She could look at a map and know how to get from point A to point B without bothering to look again. She stopped to listen.

Nothing. Had they lost them?

Maybe. For now.

“Like doing three-digit multiplication problems in your head?”

She huffed. “You remember that?”

“Of course. You freaked everyone out at the spelling bee when you refused to spell ‘pontification’ and asked for a math problem.”

She snorted and motioned for him to follow her. “My English teacher blackmailed me into doing that spelling bee. It was either that or detention.”

“So you decided to do math instead.”

“Yep.”

“And you answered it right. And the next one. And the next one.”

“Uh huh.”

“Never did figure out how you did that.”

“It’s like a puzzle. Simply take the numbers apart and put them back together again in a way that they make sense.”

She noticed that while she wasn’t winded from their dash through the woods, neither was Ian. Satisfied that he wouldn’t physically hold them back, she pressed on harder, knowing their luck wouldn’t hold out forever.

They exited the woods and found themselves on the edge of the highway. Jackie didn’t stop, just continued her jog. Ian stayed with her.

“We’re almost there.” She pulled out her phone, turned it on, and dropped it back in her pocket. “We’re going to be pretty exposed for the next two or three tenths of a mile, though.”

“Where’s the helicopter?” he asked.

“It’ll be back.”

Just as they hit the tree cover again, the phone rang and she snagged it, never breaking her stride. “Yeah?”

“Where are you?” Ron said.

“Trying to get to the rendezvous point.”

“Look for a blue Ford king cab truck with a horse logo on the side.”

Relief spilled through her. They might have a chance after all. “Thanks, Ron. I’ll call later. I’m ditching the phone.” She hung up, deleted Ron’s number, and turned it off. She stopped for a second, reared back, and gave the phone a hard toss to the right of her. She immediately took off again, Ian beside her. She looked at him. “We’ve got a vehicle.”

“How?”

“You’ll see.” Jackie started to feel the effects of the run. She ran every other day, but not this fast—and not for her life. She heard sirens in the distance and thought the helicopter might be coming back. Law enforcement was closing the circle and she had no idea how they were going to slip through it.

Finally, the small abandoned shop came into sight. They darted across the street. Jackie heard the helicopter getting closer. “Under the awning, quick.” She ducked under and Ian threw himself up beside her with Gus at his side. A few seconds later, the chopper roared overhead. “You think they saw us?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. If they did, the cops will be here fast. They definitely know we’re in the area so are most likely setting up roadblocks as we speak.”

“Then how are we going to get away?”

She didn’t bother to answer as they circled the building to find the blue truck Ron promised. With a horse logo on the side and a trailer full of manure hooked to the back.

And Ron sitting in the driver’s seat.

Jackie threw herself into the passenger seat, Ian and Gus jumped into the back.

Ron grinned at her. “You’re not staying in here.”

Jackie groaned. “How did you get here so fast? You’re like Houdini.” She nodded toward the backseat. “Meet Ian and Gus.”

He spared the two a glance. “Nice to meet you fellows.” He turned his attention back on Jackie. “Told you I had a chopper. Landed on a friend’s farm about a mile out, borrowed his truck, some of his reprocessed hay, and drove in. Now get out.”

“Reprocess—what?” Ian asked.

Ron motioned them out of the truck and around to the back where he had the manure piled in the bed. “Reprocessed hay. Get the dog in the cab. You two get under that long wooden box. Might be a tight fit, but it’s big enough for the two of you. I’m going to throw that tarp over it while you two hook up to the tanks. Get the masks on good. Then I’m going to shovel this load over you. The wood will keep it from pressing down on you, the tarp will keep it from pushing through the cracks. Get Gus’s vest off of him and keep it with you under the manure. I don’t want them finding any evidence that I’ve got a service dog with me. Gus is simply my pet, got it?”

Ian’s eyes went wide, but Jackie couldn’t miss the determination even if it was mixed with a bit of consternation. He went to the door and opened it. “Ride, Gus.” The dog hopped into the passenger seat.

When Ian returned, Jackie hesitated and gripped Ron’s arm. “You can’t put yourself on the line like this, Ron. I feel horrible even asking you to.”

“You didn’t ask.” Ron pulled at the well-worn cowboy hat on his head and wiped his gloved hands on his mud-spattered jeans. “Been listening to the police scanner. There’s a roadblock three miles away. They figured out you were heading north and have taken quick action to shut you down. We’re going to get you through that.” He handed her a small wireless device. “Put this in your ear so you can hear what’s going on.” He handed one to Ian too.

Jackie still didn’t move. “I’m serious, Ron, you can’t do this.”
She looked at the three-sided wooden box. The open side faced her, a dark hole waiting for her slide into. “I can’t do this. I think I’d rather take my chances with jail.” Just the thought of climbing in it made her throat want to close up. “You know how I feel about closed spaces. I really don’t think I can do this without panicking and giving you away.” She swallowed.

“I
can
do this and I am. And you are too.” Ron squeezed her shoulder. “You can dig out with no trouble, Jackie. You won’t be trapped. I made sure of that.”

He pressed a small shovel into her hand and her fingers tightened around it. She could get out. The thought helped.

Ron turned to Ian. “The cops are everywhere, going door to door, stopping people on the streets, flashing your pictures. They’re going to be searching this building pretty soon.”

“Exactly. Which means we need to go,” Ian urged.

“So how are you going to get through the roadblock if I don’t help you? If you don’t get in that truck?” Ron asked.

Jackie sighed and thought. And came up empty. “You’re right. We need you.” She looked at the wooden box, the plastic tarp. The pile of manure that would be shoveled over her. She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t—

“Now that we’ve got that settled, we’ve got about sixty seconds to get going. You’re going to get in the back like I instructed and I’m going to shovel this manure over you and drive you through the roadblock. Simple as that.”

“Simple as that,” she muttered. She eyed Ron, barely keeping her panic under control. “This was your only solution?”

Regret flashed in Ron’s eyes. “It’s the only way, Jackie. You’re stronger than you think. You always have been. You
can
do this.”

Her heart fluttered in her chest like a trapped bird. Her fingers spasmed over the handle of the shovel. “Right.” She heard the faint sound of the helicopter approaching. She looked at Ian. “You ready?”

His fingers flexed into a fist. “I’m ready.” He stared at Ron. “You’ll be an accessory. Why are you doing this?”

“Because Jackie believes in you.” Ron held Ian’s gaze for a brief moment before nodding to the back of the truck. “No time to gab. Hurry up. And take this with you. Can’t let them find this in the truck if they decide to search.” He shoved a black backpack into Jackie’s arms. “I’ll explain later.”

Jackie wanted to scream, to run. But she couldn’t. Ian was counting on her. Ron was risking everything to help them. So . . . she was going to do this. She was going to let Ron bury her alive.

Elizabeth watched the live video feed coming from the helicopter. “Where’d they go? They didn’t just walk off the earth.”

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why are they so hard to catch?”

“They have help.” She slapped her hand against the hood of the car.

“Who?”

“You’ve got the number Lockwood called his brother from.”

“Right.” Sam paced, his mind racing, wondering where she was going with this.

“And we have a record of all calls made to that phone and from it?”

“Yes.”

“So who did they call?”

“No one.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. There’s a record of several calls. Who did they call?”

“Prepaid cells. No names attached to the phones.”

“They’re all definitely professionals.”

“Sellers is and the organization she works with. She’s the one telling him how to stay under the radar.”

“I want background checks on everyone connected to Operation Refuge.” She typed a text and waited for the response. “Sweeny’s on it. We’ll have that information shortly.” She thought and typed another text. “All information related to any phones in their names. Landline calls, cell calls. Any calls from pay phones. I want a list of everything for the past two days.”

Sam nodded. “The chopper’s over the roadblock on I-95.”

“Backing up traffic pretty bad there, people are going to be fuming.”

“It’s already on the news. Massive manhunt for suspected terrorist and his accomplice.”

Her phone dinged. She swiped the screen and shook her head. “I don’t understand why a woman with an outstanding law enforcement background would allow herself to be dragged into this.”

Sam shrugged. “Maybe she was just trying to help a friend and it exploded in her face.” He paused. “What if he’s forcing her to help him?”

BOOK: No Place to Hide
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