Not This Time (20 page)

“Look, I’m doing what I have to do.” Sara lifted a hand to stay Beth’s protest. “I hear you, okay? But I can’t afford to listen. Not this time.”

What had Robert gotten Sara into? Whatever it was, it was bad. Would it hurt her? Hurt SaBe?
“Sara’s in deep trouble. She needs your help …”
the man on the terrace had told her. Beth folded her arms over her chest. “Are you going to explain this to me?”

Sara calmly turned and looked her right in the eye. “No.”

Shock pumped through Beth. Nothing but cold resolve shone in Sara’s eyes. “Is SaBe going to be hurt?”

“Not if I can prevent it.”

“I might be able to help, Sara. If it impacts SaBe, then I deserve to know.”

“I said, no. No is a complete sentence, Beth.” Sara walked on.

Jeff’s voice sounded through the Bluetooth. “Beth, what is going on between you two?”

Beth kicked at the sand. “I wish I knew.”

“You have no idea?”

“None.” Beth pivoted and watched the tube float down the river. The dread knotted in her stomach sank under a deluge of inevitable doom.

10

S
ara wouldn’t talk straight. Trying not to huff up about it, Beth followed Sara to Jeff’s Tahoe. She still wasn’t steady on her feet and for some reason she elected not to remove her water-soaked flats. They squished with her every step.

Beth crawled into the backseat beside Sara and waited. Sara never said the first word.

Dawn went and morning arrived with the full force of hot sun and high humidity. The silence was deafening. Beth glanced at Jeff, sitting behind the wheel. Tension radiated off him and he paled; he’d heard something on his earpiece that disturbed him. “What now?”

“Message from Roxy. As soon as Sara launched the tube, we got an e-mail from the kidnapper. The two of you are to wait here. They’re calling in Robert’s location on that pay phone.” Jeff pointed through the windshield to the phone mounted on Jay’s cedar-shake wall just beyond the picnic area.

“They’re going to call,” Beth said, glad the wait was over. “This is good, right?”

“They’re watching us, Beth.” He looked at her in the rearview mirror. “And we haven’t spotted them.”

Beth’s stomach flipped.

“Are we keeping people off the phone?” Sara craned to see around Jeff. “Should we be over there?”

“No,” Jeff said. “Stay put.”

Sara grabbed the door handle. “We should keep anyone off that phone.”

Beth touched her arm. “We shouldn’t be out in the open. He’s scared we’ll be shot.”

“Seriously?”

“They have the money in sight, Sara. They don’t need you anymore.”

Suddenly this was all too real, too frightening, and Beth’s fear reflected in Sara’s eyes. Sara, who had secrets that could hurt her, Beth, and SaBe. Shivers rippled over Beth’s skin.

A dull roar from the river grew loud, then louder.
Engines
.

Two Jet Skis zoomed into view from the north, screamed past the launch site to the bend, then down the river and out of sight.

“Is that them?” Sara squeezed Beth’s hand hard enough to crack bones.

Jeff barked orders into his headset; acronyms and codes alien to Beth.

“Can we see if that’s them?” Sara’s voice shrilled and she shook like a leaf tossed by a gust of wind. “They’ll take the money and not tell us where to find Robert.”

Jeff spared Sara a glance over his shoulder. “No one can get close to the money without us knowing it.”

Her breathing went ragged. “Don’t do it, Sara,” Beth warned. Another attack now could kill her. “Your body can’t take any more. Keep it together or—”

“I’m fine,” Sara snipped back.

“Shh, I can’t hear.” Jeff glared back at them. “They’ve stopped. Approaching the tube.”

Tension thickened, almost palpable. Beth fisted her hands and held her tongue.
Joe, why aren’t you here? I need you here
.

“Think steel, sha. Think steel …”

“They’re checking out the bag.” Jeff twisted his lip mic. “Hold your positions until they take possession and start to depart. Can you hear what they’re saying? If so, relay.”

They’d put a listening device in the bag, a tracking device on the tube. Jeff should be able to hear every word. But if not, then surely his men could. The
river was narrow here—maybe twenty feet wide—their voices would carry over the water to the agents hiding in the woods on the banks.

Seconds passed. Then more. And when Beth was certain every nerve in her body was about to snap, Jeff muttered.

“What?” Sara reached forward and clasped his shoulder. “Tell me.”

“They opened the bag and saw the cash. Now they’re debating whether or not to take it,” Jeff told Sara. “One wants to; the other says it’s got to be drug money and taking it will get them killed.”

“Logical deduction.” That’s exactly what Beth would have thought.

“They’re not taking it.” Jeff dabbed at his damp forehead with a napkin. “Now they’re discussing reporting it to the cops.”

Beth grunted. “No way is that going to happen.”

Jeff looked back at her.

“What? Would you call?” She shrugged. “I’m just saying …”

Sara chimed in. “File a report and identify yourself to drug dealers? Welcome to running from them the rest of your life—which won’t be long. I’d want to call; I’m just not sure I’d actually do it. Maybe anonymously.”

“A caller wouldn’t discuss calling,” Beth said. “He’d dial the phone.” Somebody had to stand up, but it wouldn’t be the skiers. “They’ll let it float and forget they saw it.”

Long minutes passed. Then Jeff grunted. “You got it, Beth. They closed the bag and left it to float.” He looked back at her. “So much for having faith in people.”

She resented the dig. “Different criteria, different standards.” She wrinkled her nose at Sara. “No one wants a drug dealer after him—or one coming after his wife or kids. Taking or reporting the money carries risks, and others pay them too. You don’t know these men or what their lives are like, Jeff. Don’t judge them.”

“Two million dollars is a lot of temptation,” Sara said. “Greed is strong.”

Home to corruption too. Beth blew her hair back from her face. Sweat-slick, it was stuck to her cheek. “True, but dead men don’t need cash.”

“They’re gone.” Jeff sighed. “Our near-hit was a dud.”

Beth slumped on the seat, both relieved and disappointed.

Sara closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath.

“What now?” Beth checked her watch. Nearly nine. “Clyde’s funeral is at two. If we’re late, Nora will flip out.”

“We can’t leave.” Sara took a drink from her water bottle.

Jeff draped an arm on the steering wheel. “We wait for the phone and watch the money.”

By ten o’clock, the heat in the Tahoe was stifling. Sara was dozing, no doubt due to the antianxiety drugs and sheer exhaustion. Thanks to the attack and continued stress, her stamina was shot. Beth was going stir-crazy, grumpy, and sticking to the leather seats. “Do you think it’s safe to step outside, Jeff?” She blew her hair back from her face. “I need air.” Even more, she needed to talk to Joe.

“Stay on this side of the building. We’ve got it covered. Everywhere else is vulnerable.”

Beth grabbed a bottle of water and her special phone, got out, and left the door cracked open to let fresh air inside. Hot and humid, the outside air still felt cool on her skin. She walked across the narrow parking lot to the little picnic area. Only the guy handling the rentals and a half-dozen tubers were around.

She sat on the table under the shade of an ancient oak and rested her feet on its concrete bench. A hot breeze feathering across her skin, she dialed Joe, hoping more than she wanted to admit to herself that he answered.

“Hi, gorgeous.”

Tension ebbed from her body. Excitement replaced it. “I wish you were here.”

“Tense, huh?”

“Beyond tense, but the meds have Sara dozing, so that’s good.”

“Have they picked up the money yet?”

“No.” She twisted the cap off the water bottle and took a drink. “This whole money-drop thing and waiting—it all feels wrong. I got an awful feeling and asked Sara not to let go of the tube. She said if she didn’t, something awful would happen.”

“Did she say what?”

Beth’s frustration bubbled. “No. But she knows more than she’s saying and whatever it is scares her socks off. She had that same look as at the club, staring at the wedding cake.”

“Its groom was missing and so was hers. That had to hit her hard.”

“You think they’re connected.” Beth sat straighter.

“Don’t you?”

Did she? Beth worried her lip with her teeth. Cryptic warnings. Lying to her. Acting strange. Wishing she could go back to before Robert. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Mark says the abductor’s having you wait for a pay-phone call.”

“Isn’t that weird? They have our cell phones. Why do they want us here? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. If you didn’t have Class-A protection, I’d suggest you leave.” He shifted subjects. “Did you ask Sara about the hospital visits?”

The terrace messenger popped into her mind. She should tell Joe about him, and she would shortly. “Not yet. There’s always someone around. Since she didn’t tell me the truth about them, she obviously wants them kept private. I’m trying to respect that but, Joe, she did lie to me. I couldn’t believe it.”

“That’s significant. About what?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but Robert was in the middle of it. She was evasive—she’s been cryptic a lot lately.” She paused, then told him about the terrace messenger. “I think whatever is going on involves her and me and even SaBe. I’ve been racking my brain, but I can’t figure out what she could be hiding.”

“I’m looking on this end. I’ll keep that in mind too.” He hesitated. “Do
you think Sara’s breached confidentiality on classified information? With her work at Quantico, she has access—”

“She’d die first.” About that Beth had no doubt.

“Would she let Robert die?” Joe’s voice went husky.

Beth felt sucker-punched. Uncertainty crept in. “I—I don’t think I can answer—”

“Never mind, gorgeous. I understand.”

Torn between loyalty and certainty, Beth stilled, swallowed a lump from her throat. Jeff and Sara had doubted her, and now she doubted Sara. Now she better understood. She didn’t like it, but she understood it. “You’ll look at everything on this yourself, right?”

“I will.”

Relief washed through her. He and his former Shadow Watcher team would find whatever there was to find. After working with them on Lisa’s abduction case, Beth didn’t doubt it. “Thank you, Joe.” Her throat went thick. “I’m overwhelmed right now.” A tear leaked out, fell down her cheek. “I know I’m supposed to be strong—I’m always the strong one, but …”

“Nobody can be strong all the time, sha. We’re human, we have limits—even you.”

“Shameful, but I think I hit mine.” Nora would cut out her tongue for admitting that.
“Never admit weakness to anyone but God.”
She’d said it a million times.

“Then you’re positioned to get stronger.”

“What?”

“When you exceed your limit and endure, you get stronger. Next time, your limit is more. Surely you’ve heard a sermon or two on that.”

Beth cringed. “Looking ahead to more trials and tests is supposed to make me feel better?”

“It’s supposed to reassure you that you can handle whatever comes.”

“Like faith.”

“You go as far as you can. God carries you the rest of the way.”

“Is that experience or faith in the abstract?”

“In my job? You tell me.”

Experience. He’d specialized in scrapes his entire career. She paused, sighed. “Do you think they’ll really release Robert unharmed?”

“It could go either way. Hard to hear, I know, but honest.”

“If they pick up the money, maybe. If not, I can’t see it.”

“They could be letting it float for a couple hours hoping the FBI agents get lazy and drop their guard. The current’s slow right now. It could take a couple days before the tube hits the bay and then longer to get to the Gulf.”

How did he know all that? Beth dusted a leaf from her knee. “A pickup in the Gulf sounds safer for them. They could use subs. NINA funneled in terrorists with minisubs. It’s not like they’re watching the clock.”