The air was cool and refreshing as Zach took Costello for an early-morning walk along a trail he'd discovered yesterday behind the building. He'd barely slept, battling memories of Dylan and his mother alongside more recent ones of all the sins he'd committed against Hannah. It had been hell, resisting the urge to demand that she listen to his arguments. He was much clearer now on what he wanted to say to her, and dammit, he would force her to listen this morning.
He'd start with letting her know he was voiding her contract with the agency. He would never take a dime from her. Surely that would make a dent in the wall she'd put up between them last night. He might lose the agency, but it was worth it if he had her.
In the distance, the hum of a vehicle's engine kicking over mingled with the chirp of birds and crickets. That was odd. Maybe one of their neighbors was heading back to the city for work this morning.
The sound made him uneasy for a reason he couldn't describe.
“Come on, boy.” He steered Costello back in the direction of the condo. He decided to walk around the building to make certain it was secure before going inside and froze when he saw the SUV was missing from the driveway.
Hell
.
His feet pounded the dirt and the dog struggled to keep up with him as he rushed inside to verify Hannah was missing and someone hadn't only stolen their vehicle. She wasn't in her room. She was nowhere to be seen.
“Meow.” The cat jumped onto the back of the sofa.
She's gone, you idiot. You gotta go after her. She's in trouble. Understand what I'm saying?
“What? What kind of trouble?”
Check the message she left you.
The cat jumped down and hurried over to the table near the door.
Over here. Hurry up.
There was a note, and Zach skimmed it.
Zach, I had to get away to clear my head. Be back later. Please take care of the boys while I'm gone. I'll be fine.
Shit. Why the hell would she risk leaving when there was still a madman somewhere out there, stalking her? Did the woman have no common sense? His fist crumpled the note and tossed it across the room along with a loud growl of frustration.
The cat brushed against his legs.
She had me locked in the room with her last night. I couldn't get out to warn you what she was planning. You gotta help her.
Zach picked the cat up. “How long has she been gone?”
Not long.
Zach found his phone and dialed Kellan. The other man answered on the third ring, sounding grumpy and half asleep. Zach explained the situation.
Kellan sounded much more alert when he said, “I'm on it. Any idea where she was going?”
Zach looked at the cat.
She was looking at the glowy square thing a lot, and kept writing stuff down.
Glowy square thing?
An image of Hannah typing on his computer flashed into his mind. The picture was so clear he could even see the screen.
“Oakland Cemetery.” Zach raced toward the room she'd been using, clutching the cat safely to his chest with one hand while the dog chased on his heels. He found his laptop on the bed and opened it. Checking the history, sure enough, she'd been viewing the website for the famous landmark. “That's definitely where she's headed.”
Why the hell was she going to a cemetery at this hour?
“Want me to send E.J. after you?” Kellan asked.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether or not I can remember how to hotwire a car.”
The gates of Oakland Cemetery weren't even open for the day when Hannah cruised up to the main entrance.
After parking at a business near the cemetery, she reached for her phone. No missed calls from Detective Ryan, but at least a dozen each from Zach, Kellan and E.J. She refrained from listening to their messages, knowing they'd fill her mind with doubt that she was doing the right thing.
What the hell was she supposed to do now?
Dialing the detective's number again, she reached his voice mailâwhich an automated message now informed her was full. She did a quick Internet search on her phone for the front desk number of the Atlanta Police Department. The lady who answered did not sound like a morning person.
Hannah sucked in a breath. “I've been trying to reach Detective Jacob Ryan. Can you please tell me if he's working today?”
“What zone?”
“Zone 2. Um, he's with the Criminal Investigation Division.” She'd memorized his business card.
There was a long pause filled with the sound of shuffling papers and a couple of computer clicks. “Detective Ryan had a family emergency. Detective Flannery is handling his cases in the meantime.”
She almost laughed hysterically. Of course he was. Of course.
“Can you please transfer me to Detective Flannery?”
Hannah waited while she was connected to a new person. She rubbed at the bridge of her eyes, trying to alleviate the dull ache forming there. Why the hell did everything always have to be so damn complicated?
A gruff, masculine voice answered, only to inform her she'd reached the desk of Detective Martin Flannery and he was unavailable to take her call. She almost pressed END, frustrated as hell, but reminded herself that Sarah's life was at stake. She rambled off another frantic message and left her number. Hopefully this detective would check his voicemail soon.
Around eight o'clock, Hannah watched a school bus enter the cemetery and realized the gates had opened. The caller had told her nine o'clock, but if she could find his note now, she might have time to somehow relay its contents to the police.
It took her much longer than expected to figure out how to get to the Bell Tower Ridge and find the right marker. As she followed the walking paths past tombstone after tombstone and crypt after crypt using the visitor's map she'd snagged at the entrance, Hannah felt a chill creep down her spine. She had the strangest feeling she was being watched, but this section of the graveyard was empty except for a lone lawnkeeper raking leaves.
A business-sized white envelope was propped against a brown package sitting on the ground where a marker proclaimed “Where Hood Watched The Battle of Atlanta.”
She tore open the envelope with surprisingly steady hands and read the small note inside.
Open the package.
Glancing around, she saw no one. She picked up the small cardboard box and lifted the lid. A mobile phone sat beside a key taped to the inside back. No sooner had Hannah lifted the phone from the box than it started vibrating.
It wasn't nine o'clock yet.
He was watching her. This was it.
“Hello?” she answered, spinning in her spot to scan the area around her.
“Take your phone and toss it into the bushes. Do it now.”
“My phone?”
“Yes, your phone. The one you came here with.”
She grasped her phone out of her bag and threw it into some shrubbery beside a nearby tomb.
“Good girl. There's a car parked on the next street over. A silver Chevy. Take that key and get in the driver's seat.”
“Wh-what?”
“You'd better hurry. Your friend is waiting.”
Zach swore as he wove in and out of early morning traffic in the ridiculous car he'd stolen from one of the cabin's neighbors.
He'd had to walk a couple of miles to find an older model he could lift, and then he'd raced back to the cabin to pick up the animalsâHannah would have never forgiven him if he'd left them there alone. Stealing a car, maybe, but not abandoning her boys. Besides, he'd needed to grill the cat for more information.
“Come on. Come on.” He slammed his fist against the dashboard as he slowed the lime-green colored Volkswagen Beetle to a stop at a red light.
He felt like a freaking giant in the small car, and crowded with the dog standing in the passenger seat with his front paws on the dashboard looking out, thinking
We're going for a ride. Yeah, we are riding fast, too! Oh, we're stopping. Is the ride over?
Zach had left Abbott out of the bag, and about ten miles back, the cat had decided to hop into his lap and stand with his front feet on the steering wheel. The cat hissed.
Why did you stop? Go faster! Move this heap!
“Shut the hell up and let me drive,” Zach muttered, shoving the finicky feline aside.
His phone rang and he had to move Costello aside to dig it out from under the dog's back feet.
“Talk to me,” he told Kellan.
“She's on the move.”
“Where?”
“On foot. She threw her phone into some bushes and is walking toward the exit.”
“Dammit, I'm almost there. Don't let her out of your sight.”
What the hell was Hannah doing? The cat had told him she'd gotten a phone call and then left messages for what Zach had determined was the police. From what the cat had overheard it sounded like Sarah had been taken hostage. That was the only reason Kellan was keeping his distance. They'd assumed the police must be keeping their distance too, trying to trap the suspect without risking Hannah's best friend in the process.
Costello wiggled backward into his seat and then tried to climb over the gear shift and into Zach's lap. The car was an older automatic without safety features, and his fat paw knocked it back into a slower gear. The car lurched and sputtered for a second before Zach pushed it back into Drive.
“Stop that.” Zach yelled and pressed the dog away. Costello tilted his head and looked down at the gear shift as if he'd discovered a new friend.
The stick moves. Is that a toy? Is there a treat if I move the stick?
He reached to paw the gear again. Zach flicked a finger against his nose. “No. Bad boy.”
“What the hell are you saying?” Kellan asked.
“Uh, nothing. Not to
you
.” He shook his head. “Any sign of the cops?”
“No, man. If they're out here, they're really keeping things on the down low.”
“Make sure you do the same. If these people have been watching Hannah for a while, they'll know what you look like.”
“I slipped one of the groundskeepers twenty bucks to borrow his shirt and rake when I came in.” Kellan was starting to sound a little short of breath. How fast was Kellan walking? “You forget I do this for a living.”
“Stay with her. I'm going to try to check in with Detective Ryan again. Call me the second anything happens.”
“Done.”
Zach struggled to find the detective's number in his phone as he swung the car around a turn, sending Costello and Abbott both sliding toward the door.
“Sorry,” he mumbled and pressed the phone to his ear. He swore when he got the detective's voicemail.
Abbott's furry head pushed between his arm and body, demanding back in the driver's seat. Zach glanced between the two animals in his care.
He was coming up on the cemetery now.
What the hell was he going to do with
them
when he got there?
Hannah's skin was still crawling with the knowledge she was being watched by a psychopath as she hurried to find the silver Chevy parked on the side street. Seeing one in the distance, she hesitated. What if it was the wrong car?
The phone in her right hand vibrated again.
“You're almost there. A few more steps. Get in.”
She used the key to unlock the door and slipped into the driver's seat. Shutting the door behind her, she put the key in the ignition. “What next?”
“Sit there a few minutes. I'll tell you when to start driving.”
She took a deep breath and glanced around. Where the hell was this guy?
“Are you wearing a wire?”
She swallowed. “No.”
“Do you have a weapon?”
“No, I don't have anything.”
His voice was a quiet snarl. “If you're lying, you'll never see your friend alive again.”
The passenger car door suddenly jerked open and a man slid into the seat beside her, the scent of stale cigarette smoke assaulting her nostrils. A flash of the sun against silver drew her attention to the gun in his handâaimed straight at her. The black leather gloves on his hands looked odd considering it was seasonably warm outside.
“Eyes on the road, Miss Dawson.”
She briefly risked a look at his face before turning her head and grasping the steering wheel with both hands. He was well dressed in a dark suit and tie with sunglasses covering his eyes and shielding most of his expression from her.
She didn't recognize him from Adam.
“Start the car and drive.”
Swallowing, she did, moving into the line of traffic with much more ease than she would have expected. Several school buses had pulled up and were parked along the street around them, causing the road to become slightly congested.
“Where's Sarah? How do I know she's still alive?”
“Quiet.” His eyes were trained on the cars around them. He must have deduced they weren't being followed because his shoulders relaxed, but he never lowered the gun. “We're going to the bank to retrieve a certain precious jewel. Once it's in my possession and I'm safely far away, I'll tell you where to find your friend.”
“How do I know I can trust that?”
His breath blew through his nose as he made a sound of laughter. “Do you have a choice at this point?” His hand waved the gun slightly for emphasis.
Hannah's fingers tightened around the wheel.
Try to find out as much as you can. Maybe you can at least leave clues for the police.
“You're not Roglitz, are you?” She skimmed her glance quickly over him. “You're too young.”
His lips twitched. “Please. You thought the old man had orchestrated this?” He chuckled. “Hardly. He was a decent teacher, but I was a much better student. He would have never made it this far if he was still alive.”
Then Alexandra had been telling the truth? Roglitz was dead? The medium had also warned her that the person after her was a dangerous man. A killer.
Keep him talking.
“Did you know Ellie?”
“What's with the twenty questions? I told you to be quiet.”
“I'm sorry. I'm nervous. I talk a lot when I get nervous.”
“Don't. I don't like it.”
She sucked in a breath for courage. “What does it matter? You're not going to let me live, are you?”
He didn't answer right away. “Maybe. I haven't decided yet.”
“I don't believe you. I've seen you.” She darted another glance at him.
His smile practically engulfed his entire face, and she felt her insides cringe. He sounded amused when he finally responded. “You must think I'm incredibly stupid, if you think this is really my face.” He snorted. “Relax, Miss Dawson. Do as I tell you, and I'll have no reason to harm you.”
Zach's muscles were as tight as a coil as he struggled to keep his distance from the silver Chevy.
He'd been circling the cemetery, trying to get around the damn buses full of schoolchildren, when he'd seen Hannah duck into the unfamiliar car. He'd pulled over, watched, and nearly lost his cool when a man dressed in dark clothes had slipped into the seat beside her.
Costello whined, staring straight ahead, focused on the silver Chevy, too. The dog had seen Hannah first. That ear-piercing whine had alerted Zach to her proximity, as had the dog's pathetic inner turmoil as he'd scrambled to get her attention.
I'm here! Oh, I love you so much! Where are you going? I'm right here! Pleaaase!
“Are you still on their tail?” Kellan asked through the phone. Zach had put it on speaker so he'd have better control of the car.
“Yes. I'm keeping a good distance.”
“Any idea where you're headed?”
Zach took the same turn as the Chevy. “The bank. Bastard is taking her there to get the jewel.”
“I'll let the others know and try again to get through to Detective Ryan. I'll head to the bank. What's the plan?”
The plan? Hell if he knew. If they tried intervening at the bank, the guy could pull a gun and end up taking multiple hostages, or worse. Besides, if they took him down prematurely, they might never locate Sarah. “Let him get the jewel. We stay glued to them like white on rice, and if it looks like Hannah is in immediate danger, we move in.”
“You sure that's the way you want to play it?”
No, but he was choosing to trust that Hannah could handle herself, and that the police hadn't let her go into this without some kind of contingency plan. He'd never forgive himself if something he did put Sarah's life at greater risk. Neither would Hannah.
“That's the way we're gonna play it.”
No sooner had Kellan ended the call than Zach's phone began chiming. He glanced at the caller ID.
Detective Ryan.
About damn time.
“This is Collins.”
“Please tell me Hannah Dawson is with you right now.”
“What?”
“I checked my messages from the past day. I'm out of town. My father's funeral. Look, she left messages saying some whack job kidnapped her friend and demanded she meet him this morning, wanted to know what to do. Please tell me she isn't that stupid that she actually went without talking to us first.”
The police weren't involved. That meantâ
Zach swore and pressed his foot harder on the gas. Like it or not, he was the only help she had coming. No way in hell was he going to let her down again.