Altercation (12 page)

W
ell.” Seth gestured toward the door. “You want to sit outside?”

Megan shrugged. “Sure.”

It was dark now, and crickets chirped under the wooden porch. A swing sat to the left of the front door, but Seth moved to the steps and sat down. Megan joined him. She clasped her hands in front of her and studied him out of the corner of her eye.

Seth stared at the palms of his interlaced hands and sighed. “Sorry for that explosion. Things have been tense for me.”

“I understand,” Megan said.

“No, you don’t.” His hard voice allowed no room for empathy. The skin around his eyes tightened and he glared out over the yard. His tone softened. “Sorry. I just get so angry.” He looked at her. “How long were you with Jaci?”

Megan pinched her lips together and tried to remember. “Almost a week. The girls stayed with my family while the FBI arranged a safe house for them.”

“How was she?”

“She didn’t look too bad, for someone who’d been in a forest for a month. Physically, I think she was okay.”

“Emotionally?”

Megan hesitated. “Um, well, she didn’t really talk about what happened. She seemed to be doing better than the other girls, though. I mean, Amanda acted like it didn’t faze her and Sara cried. A lot. Jaci kept her head, I think.” She risked a glance at Seth and shoved a piece of her reddish-brown hair behind her ear.

“Did she ever mention me?”

“Um. Yeah. She said she had two brothers.” Megan wished she could give him a better answer.

He slammed his hands down on his thighs. “I’m just so frustrated. I sit here pent up with anxiety, nerves, I want to do something. I can’t think. School’s a joke. Church—” he paused. “Are you a churchy girl?”

“Uh-huh.” She gave a quick nod.

“It’s Megan?”

Again a nod.

“Megan, it’s not that I don’t believe in God anymore, like my mom thinks. I do. I really do. I’m so angry at him! You couldn’t find a better girl than Jaci. And Callie was pretty close. What did it get them? Kidnapped. Dead.” He bit off each word and spat it out, eyes flashing.

Megan pulled back, grateful the anger wasn’t directed at her. “I—I’m sorry.”

As quickly as it had come, his fury faded. When he spoke again, his voice was cool and collected. “Do you know where the safe house was?”

Megan nodded. “I know what city. I overheard my dad making plans for their custody.”

“You were their friend?”

She blushed and tucked another strand behind her ear. “Um, yeah. For a bit.”

“So where were they?” He stared at her now, those dark brown eyes penetrating hers.

Megan looked down, swaying on the steps. “Well, I, I’m not supposed to say. It’s confidential.”

He waited, not taking his eyes from her face.

“Cincinnati. Ohio.”
Did I just tell him? I can’t believe I just told him!

“That’s where they disappeared from?”

“Yes.” Megan whispered the response, her heart pounding from her betrayal.

“Anything else you know?”

“Not that I can think of.”

Seth stood, and she followed him with her eyes. “Where are you going?”

“To do something.” He pulled a keychain from his pocket and rattled it. “You might be helpful. You can come if you want.”

She blinked at him. Do something? Come where? Then she understood what he meant. The blood drained from Megan’s face and she leapt to her feet. “You can’t! It’s dangerous! The FBI is looking, the police are looking—you’ll just make things worse!”

“Shut up.” He stepped up to her, pressing a hand over her mouth. “You don’t want to come, fine. But don’t screw it up for me.” Dropping his hand, he walked toward an orange jeep sitting in the driveway. He got inside and the engine roared to life.

“Seth?” Mrs. Rivera’s voice carried from inside the house.

Megan bolted down the pathway. “Wait!”

“What?” He had the vehicle in reverse and was ready to move. “Don’t even try to talk me out of this.”

“I’m not.” She went around to the passenger side. “I’m coming with you.”
I’m not really doing this. This isn’t me. I can’t believe I’m doing this.
“But we better go. My father will be back, and then all of the FBI will be looking for this car.”

He raised an eyebrow and barely waited for her to get in before they took off. “What do you suggest?”

“We need a different car.”

Seth nodded. “I know just the place.” He roared down the gravel drive, spitting rocks out behind him.

Megan sank back into her chair, her face flushed with shame. Her parents were going to freak.

J
aci couldn’t see anything. She had been awake for maybe twenty minutes. Her neck and head ached where she had crashed into the wall. She put her hands over her face, recalling the way the man had groped her before throwing her in. Had he done that to Amanda, too?

Amanda smashed her head into the wall and woke up with a gasp. “Jaci?”

“I’m here.”

“Are we alone?”

“I think so. I haven’t heard a sound. Did you see anything when he brought you in?”

“There’s a window in the room. It’s completely open, but I don’t know how to get out of this closet.”

Jaci sighed and kicked at the door in front of her. “Yeah, that’s what I saw too.” She shifted, feeling the way the hard floor bit into her tail bone. If she weren’t in such close quarters with Amanda, it would probably be much colder in the closet. Her bladder twinged painfully. “Do you think they found Sara?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she got away. Got to the police and back into safety.”

Jaci worried about Sara’s state of mind. Would she go to the police? “Well, she’s not in here with us. That’s a good sign.”

It was becoming hard to ignore her body. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Amanda.”

“What?”

“I have to pee.”

Silence. And then, “Me too.”

“Huh.” Jaci gave a dry laugh. “What do we do?”

“I’m not peeing in here.”

Jaci had to agree with the sentiment. They were stuck in this tiny room. “I hope someone comes for us soon.” She thought of that creepy driver and shuddered. That reminded her of another question. “Did he touch you?”

“What?” Amanda’s voice rose in pitch. “Who?”

“That man. The one who kidnapped us.”

“The Mexican?”

Jaci made a face. Anyone Latino was, of course, Mexican. “Yeah, him. Did he touch you?”

“No. Why? Did he touch
you
?”

She hated to admit this. “Yes.”

Amanda gasped. “Jaci! Did he—”

“No, thank heavens.” Jaci shook her head, though in the pitch blackness of the closet, she knew Amanda couldn’t see her. “No. It was very fast. He just put his hands on me. And then threw me inside. Creep.” Amanda didn’t say anything else, and Jaci tapped her heels against the concrete floor. “Amanda, I’ve really got to go.”

“What’s that?” Amanda whispered.

Jaci heard it then. Heavy footsteps outside the room. A faint light came in under the door. She froze, heart thumping. She suddenly preferred the possibility of never being let out.

Jaci heard the key fitting into the lock on the closet. The door swung open, and there he was. Jaci couldn’t tear her eyes from the Creep who had kidnapped them.

He sneered at her. “Potty break. One at a time.” Grabbing Amanda’s arm, he yanked her up.

“Jaci!” Amanda cried, just as he slammed the closet door shut.

M
egan and Seth sped out of Shelley as fast as they could. Arriving in Idaho Falls, Seth drove out of town and into the back roads.

“Where are we going?” Megan asked.

“To get a different car.” He turned right, and the lights lit up a white rambler at the end of a long driveway. “Put your head down.”

Megan did as she was told, her heart racing. “You know these people, right?”

He laughed. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Yeah.”

Seth drove up to the porch, honked the horn twice, and then drove around to the back of the house. He got out of the car and started covering it with branches.

Megan sat up. “What are you doing?”

“Stay down!” he hissed.

A moment later a light turned on, flooding the backyard and porch.

“Seth!” a high-pitched, female voice said, exuberating bubbly excitement. “Big surprise!”

“Hey, Cindy,” Seth said, continuing to drop branches on the car. “I need a big favor.”

“How big?” Her girly voice was right outside the jeep now, and Megan was dying to lift her head and catch a peek.

“Big. I need to borrow your car.”

“Whoa!” She laughed. “And what am I supposed to do, hike up my skirts and hitch-hike to school?”

“Ah, I’m not worried about you,” Seth replied, a teasing note entering his voice. “I’m sure all you have to do is hint at Craig or Luke and you’ll have a ride anywhere you want.”

“I’ve missed you, Seth.” Her voice changed, dropping lower. Megan imagined her leaning in to Seth. “Don’t you miss me?”

“Of course I do,” he said, his tone matching hers.

“Do you still think it’s better if we see other people?”

“I don’t know. Things haven’t really changed—”

She inhaled sharply.

“But maybe they will,” he inserted. “Let’s talk some more when I get back.”

“Where are you going?”

“I can’t tell you.” His voice hardened. “And Cindy, I need you to not tell anyone you’ve seen me. Say your car’s in the shop. Promise you won’t say anything.”

“Are you in trouble, Seth?” She didn’t seem too disturbed by the idea.

“Don’t ask questions, Cindy. It’s better you don’t know.”

“I’ll get my keys.”

“Bring the car back here. I have some things I need to put in it.”

Megan stayed quiet, listening to the footsteps crunch away. A moment later a dark car rolled up to them.

“Do you need help?” Cindy asked.

“No. In fact, I need you to go back in the house now and not watch what I’m doing.”

“Okay.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Seth said, “Go. I’m running out of time.”

Megan heard car doors opening, and then her door opened. “Stay low,” Seth whispered. “Do you have a cell phone?”

“Yes.” Megan held up her little satchel, complete with her checkbook, mascara, and cell phone.

“Does it have GPS?”

“Of course.”

“Turn it off and leave it in the jeep.”

Megan looked down at her blue flip-phone. It wasn’t anything special, but it contained all of her contacts and important phone numbers. “If I leave it off, no one will be able to trace it.”

“If you’re going to leave it off, just leave it here. Remove the temptation.”

Megan turned the phone off and tossed it under the passenger seat, heaving a sigh as she did so.

“Okay. Now use the doors as a shield. Get in her car and stay down until I tell you to come up.

Megan did as she was told. She crawled over the driver’s seat and lay herself down in the back of a four-door sedan.

Seth hopped in a moment later. He tossed the keys to his jeep on the passenger seat and put the car in drive. It felt like an eternity, but finally he said, “All right. You can sit up now.”

She climbed into the front seat. They were back on the highway, heading toward the interstate. “Nice. Who was that?”

“A friend.”

“Sounded like more than that. And she lent you her car?” Megan knew there was no way she would let someone borrow her car.

“If you know so much, who was she?”

Megan analyzed her answer. “Not your girlfriend. You didn’t greet her with enough enthusiasm. She likes you, that’s for sure. But she’s not just a friend. Sounded like there is a past and a hope for a future . . . she must be your ex.”

“Good call, Einstein.”

Megan wasn’t done. “And you made me stay down because you knew she wouldn’t let you borrow the car if there was another girl involved.” She remembered the long pause at their goodbye. “Did you kiss her?”

“Of course not. We’re not together. That would give her the impression that we were. Though she definitely wanted me to.” He smiled, a dimple showing in his right cheek.

“But you didn’t mind hinting to her that you might get back together.”

“We got the car, didn’t we?” Seth snapped.

“Yep,” Megan said, settling back into her seat.

“You have any cash in there?” Seth nodded at her bag.

“My checkbook.” She pulled open the bag and sifted through it. “Maybe twenty dollars.” She held out the wrinkled bills.

“Debit card?”

“Yes.” Megan sorted through her wallet.

“Great. Hold on to the money. We’re going to need it.”

C
arl stepped past the mobs of officers conversing with Agent Reynolds, glad that he wasn’t one that had been assigned to help find his missing daughter. When the agent was ready, they’d be able to talk about the kidnapped girls. He went into his office and closed the door, letting out a sigh as the noise vanished. He unwrapped his cheese and pickle sandwich and took a huge bite, losing himself in the sweet, tangy crunch of bread and butter pickles.

He felt bad, of course, about Agent Reynolds’ daughter running off with Seth Rivera. But Carl wasn’t worried about her. While Seth seemed to be troubled, he wasn’t a trouble maker. Her actions might cause her parents heartache, but she wasn’t in danger.

He wiped his mouth with a paper napkin and noticed the flashing red light on his office phone. Voicemail.

Hitting the button, Carl played it while he ate.

“Detective Hamilton, this is Agent Horton.”

Carl didn’t recognize the name. He took another bite.

“I have the identity of Cisnero. Please call me back at—”

Carl choked on his food and launched across his desk, anxious to find a pen.

By the time he got it, he had missed the number. He played the message again and quickly dialed the numbers he had jotted down.

“Agent Horton speaking.”

“Agent, this is Detective Hamilton out of the Idaho Falls PD. I’ve been working on the case involving—”

“Yes, of course,” Horton’s smooth voice interrupted. “Do you have a fax number? I’ll send the file to you.”

“Sure.” Carl spouted off the fax number, then hung up the phone and ran out to the fax machine in the hall. He drummed his fingers on the plastic cover, trying to ignore the hum around him. He grabbed up the papers as soon as they spewed out.

“Hey Carl,” someone called out.

Carl pretended not to hear. He bolted into his office and locked the door. His hands shook with anticipation.

Cisnero. Code name for: Brigitta Masceros.

Carl let out a small gasp, staring at a picture of the red-headed woman. They were the same person. The murdered Hungarian heiress. He kept reading.

Masceros was operating an illegal weapons operation out of Egypt. Interpol found an employee in Egypt that testified to Masceros’ operations. The plant in Egypt supplied weapons to genocide leaders in Africa.

Following this information, Interpol arrested the manager of the plant. He confessed that Masceros often traveled to Mexico to meet with her buyers, who did not like traveling to the eastern hemisphere.

Carl paused, giving himself a moment to internalize that information. Masceros, or Cisnero, had gone to Guadalajara to conduct business. The Hand and Rivera had also gone. Which one was the buyer?

He turned to the next page, a document in Spanish signed by the Mexican police. A page of English translation was included next to it. Three bodies had been found in the rented lodge in Guadalajara, all killed like Masceros.

Carl read the papers again. What about the other people in the pictures? Nobody else had turned up yet. Were they also dead?

Was this a personal vendetta or something more mercenary?

He booted up his computer, already planning out the message he would send Rivera.

As soon as he logged in, he hit the reply button again to Rivera’s email, just as he had done numerous times before.
Deleting the Re: subject, he typed in all caps, I’M ON TO YOU.

Satisfied with his message and hoping this time it would prompt a response, he hit send.