No Place to Hide (18 page)

And Jackie and Ian defending themselves quite well. They had skills. Good skills. Which explained why they were still not in custody.

Authorities now had the man Ian had knocked out in an interrogation room. Elizabeth couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say. She itched to question him. Her phone rang and she picked it up. It was her Special Agent in Charge in South Carolina. “Hello, Cole.”

“Elizabeth, I’ve got some news.”

“What’s that?”

“Red Peters, the man who was captured after attacking Lockwood and Sellers, was killed while in custody about an hour ago.”

“What?” She shot to her feet and began pacing. “How?” Sam lifted a brow and she put the phone on speaker. “Sam’s listening too.”

“He was being taken to the magistrate’s office along with several other prisoners when a fight broke out among two of the other inmates. There was some confusion and when the smoke cleared, Red’s throat was cut and he was dead.”

Elizabeth drew in a deep breath. “Someone got to another inmate. They didn’t want Red talking. Cole, he was in custody. If someone could get to him there—”

“Yeah, we watched the video footage, but whoever it was knew the angles of the cameras, knew which area was slightly off camera, and that’s when he struck. The fighting inmates covered him too. It was a tangle of bodies and everyone had blood on them by the time they were separated. It’s impossible to see who actually did the murder. He was dressed in prison orange and blended in. The shank was on the floor and we’ll check it for prints, but don’t hold your breath. We’re still picking apart the video and hopefully will be able to have something
soon, but even if we know who it was, he might not be able to tell us who hired him.”

“These people have power, but they’re not perfect. They’re scrambling. They’re fighting to keep their plan from derailing completely, so they’re having to wing it.”

“Possibly.”

“No possibly about it.” The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. “They’re going to mess up.”

“Well, if what you say is true, they already messed up when they went after Lockwood and Sellers.”

“Exactly. But who?”

“We’re working on figuring that out now. We’re also going to plaster Red Peters’ face all over the news networks and see if we can get some solid leads to chase down. He has a rap sheet a mile long. He also recently made it onto the terrorist watch list.”

Elizabeth’s eyes burned and she pressed her fingers against them. Her phone beeped indicating another call. She glanced at the screen. “It’s Yosef.” Yosef Anschel with the ATF.

“Take it,” Cole said. “I’ll be in touch later.”

Sam nodded. “Yosef’s examining the explosives found at Lockwood’s apartment.”

“Bye, Cole. Keep me updated.” She switched to the other call. “Hello?”

“How’s my favorite Special Agent?” Yosef asked.

Elizabeth smiled. She really liked this serious man who never got ruffled. Steady, intelligent, quiet. She’d never heard him raise his voice. “She’s wondering what you’ve managed to unearth.”

“Your buddy didn’t buy this stuff they took out of his home.”

Elizabeth leaned forward. “Okay. Why not? How do you know?”

“Because it was stolen.”

“By Lockwood? Stolen from where?”

“Doesn’t look like it was Lockwood, but I’ll get to that in a minute. It was taken from an area the highway department was working on. They were clearing out part of I-40 where there had been a rockslide. The guy I talked to said an inspection crew came by to do a routine check. Had all of the right uniforms and ID. The supervisor showed them all of the properly stored TNT, blasting caps, et cetera, signed the paperwork, and they took off. Later that same day, another inspection crew showed up. The supervisor was naturally confused, but agreed to another inspection. It was at that point they found the missing TNT.”

“So we have a fake inspection crew who managed to steal the TNT. But Lockwood wasn’t with them.”

“Right.”

“And you know this how?”

“We showed pictures. Ones of him in disguise and ones of him before he started changing his appearance. Lockwood wasn’t identified as part of the crew.”

“Then who was?”

“That, my dear, is the million-dollar question. We are working on it.”

“So maybe Lockwood hired someone?” Sam said.

“Hmm,” Yosef said. “It’s possible, I suppose, but Lu doesn’t think so.”

Lu Gans, the profiler. “What does Lu think?”

“That someone’s setting him up.”

“What’s her reasoning?”

“Number one—why would he keep the explosives in his home? Let’s stretch it and say he was stupid and did so. The TNT wasn’t stolen until after he was on the run and, from all accounts, in New York.”

Elizabeth shook her head and paced from one end of the room to the other. “What else?”

“Number two—nothing in his past has even suggested he would sell out his country or consider mass murder. In fact, everything suggests the complete opposite. His sister served in Afghanistan. Ian was one of her biggest supporters. And before you ask, no, there’s nothing in his behavior to suggest that he’s bitter about his sister’s death and wants to get even for it.”

“And number three?”

“Number three—you have the video showing Ian at the convenience store around the time Daniel was killed. As skilled as he’s been at avoiding capture, even he can’t be in two places at once.”

Her phone beeped in. “Hang on.” She switched lines. “Hello?”

“Is this Elizabeth Miller?”

“It is.”

“This is Jackie Sellers and we need to talk.”

4:00 P.M.

Jackie heard the woman’s indrawn breath. “How did you get this number?”

“I have friends in high places too. I know you’re not the Special Agent in Charge, but I know you’re an agent from South Carolina and are part of the task force. I also know you’re in New York. My friend said you’re trustworthy and an outstanding agent, not prone to jump to conclusions and you think things out.”

Silence. “Wow. I’m impressed. You do have friends in high places. Where do you want to meet?”

“I don’t want to meet you anywhere. I’m going to send you a text. It’s a picture of an email Ian Lockwood received from Cedric Wainwright. It’s what started this whole thing. He saw something he wasn’t supposed to see and now someone wants him dead. I’m helping him, so that makes me a target too.”

“I see.”

“No, I don’t think you do, but you will. You’ll need a cryptologist to work on it most likely. It’s all in code.”

“Why did you run to New York?”

“Because something’s going to happen here and we need to stop it.”

“How do you know?”

Jackie sighed. “Actually, I don’t. It’s a guess. But trust me, as soon as we know, you’ll know.” She paused. “I hope you figure it out before we do.”

“Mrs. Sellers—”

“Jackie.”

“Fine. Jackie. You and Ian need to come in and let’s talk this thing out. There are agents working the case in New York. Just call the field office. I’ll give you the number. Or if you don’t want to do that, just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.”

“Not yet. I don’t think we have time for that.”

“What’s the urgency?”

Now Jackie was stuck. She nearly groaned her frustration. She didn’t know exactly what the urgency was, she just knew she had to get off the phone. The minute she’d called, they’d no doubt pinged her location. She shivered in the cold and pulled the coat Ron had provided tighter against her throat. God bless Ron. He’d thought of everything. She’d walked at least four miles in the light snow to get away from the hotel. They might get her current location, but they’d have no idea which hotel they were in. Unless, of course, they started calling around and asking about three people and a dog.

Jackie pulled the phone from her ear, found the text she’d readied, and pressed send. “Did you get it?”

“Hang on.”

She started walking. Couldn’t stay in one place too long. She walked into the nearest bar and pressed the phone harder against her ear. “Well?”

“I got it.” Elizabeth sounded distracted.

“Good.”

“Don’t hang up yet.”

Jackie laughed. “Right.”

“No. Wait. Please. Ian’s not guilty, is he?”

“No.”

“Then why run?”

“I think that’s obvious. Because he can’t prove it. Yet. Cedric Wainwright is one powerful man and he’s trying to make Ian—and me now—the fall guy for seeing whatever is in that email. If he goes to prison and tries to wait on the feds to figure it all out, he’ll be dead before you can prove his innocence. Our innocence.” She sighed. “You know what I mean.”

“I know you’re getting ready to hang up. How can I get in touch with you?”

“You can’t,” Jackie said. “But . . . I have a feeling you’re the only one who believes Ian and I could possibly be innocent. Stand by. I think we’re going to need you.”

“There are other agents—”

“No, you.”

Elizabeth paused. “Fine. I’m here and I want to get to the bottom of this as badly as you do.”

“I seriously doubt that. I’ll call you soon.” She hung up, dropped the phone onto the nearest table, and headed for the back of the bar. She slipped out the side door and into the falling snow.

Ian paced the floor of the hotel room, worry for Jackie eating at him. He should have gone with her, but she’d argued they were more recognizable as a couple. Gus whined from his spot on the floor. Ian sighed. “I know, buddy. She’ll be fine. Right?”

Gus settled his nose between his paws and let his gaze follow Ian from one end of the small area to the other.

Until Jackie finally darkened the door.

Ian pounced. “Well?”

“She got the text. They’ll have someone working on the code soon enough.”

He sank onto the couch. “Thank God.”

Jackie snorted. “Why do you have to bring him into this?”

He rubbed his eyes. “Because if it weren’t for him I’d be falling apart.”

She swallowed. “Oh.” Then picked at nonexistent lint on her sweatshirt while she processed that. “I did notice that even as a teenager and all of the rotten things were happening to you in school, you never turned your back on God.”

Ian shrugged. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because he was the only one I trusted enough to help me get through it.”

She pulled in a breath and gave a short nod. “All right. But why?”

Ian ran a hand over his face. “I don’t know really. I guess when I was little, all those Vacation Bible School weeks sunk in. My parents were absentee for the most part, more interested in traveling and doing their own thing than parenting. They weren’t horrible, just uninterested in me or Terry and Gina. I suppose I decided that if my parents weren’t going to be there for me, I’d let someone who wanted to. God proved himself over and over to me as a kid. It never occurred to me he wouldn’t be there for me as an adult.”

She stared at him. “I never had any of that. We had similar childhood experiences. You hung on to God and I pushed him away. Why do you suppose that is?”

He gave her a small smile. “Different personalities, I suppose.”

“I suppose.”

“But you’re wondering if you were wrong to do that, aren’t you?”

She blinked. “Hmm. Maybe. You ready to do a little midnight snooping?”

“Changing the subject?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. So. Midnight snooping. I assume you’re talking about Wainwright Labs?”

“Yep.”

He frowned.

She leaned forward. “We’ve got to find something, Ian. Otherwise we’re chasing our tails.”

“Too bad we’re not the only ones chasing them,” he muttered.

She snorted a short laugh at his sour humor, then cleared her throat. “Where’s Holly?”

“She was asleep last time I checked.”

“I’m worried about her.”

“She looks sick, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah.” And she was going to get sicker. Had Holly told him about the cancer? “Did you see the cache of drugs she has on her?”

“I did.”

Jackie moved to the small table in the corner and took a seat. “Are you going to ask her about them?”

“Maybe. If she wanted to tell me about it, she would have.”

“Okay, fair enough.” So Holly hadn’t said anything. Keeping Holly’s confidence chafed at her, but she’d promised. She picked up the pen. “You’ve been to this facility before?”

“Yes.” He shook his head. “But it’s locked up tight. There’s no way to get in there at night.”

She pursed her lips. “All right, what about during the day?”

He blinked. “Well, yeah, we could get in, but getting out
would be another story. They’d recognize us as soon as we walked in.”

“Not if we’re in disguise.”

“But—”

“You know where Wainwright’s office is?”

“I do.” He leaned back.

“Then let’s plan. Who are the types that he meets with?”

“Executives, heads of charities, investors—”

She snapped her fingers. “That’s it. Investors. We’ll be investors.”

“How are we going to do that when he knows what I look like?”

“He’s not actually going to see us. You’re going to create a distraction and we’ll get him out of the office. Then while he’s out, we’re in and we get what we need to prove you—we—didn’t have anything to do with any terrorist plot.”

Ian stared at her, certain the stress had finally gotten to her.

She sighed as she returned his stare. “Come on, Ian, what have you got to lose?”

He thought about it. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”