A sharp pain pierced the back of his head, but Hunter didn’t have time to succumb to it. Sue had dropped the phone and let out a wail.
Her father was shouting into the phone. “Sue? Sue? What’s wrong?”
Hunter scooped up the phone. “Mr. Chandler, I’m with Sue right now. Dani Howard isn’t who she says she is. When did they leave? Can you catch up to them?”
Sue’s father swore. “We didn’t know. How were we supposed to know? They left over thirty minutes ago.”
“Did you see her car?”
“Of course I did. Who the hell are you, anyway?”
“I’m Sue’s...friend. I’m trying to help her, and she needs help. The Falcon is dead and Sue’s been implicated. She has no one to vouch for her and now they’ve taken Drake.”
“The hell they have. I’ll get him back. You tell my little girl. Tell her I’ll get him back. I’m going out right now. Our town isn’t that big. Someone must’ve seen them.”
“While you do, stay on the phone with me and tell me everything you remember about Dani and her car.”
As Mr. Chandler gave him the details of Dani’s visit, Hunter squeezed Sue’s shoulder. She hadn’t moved since getting the news from her father, except to drop her head in her hands.
Sue’s stepmother interrupted her husband.
“What are you saying, Linda? Phone number?”
“What is it, sir?”
“My wife said that snake, Dani, left her a new phone number for Sue. Said she’d lost her phone on the road and picked up a temporary one. She wanted Sue to have the number.” Chandler snorted. “I’ll bet she did.”
“Give me the number. It’s probably the contact phone for Sue’s instructions.”
Sue’s father recited the number to him. “What do they want with Sue, anyway?”
“I think they just want Sue.”
Sue moaned. “They can have me as long as they let Drake go.”
Sue’s father yelled into the phone. “Don’t be ridiculous, Sue. Do you know what they’ll do to you? Someone who betrayed them? Someone who has information about them?”
“I’d rather have them do it to me than Drake.”
Hunter knelt beside her and brushed the hair from her hot face. “We’ll get him back. Don’t worry. Your father gave me some good information.”
Mr. Chandler said, “I’m already in my car. I’m going to find her. I’ll keep you posted.”
Hunter ended the call and ran his hand over Sue’s back. “We’re going to rescue him, but we’ll play along. Call Dani now. She won’t be expecting you to call her for a while—not until your parents notify you that she never brought Drake home.”
Sue straightened her spine and pulled back her shoulders. “Catch her off guard.”
“Exactly.”
Sue snatched the phone from his fingers and tapped in the number as he recited it to her from memory. He didn’t have to tell her to put it on speaker.
This was his son—a son he’d never even met. He’d go to hell and back to bring him home.
“Yes?”
A woman answered the phone. There was children’s laughter in the background, and Hunter ground his teeth. What kind of a mother could kidnap a child from another mother?
Sue’s nostrils flared and her cheeks flushed. “Where’s my son, you bitch?”
Dani drew in a sharp breath, audible over the line. “That was fast.”
“You’ve had him for half an hour. You can’t be far. My father’s out looking for you.”
“How did he find out?” Dani laughed. “I guess he’s a better CIA operative than you are. You didn’t have a clue for almost two years.”
“Why would I think another mother would be plotting against me?”
Dani clicked her tongue. “Oh, Sue. You don’t have to play the outraged mother with me. You’re never with Drake anyway, but I hope you care enough to turn yourself over to us to keep him safe.”
“Keep your commentary to yourself and tell me what I need to do.”
“I’ll call you back with instructions. I really didn’t expect you to call so quickly—and make sure your parents know that if we detect any police involvement, you’ll never see Drake again.”
Sue covered her mouth with her hand but didn’t let the fear seep into her voice. “Why did you move in on me two years ago? Did Walid al Hamed’s group suspect me then?”
The silence on the other end of the line proved that they’d been right about Walid’s group being behind the plot.
Dani cleared her throat and recovered. “Nobody knew for sure, but you really should’ve been spending all that money we’d funneled to you. Once we realized someone was checking out that barbershop, we knew we had you...and your boss, too.”
“You killed her.”
“We left her for dead. She must’ve been a tough old bird. We never imagined she’d pull herself together and go see you. And we never imagined you’d get out of that storage unit alive.”
“I guess you underestimated both of us.”
“Who’s your sidekick? Who’s helping you?”
Sue reached out and squeezed Hunter’s hand. “I work alone. You should know that by now.”
“It doesn’t matter who he is. You’ll be on your own for sure now. Any interference and Drake is gone.”
“What does that mean, gone?” Sue’s body seemed to vibrate.
“You don’t want to find out. I’ll be in touch.”
Dani cut off the call, and Sue’s shoulders rounded. “They’re going to interrogate me—torture me to find out what I know about the organization, and then they’re going to kill me.”
Hunter laced his fingers with hers. “Do you think I’m going to allow that to happen? We’ll find a way to get Drake back and keep you safe.”
“We have to be able to use The Falcon’s files to lure them into a change of plans. They don’t know what we have, if anything, from that storage unit.”
He pushed off the sofa and pulled her along with him. “Then let’s get back to those files and see if we can trade anything for Drake.”
Sue shuffled the papers from The Falcon’s personal folder and closed it, setting it aside. “That’s The Falcon’s motivation for bringing down this group and now I have my own personal reasons.”
“Then let’s do it.” He slid her notebook and pen in front of him. “What do those notes say about the group Denver is investigating?”
“Looks like The Falcon picked up on Denver’s activities a while ago. There was a bombing at a Syrian refugee camp designed to derail the negotiations between the Syrian government and the rebels—it worked. So, Walid’s group is all about fomenting dissent in the Middle East...and Africa.” She tapped the paper with her finger. “Denver discovered a cache of weapons at an embassy outpost in Nigeria. He’s putting these events together like nobody else is and The Falcon is paying attention.”
“Someone else was paying attention, too, and that’s why he was set up. There has to be someone on the inside.”
“At what level?” She skimmed her fingertip down a list of agencies and names. “The Falcon was on that track, also.”
“Walid’s group, which doesn’t even have a name, is dependent on this insider and they’re desperate to keep him a secret.”
“Then we need to pretend we know who this insider is and that we have the proof to bring him down—and we’ll do it unless we get Drake back.”
“That won’t work, Sue. We can’t offer the people who took Drake any insurance that we didn’t pass along this info to someone before we collect Drake, or any assurance that we didn’t take pictures of the proof with our phones.” He rubbed a circle on her back. “The only thing we have as a bargaining chip—is you.”
Sue folded her arms and buried her face in the crook of her elbow. “Then it has to be done. My life for Drake’s. It’s a no-brainer.”
“It’s a no-brainer that you’re going to show up, but I’ll figure out a way to get you both out alive.” He put his head close to hers and his warm breath stirred her hair. “I found you again and discovered we have a son together. Do you seriously think I’m going to let anything come between me and everything I ever wanted?”
She raised her head and kissed his chin. “How did I ever let myself get talked into leaving you and keeping Drake from you?”
Tapping the notebook with his knuckle, he said, “This is how. The work. Your work.”
“And where has that work gotten me? Estranged from you, Drake kidnapped, my career and my very life in jeopardy.”
“Make it worthwhile.”
“You mean instead of wallowing in self-pity?” She picked up the pen and resumed her examination of The Falcon’s notes.
“I know what your problem is, and it’s not self-pity.” He stood up and made a move toward the kitchen. “You need to eat something. You never finished that awful oatmeal. I’ll make us something else awful.”
While Hunter banged around in the kitchen, Sue put together a time line of all the events that linked Major Denver with their undercover work with Walid. “It’s here. This is it, Hunter. Walid’s group is the same one Denver has been tracking and the same one The Falcon had me infiltrate. But for what purpose?”
“What purpose?” He walked toward her carrying two bowls of something steaming.
She sniffed the air. “Chicken noodle soup? Drake loves noodles.”
“Must be genetic. This stuff is homemade, straight from the can.” He set the soup at her elbow, a spoon already poking up from the bowl. “What purpose are you talking about?”
“The connection between Denver’s investigation and the one I was doing with The Falcon is evident, but I don’t know why either investigation is so important. This group—” she thumbed through the pages “—really hasn’t been up to much of anything. Outside of the Syrian bombing and another in Paris, the group has been operating under the radar.”
“Denver seems to think they’re plotting something big, and obviously The Falcon thought so, too.”
“In the US.” Hunter blew on his soup before sucking a noodle into his mouth. “Yeah, I know that.”
She shifted her gaze from Hunter’s lips and glanced down at the page in front of her. “The Falcon does have GB several times on the page. Could there be an impending attack in Great Britain, also? It just doesn’t make sense in the context of her notes, which really couldn’t be more confusing if she tried.”
“GB?” Hunter dropped his spoon and snatched the notes from her hand. “That’s what the military calls sarin gas.”
Sue choked. “My God, Hunter. That’s it. A weapon in the context of these notes makes so much more sense than a place. They’re planning a sarin attack. But where?”
She scrambled through The Falcon’s notes again, drawing a blank. Slumping in her chair, she dropped the notes onto the table. “Do you think these are enough to clear me with the CIA? There are references to the people I met and why. The Agency can’t accuse me of collaborating with the enemy once they see The Falcon’s notes. Someone has to come forward at some point to claim The Falcon. She didn’t work in a vacuum.”
“They’ll go a long way toward proving your innocence.”
“Then maybe I should turn myself in now. Maybe they can help us get Drake back.”
“That would be the worst thing we could do for Drake right now. If there’s an insider, and these notes—” he smashed his fist against the papers “—indicate there is, how long do you think it’s gonna take him, or her, to report back that the Agency is aware of the kidnapping?”
“Not long at all.” She plowed her fingers through her hair and dug her nails into her scalp.
Her cell phone rang and she froze.
Hunter picked up the phone and checked the display. “It’s your father.”
Sue lunged for the phone. “Dad?”
“I couldn’t find her, Sue. I don’t know where she took him, but he’s gone.”
“We’ll handle it, Dad. I’ll get Drake back.”
“At what cost?”
“Whatever it takes.”
When her conversation with her father ended, Sue finally picked up her spoon and took a few sips of soup. She’d hoped that The Falcon’s notes would contain a blueprint to clear her, clear Denver, give her something to use to bargain with Drake’s kidnappers, ID the mole and map out the plan for Walid’s attack. It only hinted at some of those things, leaving the rest just out of her grasp.
She cared only about Drake now. His safety was more important than all the rest. It always was and she hadn’t been able to see that until now.
Her phone rang again, and when she looked at the calling number, she inhaled her soup so fast it went up her nose. “It must be Dani.”
She put it on speaker and answered. “Yes?”
Dani answered, a slight accent creeping into her voice that Sue had never noticed before. “Are you ready?”
“I’m ready for anything.”
“You’d better be.” Dani spoke away from the phone in a muffled voice and then continued. “We’re going to pick you up on a street corner in DC at midnight tonight. If anyone follows us or we see any police presence, helicopters, drones or any other suspicious activity, your son will disappear.”
“Are you bringing him with you when you pick me up? How will I know he’s safe?”
“We’ll let you video chat with him on the phone before we pick you up. We’ll even let you see him before...before we take you away for interrogation.”
Hunter jumped up from the table, his hands clenched into fists.
Sue met his gaze. “How do I know you’ll let him go once you have me?”
“You’ll just have to trust us. We’re working out a plan for your father to pick the boy up.”
“I need more than that.” Hot anger thumped through her veins and she pressed two fingers against her throbbing temple.
“What choice do you have, Sue? Are you going to be at the meeting place tonight or not?”
Hunter came up behind her and stroked the side of her neck.
Sue took a deep breath and swallowed. “Of course I’ll be there. Give me the instructions.”
As Dani reeled off the steps, Sue wrote them down on a piece of paper. When the call ended, she dropped her head to that paper and banged her head on the table. “What are we going to do? There’s no way to find out where they’re going to take me. You can’t follow us. She already said they’re going to divest me of any cell phones, purses, bags, and they’re even leaving clothes for me to change into so I can’t sew anything into my clothing. And I don’t even know if Drake will be safe at the end of this. They might kill us both.”
Hunter braced his hands on the table, his head drooping between his arms. “That’s not going to...”
His head jerked up. “Where’s the bag from the floor with all the cash?”
“By the fireplace.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Why?”
Crossing to the fireplace in three long strides, he said over his shoulder, “The Falcon had every conceivable spy tool in that storage unit. She also had some in that bag.”
“GPS tracker? They’ll find it, Hunter.”
He knelt before the bag and dived into it, dragging out stacks of money and throwing them over his shoulder. His hands scrabbled through the items in the bottom of the bag, and then he sat back on his heels, with a smile that showed all his white teeth.
“Got it. God bless The Falcon.”
“What do you have?” Sue sprang up from her chair like a jack-in-the-box and launched herself at him.
He waved the package in front of her nose. “You’re going to swallow the GPS.”