31

Look, I don’t know what you’re being paid, but I can double it,” Joel said. He’d worked his brow, loosening the blindfold until it slid down barely enough to see that he faced a black window. He’d continued to rub the ropes against the head of the nail, and they had loosened slightly. But not enough to slip his hands free.

A hollow laugh echoed in the room. “You cannot even pay your gambling debts.”

“I have money in an offshore bank account.” He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice.

“Then why didn’t you use that money to pay your debt?”

“Because I’m not a good person. I was going to take the money and disappear.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I . . . I had to find my niece.”

“An honorable thief.”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic. The money is yours, just let me go.” Silence greeted his plea. It was no use. These men were going to kill him.

He had to do something. He ducked his head so he could see more of the room. A shadowy figure moved in the dim light.

“Is it time?”

Time for what? What were they talking about?

“Not quite.” The other voice came from across the room.

“Come on, let me go and I’ll make it worth your while.”

Garlic breath leaned in close to him. “Okay, I’m setting you free.”

His heart jumped as cold steel touched his temple.

“No!” The word roared from his mouth as he jerked his head away. They might kill him but not without a fight.

He leaped forward, dragging the chair with him as he hit the floor. A bullet whizzed past his head. He kicked free of the chair and staggered to his feet. Another shot fired, and white-hot pain exploded in his chest.

Bailey finger-combed Maria’s hair while her dad scratched yet another letter on the window. “Dad, you’re wasting your time.” With them listening, she had to be careful with her words.

“I don’t think so.”

“I’m hungry, Miss Bailey. Can we go home now?”

“Not yet.” Maria’s fever was down, thanks to the medicine. How much longer were the kidnappers going to keep them? She bolted upright as a crash came from the other room.

A gun fired, then another shot.

She froze as a bullet pierced the wall.

Charlie ran toward her. “Get into the bathroom!”

Bailey grabbed Maria and ran.

From a hundred feet away, Danny tensed as Wade moved to the door. Once the plastic explosive was on the door, Wade backed off and ran behind the shield. Behind his own shield, Smitty waited to throw in the flash-bang grenades.

Ben counted. “Five, four, three, two—”

Gunfire sounded from the room.

They were shooting the hostages! Danny took off running for the motel. Ben grabbed him just as a puff of smoke appeared on the door, followed by a boom as the door blew in. The shock wave rocked Danny back.

Smitty ran forward and threw in his grenades. Immediately there were flashes and booms almost as loud as the explosive. Ben and his deputies stormed the room. “Police! On the floor,” they yelled.

More gunfire erupted. Vest or no vest, Danny was going in. Just as he reached the door, a man raced past him. Danny dropped his rifle and made a flying tackle. A solid blow hit him in the stomach. He grunted, then managed a counterpunch before Angel pulled the man off him. A deputy took over, cuffing his assailant.

Danny climbed to his feet and stepped into the smoky room. His eyes burned, and he blinked to clear them. Two men lay on the floor, and deputies were giving CPR to one of them. The other man lay facedown, handcuffed. With all the gunshots, he feared what was in the next room. He looked closer at the man they were working on. Joel. “Is he—”

One of the deputies looked up. “It doesn’t look good. He took a bullet in the chest.”

“There’s an ambulance on the way,” Ben said as he came into the room from the connecting door.

“Bailey and Maria?” Danny’s heart almost stopped waiting for the answer.

Ben nodded toward the connecting door as a grin took over his face. “In there. Alive, along with Charlie.”

At the door, Danny stopped and Angel bumped into him. An ambulance with its siren blaring rolled into the parking lot.

“What are you waiting for?” Angel pushed Danny aside and entered the room. “Maria!”

“Daddeeeee!”

Tears burned Danny’s eyes, and this time it wasn’t from the smoke. He couldn’t let himself believe they were alive until he heard Maria’s squeal. He rounded the corner. “Bailey!”

She almost tackled him as she threw her arms around his neck. “I knew you’d figure it out!”

He wrapped his arms around her. “It’s over, and you’ll never get away from me again.” Her body shook against him. “Are you cold?”

She nodded, and he slipped his coat on her, then he looked around as Ben held up a .38 Smith & Wesson. “Charlie, is this yours?”

Red crept into the older man’s face. “Yeah. I lost it outside in the scuffle.”

Ben handed it to him. “Well, don’t shoot yourself with it.”

“I think I’ll take care of it until we get home,” Bailey said, intercepting the gun and slipping it in the coat pocket.

“Can we go home?” Danny asked.

“I want to see Uncle Joel,” Maria said. “And Tio.”

Danny exchanged glances with Angel. “Tio is at Kate’s.” He turned to Ben. “Does everyone know Maria and Bailey are safe?”

“Not yet,” Ben replied. “Thought we’d let them tell everyone in person.”

“Good,” Bailey said. “I can thank Mr. Montoya personally for helping us.”

It was over. Finally over. Bailey leaned back in the passenger seat of Danny’s SUV. “Thanks for—”

“It wasn’t just me. A lot of people helped. Ben, Eric Raines—he’s an FBI agent and he brought a tech, and Edward furnished the money for the ransom, but it was your clue that did it.”

He glanced toward her, and the love in his eyes warmed her from the inside out.

Danny took one hand off the steering wheel and wrapped it over hers. “I’m glad the others rode back with Ben.”

His touch sent tingles up her arm. Tomorrow she would have to deal with her feelings for Danny, but tonight, she would just enjoy them. “Have either of the men talked?”

Danny shook his head. “They haven’t said a word. But their fingerprints came back and both belong to the Calatrava cartel in Mexico. I figure the cartel bought the guns from Franks, and killed him as well.”

“We may never know the whole truth,” Bailey said. “But at least it’s over.”

She leaned forward as he followed Ben’s SUV into her parents’ drive.

The inviting glow from the bed and breakfast sent a sweet tremor through her heart. God’s grace was the only reason she had lived to see it again. She didn’t know what her future held, but for once, that didn’t matter.

Danny parked in front of the house.

“Looks like Mom’s going to see Dad first.” Bailey laughed as Ben’s car emptied of its passengers. Angel carried Maria up the steps and into the house. To look at her now, no one would think she’d been sick or through such a trauma. Children were so resilient.

Her dad’s .38 bumped her side as she and Danny climbed the steps and entered the house just in time to hear Maria squeal.

“Tio!”

Bailey heard the child’s feet tap across the floor and could imagine her throwing herself into her great-uncle’s arms. At least Maria still had him. Maybe Bailey would finally get to see the elusive Edward Montoya. She sniffed the air. Brownies. When her mother was worried, she baked.

“Your mom is in the kitchen with Charlie,” Angel said. “Everyone else is in the living room.”

Her mother and dad needed a few minutes alone. She blinked back tears and pressed her lips together, then she took a breath. “I’d like to thank everyone for helping.”

In the living room, Ben introduced her to Eric and the technician, and she thanked them. A man stood looking out the window with Maria—Edward Montoya, she supposed. He turned around, and his right hand slid into the pocket of his coat.

Her world stopped. Milliseconds became minutes. Everything receded except the man she and Elena had seen in the poppy field.

In this room.

Now.