Chapter Twenty-Six

“She’s gone.”Sergeant Malloy was the last one to check in.

Kade swallowed every colorful expletive on the tip of his tongue, which meant he was about to choke on them.

They’d searched the entire house, garage, and adjacent beach, and no one could find Laia. She wasn’t thinking clearly. Her daughter had been kidnapped, and he’d messed this whole thing up as royally as any human being possibly could have by driving her away. Now he worried for her just as much as for Rosa. In her irrational, grieved state, who knew what Laia would do.

Knowing she’d taken her phone with her, he tried calling her for the third time. When it went to voicemail, he left another message. After stuffing his phone back in his pocket, he let loose with some of those expletives he’d been holding in check.

The only thing keeping him grounded was Smoke, who’d sidled up to him and pressed his big head against his thigh, forcing him to reach down and pet his dog’s head. The second his fingers touched the long, soft fur, an eerie calm settled around him.

Jamie came through the front door, watching and waiting, Kade knew, for whatever plan he came up with. No sense wasting time over what he didn’t know, namely Rosa’s location, so he focused on what he did know.

The long-distance video footage from the camera facing the beach showed two men walking with Rosa toward the dunes. Laia didn’t have the ledger or the money, nor did she have any way of getting them. The ledger was secure in the evidence locker, along with the safe deposit box key. What she did have was her phone. Colon’s goons would call her again, and when they did, Kade needed to be there to make sure she didn’t do something stupid. Like go after Rosa alone.

To Malloy, he ordered, “Put out an APB on Laia Velez. If anyone finds her, take her into protective custody. She’ll fight you. Do it anyway, then call me.” To Jamie, he said, “Let’s roll.”

Kade and Smoke hopped into Kade’s SUV, while Jamie followed in his black Interceptor. As soon as they hit the main drag in town, Kade punched it, heading north to Asbury Park and Laia’s house. If she was even there. The way she’d snuck out of the shack told him she didn’t want to be found. Not by him. He had no idea what he’d say to her at this point. What if he couldn’t get Rosa back?

Don’t even think it.

Words from one of his instructors at West Point came to mind.

Failure is nothing but the non-existence of success. Fiasco, on the other hand, is a failure of huge proportions.

By arresting Josh, perhaps he’d failed his brother as a human being and with the direst of consequences. No way would he make that mistake again.

He zigzagged through traffic, not bothering to check behind him to verify Jamie was there. His friend was a natural phenomenon behind the wheel. If Jamie had gone the NASCAR route, he’d have broken every record in the books.

Kade grabbed his phone and cued up Manny Dominguez, whom he’d called earlier to let him know about Rosa’s kidnapping and to request the AUSA get them a search warrant for Colon’s mother’s house.

“I’ve got bad news,” Manny began. “The AUSA says no dice. Unless you’ve got rock-solid proof that Fernando Colon had something to do with the girl’s kidnapping, the U.S. Attorney won’t authorize any warrants. They don’t want to go up against Colon and his lawyers again without incontrovertible evidence.”

“You’re kidding.” Kade pressed his lips together. He’d been sure that where a missing child was involved, the U.S. Attorney’s Office would relax their standard of proof enough to get them a warrant.

“Wish I was, man. But hey, we should have the warrant for that bank box by mid-morning tomorrow.”

Well, that was something. Kade only hoped it wouldn’t be too little too late.

Smoke stuck his head through the kennel window, whining as he landed a few licks on the side of Kade’s face. His dog didn’t have to understand English to know Kade was royally pissed.

“Call every one of your informants. Tell them there’s a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the safe return of Rosa Velez.”

“I need to get that kind of cash approved, first.”

“The money’s coming from my pocket, so just do it!” A little girl’s life was at stake, and every prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office was too scared of Colon and his army of lawyers to do what had to be done. “While you’re at it, run a FinCen check on Laia. Find out what credit cards she’s got, then track them. If she makes any new purchases, call me with the location.”

“You got it.”

Kade ended the call as he came to a screeching stop in front of Laia’s house. Since her Ford Escape was still locked in his garage in North Plainfield, she had no mode of transportation of her own. Chances were, she’d gotten an Uber or a Lift the second she’d slipped out of the shack. If she wasn’t here, he’d initiate a track on her phone.

As Kade and Smoke charged up the walkway to Laia’s side of the duplex, Jamie fell in step behind them. He tried the knob, but the door was locked. He didn’t really think she was inside, but he pounded on the door anyway. “Laia! Open up.”

“She’s not there.”

He whipped his head around to find Alvita standing just inside the duplex’s other door. “Do you know where she is?”

Alvita shook her head. “No, but you just missed her. She asked to borrow my minivan for a day or two, then took off. I’m on vacation for the rest of the week, so I said ‘sure.’”

Kade narrowed his eyes on the other woman. Why would Laia come back to the house only to leave again? “Do you know what she did inside the house? Did she take anything from inside?”

“She changed clothes,” Alvita said, looking confused. “And she had a small suitcase with her when she left.”

Then wherever she was going, she didn’t plan on coming back soon. “Do you know where she went?”

“No. She looked upset, and when I asked her what was wrong, all she said was that she had a family emergency.”

Kade tugged his creds from his back pocket, then pulled out a business card and handed it to her. “If you see or hear from her, call me right away.”

She took the card, and a look of worry filled her eyes. “Is she in trouble? Is Rosa okay?”

“What’s your license plate?”

She recited the tag. Before he’d even finished jotting the number onto another business card, he, Smoke, and Jamie were already halfway down the steps. “Just let me know if you hear from her,” he threw over his shoulder. “It’s important.”

Great. Now Laia had wheels and could be anywhere.

He handed the business card with Alvita’s tag written on it to Jamie. “Get Sergeant Malloy to add this to the APB out on Laia. And follow me.”

“Where to next?”

Kade jerked open the door. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do—bust through a thick wall of DHS protocol without authorization. “Fernando Colon’s. We need to have a little chat.”

…

Laia pushed through the heavy glass door at the Regional Bank & Trust, pulling the rolling suitcase she’d retrieved at her house behind her. She cast a wary glance at all the security cameras angled toward the door. What she was about to do was beyond illegal.

And she didn’t give a crap.

Luckily, Li-Mei was in today. Laia could see her friend sitting at her usual desk. At her approach, the other woman looked up and smiled.

“Laia! It’s good to see you again. Are you here to get into your box?”

“I am.” She forced a smile, doing her best to hide the bevy of emotions churning inside her. Her hands were sweating buckets as it was. “But I have a bit of a problem.” She sat in one of the chairs facing Li-Mei.

“Oh?” Li-Mei’s brows rose.

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “You see, I’ve lost my key to the box. Both of them, actually. But I’m willing to pay the drilling fee,” she added quickly.

The one downside to her plan was that for every bank’s safe deposit box, two keys were needed, and the keys weren’t the same. The bank had a master key, while whoever rented the box was given two identical renter keys. For security, there were no other copies, and no reputable locksmith would ever make a copy of a bank box key. If both renter keys were lost, the only way to get into the box was to drill through the outer door at the renter’s expense. Where Josh had stashed the spare key was anyone’s guess.

Li-Mei looked at her watch. “Let me make a couple of calls.”

Laia tugged her phone from her pocket to check the time. It was already three p.m. The chances of getting a locksmith on site today were slim to none, but she’d had to try.

She’d received no other calls from the kidnappers, just three from Kade, all of which she’d ignored. She swiped to delete the notifications of his calls and the voicemail messages he’d left for her. Listening to his voice would be enough to undermine her resolve. Talking to him would only shred her heart that much more.

She stuffed the phone back into the pocket of her capris, double-checking to make sure she hadn’t inadvertently put it on vibrate. The only call she didn’t want to miss was the one telling her where and when to bring the ledger and money.

Li-Mei sighed as she hung up the phone on her desk. “As I suspected, our contract locksmith won’t be able to get here until tomorrow morning at the earliest, but he said he’d be here when the door opens. Can you come back tomorrow at nine? You can pay the fee then.”

Again, Laia smiled. “Thank you, Li-Mei, and I’m sorry to put you to this trouble.”

Li-Mei made a pooh-poohing gesture. “No worries. You used to work here, so you know people lose these keys all the time.”

“True,” Laia agreed, standing. “I’m just so embarrassed because I do know that. I should have been more careful. I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll be here. Right where I always am, in the lap of luxury.”

With one final wave goodbye, Laia dragged her suitcase through the bank and out the door to Alvita’s minivan.

Knowing how banks worked and given the time of day, the delay in her plan had pretty much been a foregone conclusion. But the night wouldn’t go to waste.

She put the suitcase in the back of the minivan, then started the engine. Rather than driving off, she sat there a moment longer, wondering if she was stupid to try and do this alone. She wasn’t a cop, wasn’t a federal agent, and had zero hands-on experience dealing with homicidal, kidnapping drug cartels.

Shutting her eyes, she let her head fall back against the headrest. Behind her closed lids, Kade’s handsome, worried face appeared, then just as quickly vanished. The urge to call him was a constant, nagging drumbeat in her head and worse…in her heart. But he’d shown his true colors—red, white, and military blue. Duty first and always, no matter the cost. The new-and-improved Laia would have to do this on her own.

With renewed resolve, she cranked the minivan’s gearshift into drive and headed from the parking lot. When she was about to turn onto the road, a police car drove slowly past. She flicked the sun visor down, hoping it concealed her face.

Kade would try to find her. He knew she didn’t have her Escape, but he’d go to the duplex, and when she wasn’t there, he’d go next door to Alvita’s. Her friend would tell him she’d borrowed the minivan. He’d stop at nothing to find her and keep her from going after Rosa alone. He’d—

My phone! How many cop movies had she watched in which people were tracked via their cell phones?

She glanced in her rearview mirror, checking to see if anyone was behind her. When she’d confirmed there wasn’t, she shifted into reverse and backed into the same parking spot she’d been in.

With shaking hands, she removed the battery from her phone. The kidnappers said they wouldn’t call until tomorrow. She could always turn her phone back on periodically to check for messages, just in case.

With her cell phone deactivated, her heart rate began to slow. Once again, she headed from the parking lot, looking left and right for more police cars. She prayed Kade and Manny didn’t get the warrant for the bank box before she had the chance to empty it out.

She drove to a store she’d been to many times for office supplies. In truth, she had no idea what was in the box, but it stood to reason there was money inside. At least, she hoped there was. Because Rosa’s life depended on that money.

Now to put the rest of her plan in motion.