Ellie headed up Interstate 25 toward Denver and the airport in one of Ryan’s father’s cars. “I still wish you weren’t leaving so soon. We could have gone hiking.”
“Me, too, but it’s time. And you’ll be leaving soon as well, won’t you?”
“In a couple of days. I’m still needing to rest and recover from everything.”
“Ellie...I need you to take the next exit.”
She glanced at her GPS, confused. “Why? You’re not flying out of Denver International—”
“No.”
“Then where are we going?”
“You never stop asking questions, do you?”
Ellie glanced at her aunt, taken aback by the tone of her voice. “What’s going on?”
“It was never supposed to come to this.” Audrey grabbed her purse, then pulled out a handgun “But you were never one to just let things go. I’m not flying out of DIA. And I’m not going to stay with a friend.”
Ellie stared at the weapon her aunt had trained on her, her mind scrambling to put everything together. Her aunt had told her she’d been in love with her father. That she’d spent months looking for her because she’d believed she was alive. She’d even managed to call and warn her in Rio that Arias was after her.
Was none of that true?
What if she hadn’t called to warn her but to find out where she was?
Where are you now? her aunt had asked.
In the favela where I work. I was on my way to grab lunch for my team—
Her stomach lurched as the pieces of the puzzle came together. She had to be wrong, but it was the only explanation that made sense.
“You were the leak,” she said.
“I told him you’d figure it out, but he said I worried too much.”
“Arias?”
Audrey nodded.
“If you’re working with him, why come to Colorado to see me?”
“You’re in the middle of everything going on. It turned out to be the perfect place to get information. I needed to know who the police were looking at. But they’re getting too close to figuring out the truth, so I need to leave. And then when you insisted on driving, well...I couldn’t afford a scene back at the house.”
“What happens now? You plan to get rid of me like Arias did?”
“That will depend on you.”
Ellie gripped the steering wheel tighter as she continued down the highway. She’d like to think that her aunt wouldn’t hurt her, but from the expression on her face, pulling the trigger if Ellie didn’t do what she was told was definitely an option.
“How could you have betrayed your family? Your sister?”
“It’s nothing they didn’t do to me. Camille always had everything. She was daddy’s favorite, did well in school, scholarships to a prestigious university. She even married the perfect husband, who became a judge.”
Ellie shook her head. How had she missed her aunt’s anger and bitterness?
“They might not have been perfect,” Ellie said. “But I know one thing. They loved you.”
“Sometime love isn’t enough,” Audrey said.
Ellie frowned, remembering her mother telling her how her sister had struggled with substance abuse and money issues, but she’d never given her any details. Never imagined there was a rift between them that would lead to something like this.
Her mind fought to come up with a plan out of this. “You killed my father.”
“That wasn’t me. I was there, but I didn’t kill him.”
“But there never was a relationship between you.”
“There was a relationship,” Audrey said. “At least on his end. He was lonely. Looking for someone who understood him.”
“And you—you conned him?”
Nausea spread through her as she noticed the hardened lines across her aunt’s brow she’d missed earlier. This couldn’t be happening. The leak was supposed to have been someone in the DA’s department. Not her aunt. Not family.
“Why?” she asked. “Tell me why you did this.”
“He was lonely and needed someone to talk to. And I needed information.”
For Arias.
She glanced out at the open yellow fields with spots of trees that ran parallel to the freeway and considered her options. She had to find a way to take back control of the situation, but at this point she had no idea how. “You know you won’t get away with this. You might not have pulled the trigger that killed my father, but you’re still guilty. If you passed on information, compromised the case and knew about my father’s murder...you’re complicit in his murder.”
“It’s too late. I’ll be out of the country in a few hours, and I won’t be back.”
“You never came to see if I was okay. You just came to see what information you could get out of me.”
Ellie glanced again at her aunt. While she might not have an escape plan figured out, at least she could get as much information as possible in the meantime. “Where did you meet Arias?”
“We met at an art gallery about a year ago. He was handsome and charming.”
“He’s a cartel leader who’s been arrested for murder.”
She’d been taken in by the man. Completely gullible. And somehow, her aunt believed he loved her.
“He ordered a hit on my father, tried to kill Ryan, would have killed me. And that’s just for starters. How can you justify that?”
“He was only doing what he had to do to survive so we could be together.”
Her temples began to pound. She wasn’t even thinking rationally.
“He’s playing you,” Ellie said. “Don’t you get it? He needed insider information on the trial that would get him out of prison, and what better source than the judge.”
“No. He loves me, and soon we’ll finally be together where the law can’t touch us.”
If that was what she believed about Arias, then her aunt was more of a fool than she’d first imagined.
“You’re wrong,” Ellie said. “They have the evidence they need now to put him away for the rest of his life, and there’s even a chance he’ll get the death penalty.”
“That’s not going to happen. He’s smart enough to not get caught.”
“Why call me in Rio?”
Her aunt’s expression changed again. “Arias had resources in Brazil but needed a quick way to know exactly where you were. Then Ryan showed up, and somehow you managed to talk him into going to the Amazon and it put a wrench in everything.”
And she’d done exactly that. If she’d gone alone, or if Ryan’s father hadn’t sent him...
There was no remorse in the woman’s voice. The aunt whom she’d once eaten Thanksgiving dinner and celebrated birthdays with.
Audrey motioned toward the right. “Take the exit, then head east.”
“You don’t think Arias actually loves you, do you?” Ellie asked, following her instructions. “He’s a man who uses people. That’s it.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know him like I do.”
She was done with cat-and-mouse games. “What’s your plan?”
“Arias’s men have a plan. You just keep driving. We’ll be there in another few miles.”
She scanned the horizon and saw a helicopter coming toward them from the distance.
That had to be her plan. Arias had arranged to whisk her out of here in a helicopter.
“You can park there in the grass about a hundred yards ahead of us. Then turn off the engine and get out of the car.”
Ellie followed her aunt’s orders, but before she got out, she grabbed her phone and quickly texted the exit number to Ryan. Heart pounding, she pushed Send.
Her aunt flew at her from around the front of the car. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, I just—”
Audrey ripped the phone from her fingers, threw it onto the ground, then stomped on it. “Don’t even think that your hero is going to rescue you this time. But it doesn’t matter, really. In another few minutes we’ll be gone.”
“And then what?” Ellie fought back the tears, but her frustration was rooted mainly from the betrayal. “You’ll kill me, too. Like Arias planned. They’re going to find him, and he’s going to end up in prison, Audrey.”
“You’re wrong. We’ll be long gone before anyone finds us.”
Ellie felt the gun pressing against the small of her back as they moved toward an open space where the helicopter could land.
I feel like there’s no way out of this tangled web, God.
The arrest of Arias was supposed to have ended all of this. Was supposed to have allowed her to go back to her own life again. But now she’d somehow been betrayed by someone she’d always looked to as family.
She glanced behind her, toward the road, and had no idea if her frantically sent message had gone out. Or even if it had, no idea where Ryan was. Even if he received the message, Audrey was right. She slowed her steps, searching for a way to delay getting on the chopper. They’d be in the air in the next few minutes and she had no way to let Ryan know this time where they were going.
* * *
Ryan heard the beep on his phone signaling a message had just come through. “Check my phone, Dad.”
He didn’t expect the message to be from her. He knew Ellie’s life was in danger, but there was no way to know if she knew what was going on. She trusted her aunt and, to be honest, had no reason not to. The fact that the woman was even involved somehow with Arias made no sense to him. He’d spent a little bit of time getting to know Ellie’s aunt, and she’d come across as someone who really cared for her family. The fact that she’d betrayed Ellie and her father had yet to calculate.
His father snatched up the phone. “Ryan, it’s a message from Ellie.”
“What does it say?”
“One-eighty-eight. What does that mean?”
Ryan worked to put meaning to the numbers. “It’s got to be an exit.”
His father nodded as they passed a road sign. “Yes, and we’re almost there.”
“Which means they’re not going to the airport.” Ryan pressed on the accelerator, forgetting the speed limit. “Call Agent Thomas back, and let them know what’s going on.”
Ryan glanced at the clock on the dashboard. He’d got the call about ten minutes after Ellie and her aunt had left. He increased the vehicle’s speed. They weren’t that far behind her, which meant it might be possible to catch up.
“He wants to speak with you.”
His father put the call on speakerphone. A second later the agent’s voice came on the line.
“Agent Thomas.”
“You need to stay out of this, Ryan. You know as well as I do what these people can do.”
“But you’re headed to the airport. That’s not where she is.”
“I can have people there—”
“Forget it,” he said. He could see a helicopter coming in for a landing in the distance. That had to be her aunt’s plan of escape. “I can see a helo landing. I’m a couple minutes out. We can’t afford to wait.”
He took the exit and sped down the road toward the helicopter. Dust kicked up on the horizon. The bird was landing. He pushed on the accelerator as he rounded a corner. There was a large, flat patch of land ahead of them, and a red car sitting on the edge.
“That’s them.”
He slowed down as he pulled off the road. Her aunt was holding a gun to Ellie’s back and heading toward the bird.
Ryan pulled his gun out of the glove compartment. “Call in the helo’s tail numbers and our GPS location so they can track it.”
He jumped out of the car. “Ellie—”
“You just can’t stay away, can you?” Audrey pulled Ellie in front of her and held the gun against her head.
“Put the weapon down, Audrey.” He aimed his weapon at her, shouting above the noise of the helicopter rotors. “There’s no way you’re going to get away with this.”
“Ryan...she’s working with Arias. She’s not going to just let me walk away from here, and I don’t want either of you getting hurt.”
He tried to read Ellie’s expression, knowing she had to feel betrayed. But instead of panic, he could sense a calmness in both her voice and her eyes.
“We’re not leaving,” Ryan said. “The authorities know where you are, Audrey. There’s literally nowhere for you to go where they can’t track you down.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Actually, I do.” Ryan took a step forward, weighing his options. With Ellie in front of her, stopping Audrey with a shot was too risky. He was going to have to negotiate his way out of this one. “You need to put your weapon down and put an end to this before things get worse. Before someone else gets hurt and you’re held responsible. You don’t want that, Audrey.”
She shook her head, but he could tell that her resolve was wavering. “Arias promised he’d take care of me and he will. Because you’re wrong about him. He loves me. They won’t find me, because this is over, and we’re leaving.”
He glanced at the helicopter. He was surprised the pilot hadn’t stepped out of the bird, but he had no way to know if he was armed as well. But he had a feeling that if the pilot was willing to risk his life for Audrey, he would have stepped out by now. He took another step forward.
“Stop, Ryan. I will shoot her.”
“She’s your family, Audrey. Your own flesh and blood—”
“I made my choice a long time ago. Which means all you have to do is get back in that car and drive away. Because now both of us are getting on that chopper and leaving.”
“Ryan. Please. I don’t want anyone else hurt.”
“You’re outgunned and outnumbered, Audrey,” his dad said, stepping up beside him with his own weapon aimed at the woman. “The police are right behind us. Ryan’s right. It’s over.”
Ryan caught the panic in the woman’s eyes. He should have realized something was off when he first met her. But none of them had expected the woman to be a traitor. He was the one who had encouraged his father to call her aunt and ensure she was there when Ellie arrived. He’d been completely wrong.
Sirens wailed in the distance. The tension in his jaw increased. “Time’s up, Audrey. Let her go.”
The sirens grew louder.
“Audrey...”
Audrey glanced toward the road. They could see flashing lights in the distance. She slowly bent down, laying her weapon on the ground and taking a step back from Ellie.
He nodded at his father, then headed toward the helicopter.
“Shut it down,” he yelled at the pilot. “Now.”
The pilot of the chopper turned off the engine, then stepped out with his hands up. “I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
Ryan grabbed his arm and patted him down before heading back across the open field. “That will be up to a judge to decide.”
His father had taken Audrey’s weapon and had her sitting on the ground with her hands behind her head. He motioned for the pilot to sit down next to her.
Ryan wrapped his arms around Ellie. “Ellie, I’m so sorry—”
“I’ll be okay.”
He knew Ellie had to be grieving over the betrayal of her aunt, but all that mattered now was that she was okay. He breathed in the scent of vanilla from her hair, then glanced down at her face, as he held her against his chest. He wanted to ignore everything that was going on around him and kiss her. Because his heart was lost. He knew that now.
His phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and glanced at the caller ID. Agent Thomas was calling back.
“Authorities are almost here,” he said, “but I’ve got Audrey, sir. And Ellie’s safe.”
“Today’s a great day, then. I just heard from the authorities in Brazil and Arias was just arrested.”
He hung up the phone a few seconds later, keeping his arm around her. “This is over, Ellie. Finally, truly over. You can go back to living without running.”
Ellie glanced at her aunt. “I know, but my mother’s sister was involved. No matter what she said to me, I don’t understand how she could have betrayed our family like this.”
“Men like Arias prey on women like her. Get them to do what they want by flattery. He probably doesn’t care what happens to her, as long as she does what he wants. Did she say anything to you? About why she went along with him.”
“She fell in love with him and chose him over family.” She looked up at him. “We were never especially close, but I believed her. I had no reason not to.”
Five police cars spilled into the open space, and the officers exited their vehicles.
“Ryan Kendall?”
“This is who you’re looking for,” Ryan said. “Audrey Simmons and her pilot.”
Ryan watched as one of the officers read Audrey her rights while putting on handcuffs, then led her toward one of the squad cars.
“Miss Webb. Are you okay?”
“Shaken, but yes. I’m fine.” She turned back to Ryan. “I owe you my life again. You always seem to be at the right place at the right time. And today, you did it again and risked it all. She could have shot you or your father. Thank you.”
“But she didn’t. All I care about is that you’re okay.”
“Honestly, I think I could sleep for about a week, but I guess while I’m sad, I’m relieved more than anything else. I just want to walk away from all of this like it never happened and get back to my own life again.”
“Arias won’t be seeing the light of day, and sadly, neither will she.”