Page 165 of Noel Secrets

They got out and Clay drew his weapon, as did Dean and Officer Turner.

“Stay here,” Clay told the officer. He motioned for Dean to go to the other side while Clay circled to the right. He stopped at a window and peered inside, where David sat tied to a chair and another man paced back and forth restlessly, a gun in his hand. No sign of Darby or Suzanne. He didn’t know if that was good or not. They could be in the back of the cabin.

Darby’s rental car sat in front of the cabin, but he saw nothing that indicated a struggle. They already knew Max had ridden here with her.

Where was the other vehicle?

He circled back around to the front of the cabin and saw Dean returning.

“I’ve got eyes on the kid along with one male with a gun,” Dean explained.

Clay nodded. “I saw that too. No sign of Darby or Suzanne. Let’s go in. If Darby’s not here, she might be in trouble. But we need to rescue David before that guy gets too antsy.”

He led the way, moving up the porch steps. The door was slightly ajar, so they were lucky Max hadn’t heard them yet. He must be preoccupied. On the count of three, they burst inside, guns raised.

“FBI, don’t move,” Clay yelled.

Startled, Max spun around, raising his gun. Clay fired, hitting him in the shoulder and sending him to the floor. Office Turner kicked Max’s gun away then quickly cuffed him.

Dean hurried into the back room then re-emerged. “No one else is here.”

Clay hurried over to David and loosened the binds on his hands. “David, are you hurt?”

“No. I’m okay.”

“Where’s your mom? Do you know?”

“She left with that lady who used to work for her.”

“Suzanne?” Dean asked him.

He sniffled then nodded. “She made Mom go with her. She said she would kill me if she didn’t go. They took a suitcase.”

Dean grabbed Max’s uninjured shoulder. “Where did they go?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m supposed to take care of the kid then meet up with her in the Bahamas in a week.”

This time, Clay grabbed his arm. “And what exactly what where you supposed to do with the kid?”

His face flushed and he lowered his head. “She told me when we were planning this to kill him. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t get my nerve up to do that.”

While relieved that Max wasn’t a killer, Clay’s heart sank. Because, if she’d ordered the death of a child, then Darby’s life was in danger.

“Call your precinct and have them issue an alert for Suzanne’s car,” Dean told Officer Turner, calling off the license plate number he obviously knew by heart.

“How long since they left?” Clay demanded.

Max shrugged. “Not long. Maybe twenty minutes.”

“They couldn’t have gotten far. I’m going after them.”

Dean grabbed Max. “I’m going too.” He led him out to Officer Turner’s cruiser and settled him into the back for safekeeping. “Guard him and make sure to call an ambulance for David and this guy.”

Clay jumped back into the pickup, and Dean slid into the passenger’s seat. “We didn’t see them as we came up the main road, so they must have taken another way to reach the highway.”

“Does she have GPS on her car or phone?” Clay asked him.

He shook his head. “No. I taught her how to stay off the grid.”