Page 44 of Save Her Life (Sandra Vos #1)

FORTY-THREE

“Maybe we rushed ahead with this. What’s to say this guy didn’t just send us on a wild goose chase?” Nolan vented to Sandra as they hiked down the trail toward the cabin. Brice was in tow, along with a few other agents, but they were farther behind.

“Nothing, but I don’t think he did.” If Nolan had seen Patton’s face while he’d watched the deepfake, he’d be confident in that fact too. Patton went stark, clearly in fear for his daughter’s welfare. His daughter’s, though that wasn’t exactly the truth… Poor Olivia must be so terrified. And what if they messed up by assuming they were making the smart move retrieving the gold first? “The only thing I’m second-guessing is us coming here.”

“You’ve lost your mind then,” Nolan said.

She shot him a glare. “Did you really just say that to me?”

Nolan didn’t respond, and she caught Brice’s eye. She read from his look that he was impressed by her restraint. “You realize that I have been here dealing with this the entire time?”

“Maybe that’s why you’ve lost your nerve.”

“ Lost my nerve ? What I do for a living involves brushing against the wire all the time, toeing that line between working things out with words and guys like you pressuring me to move out of the way so you can rush in guns blazing. You can’t put a deadline on things.”

“Except for now, Sandy, there is one. You are working against the clock. And that’s not something you’re used to.”

She opened her mouth, snapped it shut. He was right. Every time she turned up at an incident scene, she set her own internal clock. Time had run out for her brother, Sam. “I’ve asked you repeatedly not to call me Sandy.”

“It won’t happen again.”

It would, and they both knew it. She checked the time on her phone. “Ten minutes out from that deadline you referred to. At least I’ll have the location when Jennings calls.”

“True, but we’re here now, so let’s find that gold,” Nolan said.

He was beating a dead horse. They were still moving as they debated, getting closer to that cabin. She would be lying to say she didn’t hate they weren’t diversifying more, but where else could they concentrate their efforts? When she had her chat with Elwood, he’d informed her the warehouse search came back empty.

They crossed through a thick copse of trees and followed a worn path through some long grass. “We’re almost there now,” she said. “If I remember right, the cabin isn’t much farther ahead.”

They kept walking, but there was no sign of the cabin.

“Maybe you remembered wrong,” Nolan said.

She shook her head. “It should be right around here. Not just from my memory of seeing it before but from Patton’s description. Let’s spread out and see if we can spot it.”

“It’s a cabin, Sandra,” Nolan said. “If it was here, we should see it already.”

“I’m telling you that Patton didn’t lie to us,” she said.

“He hid it thirty-three years ago. His memory could be a bit rusty,” Brice put in.

Both Sandra and Nolan turned to him. Neither spoke. Sandra because she was afraid to admit there might be truth in that. There was also the changing landscape which she’d mentioned when she and Brice had discussed Patton hiding the gold somewhere in nature.

Her phone rang, and all the agents in the area stopped moving and looked at her.

She took out her phone and saw the blocked number. “It’s him,” she said. “Answering now.” She wanted everyone to remain quiet while she spoke with Jennings.

“I have what you need.” She pulled from her experience and exuded a confidence she wasn’t feeling. There was no sign of the gold, but she’d have to sell the location anyhow.

“Well, I’ve been giving the matter more thought, and I’ve changed my mind. I don’t just want the location. I want the gold.”

Now that she couldn’t find it, he wanted her to hand it over? “But?—”

“Now, now, Special Agent Vos. Remember who holds the power.”

“I got you the location. That’s what you asked for.” Her body was trembling, but thankfully she was doing well at keeping her nerves from hitting her voice.

“Good, then it shouldn’t be too hard for you to get the gold and bring it to me.”

“You tell me where and when, I’ll be there.” She squeezed out the cautionary advice in crisis negotiation. Talks in person statistically resulted in fatalities. Even more probable when she turned up empty-handed.

Nolan stepped beside her and touched her shoulder. She looked over at him, and he nodded. She shrugged him off. She didn’t need his approval for the calls she was making.

“Georgetown Waterfront Park near the labyrinth. I assume you know the way.”

A sick jab to remind her of Eaton’s murder, that he was a killer. “What time?”

“One hour.”

“One hour?” An arranged meet could be orchestrated with agents put in place but that took time. As did coming up with nine gold bars.

“What’s the problem, Vos? You know where the gold is. It’s just a matter of collecting it and meeting me.”

It didn’t take long to scramble for a reason he should be able to understand. “I need to get to the spot and then to the park. Traffic alone?—”

“Fine. Enough whining. Two hours. That’s it. Come unarmed. No police. No feds. I sniff one, and I’ll put a bullet in the girl’s head. I promise you that.”

“Just bring Olivia. That’s the deal. An exchange. Her for the gold.”

Jennings didn’t respond with words and hung up.

She cradled her phone in her hands.

“What does he want now?” Nolan prompted.

“He wants the gold.” She wasn’t about to bolster Nolan’s ego and add it was just as he had suspected. “We have less than two hours. Let’s find it!” She called out the latter part to the team of agents. Everyone spread out but Nolan and Brice.

“There’s more you haven’t told us,” Brice said.

“I need to meet him at the Georgetown Waterfront Park labyrinth in two hours. With the gold.”

“We haven’t even found it yet. It might not even be here.” Nolan drew in close to her, his words ringing with panic.

“And if it’s not we deal with that then,” she pushed back.

“I can go get things organized.” Brice started to move, but Sandra caught his arm on a back swing.

“No. He said no cops or feds, or he’ll kill Olivia.” She couldn’t bring herself to verbalize the method. Too graphic, violent, real …

“Come on, Sandra, we can’t agree to that,” Nolan said.

“He’s right,” Brice chimed in, backing up Nolan for the first time.

She just imagined it going sideways and Olivia being shot. If that happened, how was Sandra supposed to carry on? There was no way she could withstand that burden for the rest of her life.

“You know we’re right,” Nolan softly petitioned. “I see the risk, but we know what we’re doing. Agents will pose as civilians and the situation will be handled with the utmost discretion, so he doesn’t get spooked.”

He and Brice looked at her. “Fine,” she eventually said.

“I’ll get things rolling,” Brice said.

“Go straight to Rowe, and let’s start thinking about a backup plan if we don’t find the gold.” She stood where she remembered the cabin being. Her heart was hammering in her chest. It wasn’t lost on her that she should be staring right at the building but wasn’t. Had she somehow gotten turned around? She scouted the area and was grateful that Nolan branched out in the opposite direction. She could use some breathing room from him.

She heard Brice talking on the phone, and it sounded like things were moving along.

Where is that cabin? She stood still, hands on hips. She looked up at the sky through the bare branches of the trees. She wasn’t religious, but she believed in a greater being and wasn’t all that convinced He or She was interested in what happened down here. Otherwise why not step in? But now wasn’t the time for spiritual thinking.

She took a few deep breaths and resumed the search. She rounded a clump of bushes that were still boasting green leaves. Unusual, but she wasn’t a green thumb to know how this plant should present this time of year. She looked closer and noticed milled stone and a piece of wood beam around the base. No, it can’t be! But she hunched down, and there were more remnants beneath the bushes. She’d found what was left of the fishing cabin.

Her stomach sank, and she gripped her chest. This can’t be!

Brice rushed over. He must have finished his call and noticed her. “Sandra? You okay?”

“There’s the cabin.” She pointed toward the remains. “What’s left of it anyway.”

“No way. You must be?—”

She was shaking her head. “It’s gone. The city must have ordered it to be demolished. I haven’t been to this part of the park for years or I might have known.”

Brice put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “None of this is on you.”

She turned to him. “What am I going to do?”

“What are we going to do, you mean? You’ve got the whole WFO behind you, and him.” He jacked a thumb toward Nolan, who was with the small group of agents, all of them appearing oblivious to the truth of their predicament.

She smiled at her colleague.

“And off the record, for what it’s worth, I like the new guy better.”

“Me too.” But there was a time she was wild about Nolan. In fact, head over heels if her pride would let her admit it.

“Hey, guys, call it off!” Brice yelled to the agents. “We found the cabin.”

The agents swarmed toward them with Nolan in the lead.

“Either my eyesight is gone or…” Nolan said, looking around.

“It’s been torn down, and the gold is gone along with it,” she told everyone. “This is all there is.” She kicked her toe against the piece of stone and wood.

“Son of a—” Nolan raked a hand through his hair. “You’ve got that meeting with that shithead in two hours. We need the gold.”

She bit the urge to counter with something smart like Thank you, Captain Obvious. “We’ll figure something out. We make some fake gold, make sure it looks and weighs just as much as the real thing. If anyone knows how to pull this off, please, I’m open to suggestions.” She looked at the agents clustered around her. Nolan was quiet and appeared deep in thought. It was a surefire sign he was troubled. Otherwise he was always quick with something to say, whether it be sharp, cutting, or intelligent. He had his moments.

“We get tungsten steel and gold-plate it,” Agent Gabe Radcliffe said. “It looks and weighs like the real thing.”

“Let’s make it happen,” she said. “We need nine bars weighing twenty-seven-point-four pounds apiece.”

Gabe nodded. “We’ll also need to find out how those gold bars were hallmarked and their serial numbers. Every real gold bar needs both by law.”

“I can find out,” Brice said and got on the phone.

“I’ll get started too,” Gabe said.

“Thank you. Remember, I need it fast. Within the hour,” she added.

“I’ll make it happen.” Gabe left with his phone to his ear.

The rest of the agents filtered out too, and she was left with a quiet Nolan. “It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”

“I just want our girl back safe. That’s all.” He met her gaze, and it was moments like this that had her trying to make their relationship work all those years ago. He could be kind and gentle. Too bad it was often smothered by his overbearing personality and ramrod mentality.

“I know. So do I.” She stood there with Nolan for a few more minutes. Any composure she might have projected was a lie. Inside, she was freaking out. They didn’t have the gold to give Jennings, and there were a million ways the exchange could go wrong.