Page 24 of One Knight Stand

“Oh no!” Frankie clapped a hand over her mouth. “Why?”

Now the questions came fast and furiously. I held up a hand again until the group fell silent. “First of all, I don’t know exactly who took my mom or why. I haven’t told the police yet, either. You’re all aware that someone tried to kidnap me a few weeks ago and, thanks to you, it was thwarted. But you weren’t toldwhysomeone had targeted me specifically. The NSA withheld that information for your protection. In the meantime, my mom, sister, and I were told we’d be watched and protected, but somehow they got to my mom anyway.”

“Who’s they?” Mike asked, his eyes wide. “And who are you? Why would your mom and you would be targeted for kidnapping?”

I sighed. “There’s a lot about me and my life that you don’t know. But I’m not going to go into that here and now. What I do want you to know is that I have a plan to get my mom back. And I…” I glanced over at Jax, who was watching quietly, his arms crossed loosely against his chest. He gave me a brief nod. “I want to give you the opportunity to be a part of that plan. But I also want to be honest with you. It’s going to be dangerous, and if something goes wrong, you could get hurt, or worse. It could also adversely affect your future at UTOP. If you don’t want to get involved, I totally understand. I just ask that you don’t mention this conversation to anyone.”

I’d barely finished speaking when Frankie spoke up. “I’m in one-hundred percent. What do you want me to do, Angel?”

“I’m in, too,” Wally said. “Frankly, I’m insulted you had to ask.”

Kira wound her baby-blue scarf tighter around her neck to ward off the chill. “I’m willing to help as well, Angel. But I’m curious why you haven’t gone to the police.”

“I’ve been told by someone I trust that if the police become involved, my mom will die.” Just saying the words made me shudder. Jax noticed and put a hand on my shoulder to settle me.

“Angel, are you sure?” Hala asked, visibly stricken.

I wished I weren’t, but I believed my father. “Unfortunately, I’m sure.”

“Well, of course, I’ll help,” she said. “I’d ask for your help if it were my mother.” Her empathic tone and emphasis led me to believe there was more to her offer than she let on.

One by one, the team indicated a willingness to support me. Just like that, they fell in line. It shocked me. I hadn’t expected their support to be given so easily, especially since I hadn’t been able to provide much of an explanation. But Jax had said they would follow me, and he was right.

We’re a team, Red.

He was looking at me now, and I knew what he was thinking. I’d placed my trust in the team, and now they’d placed their trust in me. Perhaps, sometimes, it was as easy as that.

Gratitude and relief swept through me, tightening my throat. I worked to get my thoughts in order.

“Thank you. All of you.” I cleared my throat, feeling like crying and laughing at the same time. “I can’t tell you what your support means to me…to my family. I really appreciate it.” I didn’t know why it was so embarrassing for me to accept help from my friends. I still had to work on that.

“Clearly I have a lot to tell to you about me, my mother and father. But this isn’t the place to do that, and we’re out of time here at UTOP, anyway.” The buses had arrived to take the students to the hotel, and kids were lining up to get on.

“What I can tell you is that someone, or some people, in high positions of the government are after my father,” I explained. “They’re using me and my mother to get to him. My phone is bugged, and I’m being watched. My mother’s apartment is also bugged. But because of the high-level involvement of the people after my dad, and the potential threat to my family, we have to keep this under wraps. You can’t tell anyone. That’s nonnegotiable.”

I stopped when I realized my hands were shaking and Mr. Toodles was pawing at my leg for me to pick him up. I obliged, taking a moment to press my face into his fur.

“To emphasize how serious this is, let me tell you we found a tracking device on Jax’s car,” I continued. “It means Jax’s car was bugged after we arrived at my mom’s apartment. These people aren’t playing. But neither will we.”

“What do we do next?” Bo asked quietly.

“I want you to proceed to the hotel as if nothing has happened. There were only two of us going home anyway—Frankie and me. But once you get to the hotel, start talking about how you’ve all decided to go camping for rest of the week.”

“Camping?” Mike said. “Why in the heck would we go camping?”

“It’s just a cover. You aren’t actually going camping. That way, when you disappear from the hotel, no one will think twice. Instead, you’re going to rendezvous with me. I’ll tell you where in a minute. Just remember, you have to be extremely careful not to be followed.”

I motioned to Jax, and he pulled out seven burner phones from a plastic bag, handing them out. “I’m sorry, but we can’t trust that our own phones are safe now,” I said. “Mine is bugged, and I have to assume that anyone associated with me might be under surveillance, as well. From this moment on, please use these burner phones to talk with me or anyone else in our group. You can call your families from your own phones, of course, but don’t talk about the operation and, as soon as you leave the hotel for the rendezvous point tonight, the phones go off for good. We’ll exchange new numbers in a minute. Understood?”

The team nodded, their eyes trained on me. “You should leave the hotel at different times. Hala and Mike, since you don’t have a car, choose someone to ride with.” You can sort that out between yourselves. Jax and Mike will check everyone’s car before departure to make sure there are no tracking devices attached. Jax is going to drop his tracker somewhere at a campground in Shenandoah National Park, making whoever planted it think he’s really camping. Use that as a general location if anyone insists on knowing where you’re going to camp. Everyone must get to the rendezvous spot no later than four-thirty a.m. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that you aren’t followed. It’s highly unlikely you will be at this point, but better safe than sorry.”

“What about you and me, Angel?” Frankie asked. “We were going home.”

“Yes, I know. You’re going to have to tell your folks you changed your mind about going home. Wally is actually going to drop us off at my mom’s apartment.” I put Mr. Toodles down, and he ran back to Frankie, his tail wagging furiously. “Once you and I are in the apartment, we’ll call some of Mom’s friends, making whoever is listening in believe we still think it’s a possibility she’s staying with a friend. Then, Frankie, you’re going to convince me to go out for a girl’s night, then back to your parents’ house to spend the night. We’ll head to the nearby skating rink, where it just happens to be teen night. If we’re followed physically to the rink, we’ll play it by ear and figure out a way to ditch our tail. Wally will park a couple of blocks away and meet us at the rink a little while later. At some point, we’ll all slip out, get to Wally’s car, and head to the rendezvous spot, making sure we aren’t followed.”

“So, we’re not actually planning to go my parent’s house,” Frankie said.

“Correct. That’s a diversion.”

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