Page 91 of Save Her Life

“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 arewegoing 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.

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