Page 114 of Facing the Enemy
“You’re such an idiot. Don’t you get it? My heartfelt compassion for their plight removed me from the suspect list. Although I didn’t expect the agents to get to the restaurant early. It all worked to my best interest.”
“Not hardly. I figured it out. So did Luke.”
“And where is he now? But you’re just a teacher, one who is short to live on this earth. Too bad you didn’t follow directions. Had to tell Agent Patterson, didn’t you? Couldn’t resist him? I admit, he’s hot, but not worth losing your head.” She laughed, the sneering unfamiliar sound from a woman who lived two lives ... two personalities. I’d tell her she was a pathetic simulacrum of a human being, but she wouldn’t know the meaning. Had this monster before me given the orders to kill Luke? Had she been there?
Ms. Wright’s phone buzzed. “Your escort is here. He must have been close by. Aren’t you excited?”
I could hold my own. Now to find out who worked with her. “Hard to wear a party hat when someone is threatening you.”
“I want you to stand and walk with me out the front door. Any attempt to run or scream, and I start firing.” She waved the pocket pistol at me.
“How do you plan to get away with this?”
“I always have an out.”
With her history, she also had a plan. I’d go along until I didn’t. An image of Luke’s head entered my mind. He had skills too. A stab of fear jabbed at my heart. I wasn’t invincible, and until this moment I’d never called myself a fool.
Wright reached for the doorknob and wrapped a scarf around her right hand holding the pistol. “Ready?”
She ushered our way into the reception area. One of the birth moms sat at the desk. “I’m walking Risa out to meet a friend,” Wright said. “I’ve been wanting to introduce them.” She shrugged. “I’m playing matchmaker.”
It took all my strength not to level Wright and pin her hands behind her back. But those actions had selfishness written all over them when someone might get hurt, and the killer outside would drive away. I nodded at the birth mom and stepped ahead to find the answers behind the murders and baby ring.
A silver BMW parked near the door with the motor running. Wright hooked arms with me, and we ventured out into the chilly air. I wrestled with disarming her, but I needed the identity of the driver.
The power window on the driver’s side slowly revealed a man—Peter Florakis. No disguise. His arrogance might be the nemesis to bring him down.
“Hi, Risa.” He pointed to a gun in his lap. “Give Anna a hug, and she’ll walk you around to the passenger side.”
“If I refuse?”
He picked up his phone in the console. “I’m a Boy Scout. Always prepared. A bomb is rigged for the facility behind—”
“Why am I just now hearing this?” Wright said.
“Anna, we always have a backup plan. All I need to do is press a button, and it goes up in flames. How sad for all those birth mothers. But business is business.”
No reason to question his sincerity. I gave Anna the required hug, and she jammed the scarf-covered Sig into my ribs. We walked to the passenger side, where she opened the door.
“Buckle up,” Florakis said. “You’re in for a ride.”
64
GAGE
I left Risa’s apartment in a foul mood. Why had I let her take a foolish risk? My confession of love had affected my brains yet again. As soon as this case was officially stamped closed, she and I needed to establish some ground rules. Now I understood the bureau’s frowning on fraternization.
Risa Jacobs rode a daredevil wind, and when she had her mind set, nothing stopped her. To make matters worse, she’d left in her indestructible mode. I loved her but she scared me.
I’d drive to the maternity home, but if she’d discovered information about Anna Wright, my presence might mess it up. Risa and I hadn’t paid a visit to the home together, and for all practical purposes, she’d resigned from the FBI. Why worry when she’d responded to my text?
Against my better judgment, I drove to the office to make a few calls and follow up on a hunch.
Seated in my cubicle with nothing but quiet, I pulled up photos of Peter Florakis, Emily Lock, Norman Peilman, and Harvey Sinclair ... the latter might not be his real name.
The Houston Healing and Hope Maternity Care’s website showed no photos of Anna Wright, a precaution on her part due tothe sensitive nature of her line of work. Many of the birth mothers came from abusive relationships, and the men in those women’s lives were out to seek revenge. I searched online until I found a pic on Mercy Point Church’s website taken at a fundraiser. From the sideways and somewhat-distorted view, I spotted Ms. Wright. I doubted the woman knew the pic had been taken.
I copied the image and ran it through software with the four known criminals. While it did its magic, I scanned through CARD’s investigation as well as other FBI cases for a link to Anna Wright. I saw where she’d fit a few missing or escaped baby ring cases. But the vague connections didn’t warrant questioning.
