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“Drink up. You need it worse than I do.”
He stared at it. And at her.
She suddenly didn’t look like a college student. He noticed the little laugh lines at the corner of her eyes and how deep a green they were. It took him all this time to realize she was wearing a Waco Fire Department T-shirt under the baggy scrub top. Something he’d never seen her wear before.
She threw the whiskey back and poured herself another. “Am I drinking alone?”
He swirled the liquid, took a whiff. That was enough for him. Clearheaded. Ready to get on the road. That’s what he needed more than the sting and momentary warmth the shot would provide.
Tracey threw the second shot back, closing her eyes and letting the glass tip on its side. Her eyes popped open as if she’d been startled. Then they dropped to the phone that was resting next to his hand, vibrating.
Her hand covered the cell.
His hand covered hers.
“Wait. Three rings. It’ll allow the FBI time to get their game face on.”
Ring three he uncovered her hand and slid through the password, then pushed Speaker.
“Time for round one, Ranger Parker. You get a new phone from a store in Richland Mall. We’ll contact you there in half an hour. Bring the woman.”
The line disconnected.
“Do they really think that no one is listening to those instructions he just gave us?” Tracey asked.
“We follow everything he says. He’ll try to get us clear of everyone. We get the phone, but the next time he makes contact—before we do anything else—we get proof of life.” Josh dropped the phone in his shirt pocket realizing that the kidnappers had just made Tracey a vital part of their plan. “I hoped they’d leave you out of this. We just need to know both kids are okay before I argue to take you out of the equation.”
“Of course.” She hurried around the end of the breakfast bar, grabbing the counter as she passed.
“You look a little wobbly. You up for this?”
“You probably should have stopped me from drinking alcohol when I have a head injury and they gave me pain meds.” Tracey touched her swollen cheek and the side of her head, then winced.
Josh held up a finger, delaying their departure. He walked around her and pulled an ice pack from the freezer, tossing her an emergency compress. “This should help a little.” Then he pulled insulin cartridges from the fridge, stuffing them inside Jackson’s travel and emergency supplies bag.
Instead of her cheekbone, Tracey dropped the cold compress on her forehead and slid it over her eyes. “You’re right.” She took off to the front door. “You should definitely drive.”
Proof of life. That’s what they needed. He looked around his home. Different from the madhouse an hour ago. Different because the housekeeper had come by this morning. Different because Gwen was no longer a part of it.
Different because Tracey was.
Chapter Five (#ulink_8c53c2d2-36bd-5b06-8c3f-879b8933abca)
Josh wandered through Richland Mall with the fingers of one hand interlocked with Tracey’s. With the other he held the new phone securely in its sack. No one had the number so the kidnappers couldn’t use it for a conversation. He expected someone to bump into him. Or drop a note. Maybe catch their line of sight, giving them an envelope.
“Hell, I don’t know what they plan on doing. The dang thing isn’t even charged.”
“You’ve said that a couple of times now,” Tracey acknowledged. “My head is absolutely killing me and I’m starting to see two of everything. Can we get a bottle of water?”
“Sure.”
He kept his eyes open and wouldn’t let go of Tracey as he paid for the water at a candy store. She looked like a hospital volunteer in the navy blue scrub top.
“Josh, you are making my hand hurt as much as my head.” She tugged a little at his thumb.
“Sorry. I just can’t—”
“I know. You’re afraid they’ll grab me. I get it. But my hand needs circulation. Come on. Let’s park it on that bench.”
He looked in every direction for something suspicious or a charging station for the phone. Whatever or whoever was coming for them could be any of the people resting on another bench or walking by.
“Here, I’m done. Drink the rest.” She capped the bottle and tried to hand it to him.
“No thanks.”
“If I drink it, I’ll have to leave your side for a few and head into the restroom all alone. I know you don’t want that.”
“Then throw it away. No one’s telling you to drink it.” He watched the young man with the baby stroller until he moved in the opposite direction.
“Lighten up, Mack,” a voice said directly behind them. “Don’t turn around.”
Tracey stiffened next to him, the bottle of water hitting the floor. A clear indication that she recognized the voice. The guy behind him tapped on Josh’s shoulder with a phone.
“Pass me the one you just bought.”
Josh forced himself not to look at the man. No mirrored surfaces were nearby. The guy even covered the phone before it got close enough to see his face in the black reflection of the screen.
“That’s good, Major. You’re doing good. Now, I know you’re concerned about your kids. You can see them when you play the video in about twenty seconds. Just let me get through this service hallway. Yeah, you’ve got a choice—let me go or follow and lose any chance of ever seeing your brats.” The kidnapper tapped the top of Josh’s head. “Count to twenty. Talk to ya soon.”
Josh had his hands ready to push up from the bench and tackle the guy to the ground.
“No.” Tracey pulled him back to the bench. “You heard him. He means it. We have to stay here and let him walk away. You promised to do whatever it took. Remember? So please just turn the phone on and get their instructions.”
He listened to Tracey and stayed put. The phone had been handed to them with gloves. Most likely no prints, so he turned it on. He clicked through the menu, finding the gallery.
There were several pictures of the twins playing in a room—sort of like a day care crowded with toys. The video shattered his already-broken heart. Sage was crying. Jackson was “vroom vrooming” a car across his leg and through the air.
A voice off camera—the same as behind them—told them to say hi to their daddy.
“I want to go home.” Sage threw a plush toy toward the person holding the phone. “Is Trace Trace picking us up?”
Tracey covered her mouth, holding her breath again.
“Can you remember what you’re supposed to say? You can go home after you tell your daddy,” the kidnapper lied.
The twins nodded their heads, tucking their chins to their chests and sticking out their bottom lips. They might be fraternal, but they did almost everything together.
“Daddy, Mack says to go to... I don’t remember.” Jackson turned to his sister, scratching his head with the truck. “Do you remember?”
“Why can’t you tell him?” Sage pouted.
“Come on, it has a giant bull.” Another voice piped in.
“We’ve been there, Jacks. It’s got that big bridge, ’member?” Sage poked him.
“Can you come there and pick us up, Daddy?” Jackson cried.
“Maybe Trace Trace can?” Sage’s tears ran full stream down her cheeks.
“You have twenty minutes to be waiting in the middle of the bridge. Both of you. No cops,” a voice said on top of the twins cries.
The video ended. All Josh wanted was to rush to the Chisholm Trail Bridge and pick them up. But they wouldn’t be there. Instructions would be there. The guy who’d dropped the phone off would be watching them to make certain they weren’t followed.
“Let’s go.” He wrapped his hand around Tracey’s. It killed him to hear his kids like that.
“Are they going to keep us running from one spot to another? What’s the point of that? And why have us buy a new phone only to replace it with this one?”
While they were leaving the mall in a hurry would be the ideal time for a kidnapper to try to grab one or both of them. He locked their fingers and tugged Tracey closer to his side.
“Before we get to the car...” He lowered his voice and stopped them behind a pillar at the candy store. He leaned in close to her ear, not wanting to be overheard. “We need to look closely where he touched us. He might have planted a microphone.”
He dipped his head and turned around to let Tracey check. She smoothed the cloth of his shirt across his shoulders.
“I don’t see anything, Josh.” She shook her head and turned for him to do the same.
He pushed his fingers through his short hair. Found nothing. Then ran them through Tracey’s short wavy strands and over her tense shoulders.
“If I were them, I’d use this time to plant a listening device. I’d want to know if we were really cooperating or playing along with the Feds.”
“Who are you playing along with?” She looked and sounded exasperated.
“I’m on team Jackson and Sage. Whoever I have to play along with to get them back home. That’s the only thing that’s important to me.”
“All right. So you think they’re planting something in the car?”
“Got to be. Or this phone is already rigged for them to listen. Stand at the back of this store and keep an eye out while I call McCaffrey on his phone.” Josh took a last look around the open mall area to see if they were in sight of security cameras or if anyone watched them from the sidelines.
Tracey smothered the kidnapper’s phone with the bottom of her shirt. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“So do I.” He waited for her to get ten feet away from him then took the FBI-issued phone and dialed the only number logged.
As soon as he was connected he blurted, “They have a new phone listed in my name. Bought it prepaid at a kiosk. No idea what the number is. Handed us another and told us to head to the Brazos Suspension Bridge.”
“You can cross that on foot. Right?” McCaffrey was asking someone on his staff. “You know they’ll be waiting on the other side.”
Tracey kept watch, walking back and forth along the wall. She’d look out the storefront window, then make the horseshoe along the outside walls again to look out the other side.
Josh kept his head and his voice down. “I can’t contact you on this again. It’ll be in the car.”
“We’ll have men on the north side of the bridge waiting,” McCaffrey stated. “Trust me, Josh.”
“For as long as possible.” He pocketed the phone, waved to Tracey.
“Josh, the kidnapper called you Mack. I remember that they all called each other Mack.”
“It kept them from using their real names. Helped hide their identities.” He didn’t speak his next thought—hoping that they kept their masks on in front of his kids.
They both walked quickly from the mall toward the car.
“We just used five of our twenty minutes. Aren’t you going to call Bryce and let him know where we’re headed?”
“No need. If the Rangers are doing their job, they’ll already know.”
Josh pointed to a moving van that matched the description Tracey had regarding the vehicle blocking the intersection. If law enforcement spotted it, they’d be instructed to watch and not detain.
The truck pulled away from the end of the aisle as soon as they reached the car. He was tempted to use the phone, but he’d just proved to himself that they were being watched. He couldn’t risk it.
Josh didn’t wait around to spot any other vehicles keeping an eye on them. He didn’t care if any of them kept up. “Flip down the visor, Tracey.” He turned on the flashing lights and let traffic get out of his way. “We’re not going to be late.”
Tracey braced herself with a foot on the dashboard. “I’m rich. That’s my secret.”
He slowed for an intersection and looked at her while checking for vehicles. She cleared her throat, waiting. Josh drove. If that was all the FBI could dig up on her, how could that be leverage?
The flashing lights on his car made it easy to get to the bridge and park. He left them on when they got out. Tracey reached under the seat and retrieved a second Jackson emergency kit. He snagged the one he’d brought from the house.
Armed with only a phone and his son’s emergency kit, they walked quickly across the bridge to wait in the middle of the river.
“Not many people here on a Friday night.” Tracey walked to the steel beams and looked through. “I hope they don’t make us jump.”
“That could be a possibility.” One that he hadn’t considered.
“I don’t swim well. So just push me over the edge.”
“You don’t have to go.” Josh stayed in the middle, his senses heightened from the awareness of how vulnerable they were in this spot. “How’s your head?”
“Spinning. You grabbed extra insulin cartridges and needles. That’s what I saw, right? I think I should take a couple, too.”
It made sense. He opened the kit. She reached for a cartridge and needle. If the kidnappers took only one of them, they’d each have a way to keep Jackson healthy.
* * *
TRACEY WAS SCARED. Out-of-her-mind scared. If today hadn’t happened, she would have felt safe standing on a suspension bridge above the Brazos River in the early moonlight with Josh.
But today had happened and she was scared for them all.
“What kind of a secret is being rich?” Josh walked a few feet one direction and then back again. “I don’t get it. Why is being rich a secret McCaffrey would threaten you with?”
“You really want me to explain right now?”
