Treacherous Intent (18 page)

They’d taken Faye to Wings shelter in Sonoma, with its newly repaired front door and new security guard to replace Bill while he recovered from his injuries. They’d also informed Wings and Detective Carter about the threat to Faye’s life, and Faye had been reassured that the Tumibays would not be able to get to her even if they found her.

But to eliminate the threat to her, and to Joslyn and Elisabeth, and Liam’s family, they needed to find the shipping container here, tonight. Everything hinged on what they’d find.

They’d arrived about twenty minutes ago, and the building was quiet. Almost...deserted. It was the only building on this corner of the business complex, surrounded on three sides by grassy lawn, cement walkways and lots of lampposts.

They’d already scoped out the layout and knew that the only way to get to the shipping-and-receiving bay was to cross open lawn and then move around the corner of the building. In full view of anyone watching.

“So do we run for it, or walk and pretend like we’re supposed to be here?” Elisabeth asked.

“I haven’t seen any campus security guards, but I’ve seen one or two cameras,” Liam said.

“They could be only for show. I think that camera there has its cable cut—you can just see it under the lens. And the building is looking rather shabby. Maybe they can’t afford closed-circuit video.”

“Then let’s go for it—as fast as we can. The less time we’re out in the open, the better.”

They took off at a full sprint down the gently rolling lawn, across a cement walkway and turning down another. Then Elisabeth slowed. “Liam, wait.”

“What?” The lampposts left them completely exposed.

“Look.” She had paused next to an office window.

Most of the windows had closed blinds but this one had a crack through the strips. And inside there was a large area, which would be used for cubicles, except it was entirely empty with only bits of trash on the scuffed carpet.

“This is supposed to be a lab,” he said. “So where’s the lab?”

“Back there, I looked through another window and the room inside was empty, too.”

“Maybe the labs are on the other floors. Come on, let’s go.”

They turned the corner and came to the shipping-and-receiving bay. It had its own driveway to separate it from the building’s parking lot, but there were no light posts or floodlights. The entire bay was in darkness.

Liam switched on the flashlight he’d brought with him and immediately saw the dark blue shipping container. It was still on the wheeled trailer from the truck that had transported it. “Let’s get the number down and get out—”

Car headlights flashed, illuminating the back wall of the receiving bay.

“Over here!” Elisabeth darted under the shipping container trailer and crouched behind one of the large wheels.

Liam followed not a moment too soon. A car coasted up the driveway to the receiving bay, parking only a few feet away from where they were hidden. Liam pressed his back to the cement of the docking bay wall, his heart slamming in his chest.

Two car doors opened and slammed shut. The two men who emerged continued a conversation they’d been having.

“Daniel is overreacting.”

“Well, Sonny ID’d them at Faye’s apartment.”

“But even if they find Faye, it’s not like she knows about this place.”

“Daniel’s just trying to cover his butt. He’s in the doghouse because he let Faye get away.”

The men were talking about Liam and Elisabeth and Faye.

“So where’s the truck? I don’t want to be here all night.”

“It’ll be here soon.”

Panic tightened Liam’s chest muscles. The Tumibays were going to move the shipping container. Even if Liam and Elisabeth got the container number and the address of this building to the FBI, if the container wasn’t here, on this property, there would be no proof of ties to the Tumibays.

“Can we slash the trailer tires?” Elisabeth whispered to him. It was exactly what he had been wondering.

He tried to think about the specialty tires on the larger trucks he’d used. “I don’t think so. These big tires are at high pressure and I’m not sure if they’d explode or not.”

“When that truck comes to hook up to this trailer, they’ll see us. We have to get out of here before then.”

The frustration welled up inside him. They were so close! But he didn’t want to think what would happen if the Tumibays captured Elisabeth. “Okay, let’s get the number and go.”

“I already memorized it from earlier.”

They’d be exposed once they ran out from behind the tires, but if they moved quickly and quietly, they could cut around the side wall and out of sight.

“Go,” he mouthed to her, and she darted along the wall, her footsteps soft shushing sounds against the asphalt. The men continued talking. Liam took a deep breath, then ran for it.

He’d just turned the corner and out of sight when he heard one of the men say, “What was that?”

“What was what?”

Liam and Elisabeth were still horribly exposed by the outside lights as they made their way around the other side of the building. But once they reached the far corner, they stopped. There was about five hundred feet of lawn in front of them before they could make it to the cover of the trees. The problem was that with the angle, the men standing by the car could easily see them as soon as they got onto the grass.

“There’s no help for it.” Liam paused, then pulled out his firearm.

Elisabeth took a few short, hard breaths. “Okay.” Her gun appeared in her hand.

“Go.”

They sprinted, and almost immediately, they heard a man yell, “Hey! It’s them!” Within seconds, the report of a gun echoed from the walls of the building, climbing the rolling lawn after Liam. Elisabeth ducked, maybe instinctively, and returned fire while she kept running.

His chest felt as if it had caved in. He staggered. The cold air was suddenly hot and arid. Dust was in his nose. The gunfire was suddenly rapid-fire in his ears.

“Liam, come on!” He heard her voice in his ear, her hand yanking at his shoulder. He stumbled as best as he could. His legs wouldn’t respond to him.

Then he was on the ground, breathing in sand and dirt, smelling scrub brush and gunpowder and blood. And at the same time he smelled cold grass and wet earth. The gunfire tattooed over his head.

“Liam.”

Elisabeth shook him violently, and the sand receded. His arm felt bruised. She must have shaken him hard in order to get him out of his mind.

“We have to go.” She twisted to return fire around the edge of the stand of fir trees where they had taken cover.

He dug his fingers into the dirt, feeling the cold and wet in order to drag himself out of the vestiges of the hallucination still on the edges of his vision. “Okay. Let’s go.”

She peppered the men with a round of gunfire, then grabbed Liam under his arm and they ran toward where their car was parked alongside the curb.

The next thing he knew, they were driving on the road that led from the business complex. His heart beat fast and heavy in his throat, and he panted.

“You’re okay,” she said to him. “Focus on your breathing. You’re okay.”

He wasn’t okay.

Things were getting worse, not better. He’d stopped his counseling because it hadn’t seemed to be doing anything, but the events of the past few days made him feel like he was going crazy. He had to find a way to keep it together or he’d keep putting people in danger.

He was disgusted with himself.

“Liam.”

He felt her touch on his hand as she spoke.

He was tainted. He was flawed. He’d been feeling attraction for Elisabeth, but tonight only reiterated how broken he was. He pulled his hand away from her.

“Liam, you’re okay.”

“I will be.” His voice was rough.

“Did you want to—”

“No.”

He didn’t look at her. He couldn’t bear to see pity or worry in her eyes. He’d done enough to burden the people around him. He needed to find a way to handle this himself.

Had they really accomplished anything from tonight? They could give the shipping container number to the FBI, who could probably track down the Bagsics’ ephedrine supplier in the Philippines.

But within the hour, the Tumibays would move the shipping container from this facility. There would be no provable connection to the San Francisco gang.

The Tumibays knew that Liam and Elisabeth had seen the container. And the Tumibays would do everything they could to silence them.

He heard a faint buzzing, and Elisabeth frowned. She pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket. “I’ve got a voice mail from my answering service.”

She pulled onto the side of the road and checked her voice mail. Liam concentrated on his heart rate and his breathing. His hands and legs were still trembling as if from the aftereffects of shock.

“Oh, my,” Elisabeth breathed.

Her face was so pale that he grabbed her arm. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Her mouth hung open, and she blinked at her cell phone in shock. Finally she swallowed. “I just had a message...from Joslyn. It was really her, I could tell it was her voice. She said...Tomas has found her.”

THIRTEEN

T
he sound of Joslyn’s voice had ripped into Elisabeth’s chest. The only reason Joslyn would be contacting her would be because something was dangerously wrong.

“What did she say?” Liam’s eyes were still hollow and his face gaunt. She’d known he’d been fighting his anxiety and hallucinations as soon as she looked back and saw him stumble. All she’d been able to think of was to get him under cover and find some way to help him.

“She left a phone number for me to call.”

“Don’t use your phone. I have a burner.” Liam hesitated, as if gathering his thoughts. “It’s in my laptop case.” He twisted around to grab it from the backseat and handed it to her. He was recovering quickly, but he still looked haunted.

She called the number Joslyn had given. It rang once, twice, three times. Then Joslyn’s timid voice. “Hello?”

“Joslyn, it’s Elisabeth.”

“Thank You, God.” Joslyn sobbed once, then Elisabeth heard her inhale. “I was praying you’d get my message quickly.”

Elisabeth wasn’t sure what God had to do with it, but this wasn’t the time for that question. “Joslyn, I have to ask this. What was I wearing when we first met?”

Her heartbeat sped up at the length of time Joslyn remained silent. Was this Joslyn or just another impostor who had somehow gotten Elisabeth’s answering service number?

Finally Joslyn said, “That ‘Candy Crush’ T-shirt. I told you I was addicted to that game.”

Elisabeth let out a breath. “I’m sorry, I had to be sure. Did you call the shelter yesterday and leave a message for me?”

“No.” Joslyn’s voice was wary. “Someone called the shelter and said she was me?”

“Whoever it was didn’t leave a phone number or say where she was, just asked me to come get her. That’s why I suspected it wasn’t you, because you never told me where you were going.”

“Oh, Elisabeth.” Joslyn took a quick breath. “It must have been someone connected to Tomas.”

“I know about the Bagsics, and the Tumibays. I spoke to Faye.”

“Is she all right?”

“She’s fine. I took her to Wings. The Tumibays don’t know where she is.”

“We’re in so much danger.” Joslyn swallowed. “I was in Oregon, in a little town called Mattsonville. I found a job as an admin at a sheep-and-wool farm near the California border. Mattsonville is really small, so people noticed when Filipino men claiming to be my cousins came looking for me. Then I saw Tomas in town. I don’t know if he saw me, but I packed my things and ran. I caught a ride with a neighboring farmer who makes deliveries along the coast.”

“I’ll come and get you. Where are you?”

“Penny Bay. I’m calling from the pay phone near the grocery store.”

“Get a burner cell phone,” Elisabeth said. “Phone my answering service and leave your number. Then find somewhere to hide. I’ll be there in a few hours.”

“Please hurry,” she whispered, and hung up.

“I don’t know how, but the Bagsics found Joslyn,” Elisabeth told Liam.

Liam groaned. “They must have hired another skip tracer.”

“There’s nothing we could have done about it. Right now we need to find a way to get to Joslyn without the Bagsics or the Tumibays following us.”

Liam’s brow furrowed. “I might have an idea. Let me call Nathan.”

Despite the late hour, Nathan answered Liam’s call. “He said to come over,” Liam said after he hung up.

“Do you think the Tumibays might be watching Nathan’s home as they did with your family?” Elisabeth drove back onto the road and headed for the highway.

Liam was silent. “I’m not sure. But just in case, let’s go the back way.”

Once they were nearing Sonoma, Liam directed her to lonely country roads and winding lanes, and even across a couple fields. They parked in a cul-de-sac of a small housing community, and then walked through a playground and across the corner of a vineyard to emerge at the corner of Nathan’s backyard.

Nathan met them at his back door. “Took you long enough to get here.”

“If you’d taken any longer, I was going to eat your dinner.” Shaun O’Neill rose from Nathan’s kitchen table. Brady also got to his feet as Liam and Elisabeth entered the house.

Liam looked less than pleased. “What are you doing here? It’s too dangerous—”

“Oh, don’t be a mother hen.” Despite Liam’s stiff shoulders, Shaun wrapped his arms around his brother and gave a bone-creaking squeeze that had Liam grunting.

Liam glared at him, but then Brady came up behind him with a hug almost as tight, hampered only by his injury. “You two are going to kill me,” Liam muttered.

“No, we’re going to save your bacon by helping you, even when you’re too boneheaded to ask,” Shaun said.

“What about Dad? Monica? Debra and Ryan—”

“Detective Carter is at Dad’s house right now, enjoying Monica’s cooking.” Brady nodded to the kitchen table. “She sent food for you two, also. Nice to see you in one piece, Elisabeth.” Brady smiled, looking so much like Shaun, and then he folded her in an embrace.

She jerked in surprise, but his hug was warm, encompassing. As if she was an adopted sister, to be treated like one of them.