CHAPTER TEN
Eddie and Cole kept Lucia and Isabella between them as they hurried to the front door of her house. Since he was staying there, she’d given him a key to her place. She’d grumbled while doing it, but realized it was necessary.
“Wait here.” Eddie stopped Lucia with his hand on her forearm.
She gave him a confused look just before he disappeared into the house.
He shut the door behind him, drew his weapon, and did a room-by-room sweep to ensure the house was clear. The thick plywood over Isabella’s window elevated his rage. Confident it was safe for them to enter, he opened the front door.
“All clear,” he said.
“Help them gather their things, and I’ll keep watch.” Cole lowered his voice for Eddie’s ears only. “Make it quick.”
Eddie nodded.
Cole remained on the front porch and pulled the door shut behind them.
“Eddie, what is happening?” Lucia held Isabella in her arms.
“There’s no time to explain right now.” Eddie locked the door and moved across the room to drag the curtains shut over the large front window.
“First thing I need you to do is have Isabella put on some different clothes. We’ll bag up the stuff she’s wearing, because it’s evidence.
Then I need you to pack what both of you will need for a few days. ”
“Mommy, is the bad man coming here?” Isabella would not let go of her mother. Even in the car, Lucia broke the rules and let her daughter remain in her lap instead of her booster seat.
“The bad man can’t get you, honey.” Eddie would do whatever it took to keep them alive. “I promise, we won’t let that happen. Okay?”
The little girl nodded and wiggled until her mom put her on the floor.
Lucia didn’t look as confident, but to her credit, she didn’t voice her doubts.
“I’m going to get my princess suitcase out of my closet and pack my toys.” She started to run away, stopped, and gave Eddie a worried look. “Am I allowed to take my toys?”
“Absolutely, you can take a few toys.” He smiled and waited until she dashed back to her bedroom, then he set his hand on Lucia’s shoulder. “I’d like to be out of here sooner rather than later.”
“Okay.” She followed her daughter down the hall.
Eddie moved to stand at the entrance to the hallway, where he was able to hear them.
Isabella peppered her mom with rapid-fire questions and comments without giving Lucia a chance to answer them.
“Is Deputy Torres okay?
“Why did the bad man shoot him?
“The bad man said he was sorry for taking me, but his friend was making him do it. That’s not very nice, is it, Mommy?
“I grabbed his mask off, and he screamed at me.
“He smelled stinky, like when that skunk sprayed our neighbor’s dog.
“His mommy should’ve told him to take a bath or shower.
“Deputy Torres shot the bad man, but he went through the fence and runned away.”
Eddie took note of everything she said about the bad man.
Lucia finally cut her off.
“Honey, let’s go ahead and get you out of these clothes.” There was a rustling sound. “Give me your tennis shoes, too.”
“Do you promise I can get some new shoes?” Isabella asked.
“Of course, we’ll get you another pair.” Lucia stood in her daughter’s doorway. “Now go ahead and pick out some clothes. You’ll need a bunch of underpants, socks, shorts, some leggings, and shirts. Oh, and make sure you grab one of your cute hoodie coats, okay?”
“Okay,” Isabella said.
Lucia dashed down the hall to hand him Isabella’s bloody clothes and shoes, then headed to her room. He heard drawers being dragged open and slammed shut, hangers scraping across the bar, and the shower curtain sliding open.
He went into the small kitchen and looked through a few drawers until he found some extra-large plastic zippy bags. He tugged one from the box, stuffed the clothes and shoes into it, and sealed it shut.
Less than ten minutes later, Lucia and Isabella both came down the hall.
Lucia was pulling a large rolling suitcase and had a duffle bag slung over one shoulder.
Isabella had a sparkly backpack on and was pulling a small pink suitcase with princesses all over it.
She was holding a gray, fuzzy toy bunny with long, floppy ears that hung over her arm.
“Here I’ll take those.” Eddie slid the heavy duffle off of Lucia’s shoulder and put it on his own.
Then he relieved her of the suitcase and squatted down in front of Isabella.
“When I open the door, my friend Mr. Cole is going to carry your suitcase. Then I want you to hold your mom’s hand and walk behind him to the car, okay? ”
“Okay, Eddie.” Her expression was serious.
“Ready?” They nodded. “All right, let’s go.” He knocked on the door to let Cole know they were coming out.
Cole swung the door inward.
“Here, Mr. Cole.” Isabella rolled her little suitcase toward him.
“Thanks, honey.” He picked it up and slid her backpack strap from her shoulder. “I’ll carry this, too.”
Eddie and Cole made sure they each had one empty hand, just in case they needed to draw their weapons.
They hurried over to the SUV with Isabella tucked between Lucia and Cole, and Eddie bringing up the rear.
Lucia helped her daughter into the back seat and climbed in after her. Once they were secured, Eddie twisted to look back at them.
“Calliope and Lucas—teammates of mine—picked your car up at the school and will bring it to us. Then we’ll have her booster seat.”
He turned to face the front. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that the likelihood of them going anywhere was pretty slim. One thing at a time.
“How were they able to get my car without the key fob?” she asked as she double-checked her daughter’s seat belt.
“They grabbed your purse and tote bag from your classroom.” Eddie looked at her reflection in the visor mirror.
They backed out of the driveway, and Lucia twisted to look back at her home as they sped away.
Cole rolled to a stop at the four-way intersection, and his cell phone pinged. He lifted it from where it sat in the cupholder and checked the message. He handed it to Eddie to read, checked traffic, and turned.
Luna: I’ve received several surveillance videos. School, CCTV cameras, and a few nearby doorbell cams. I ran the images through the identification program I’ve been building and got a hit. The guy who tried to take her was definitely Jaime Ortega.
“That means Agustin Martín must be close by, too.” Eddie kept his voice low.
“I certainly hope you’re not keeping anything important from me. Well, as least no more than all of the other stuff you’ve kept from me.” There was a definite edge of sarcasm to Lucia’s words.
“We’ll fill you in on what we can once we get to where we’re going.” He looked from her to Isabella, who was craning her neck to see out the window.
“I’m going to hold you to that.” She crossed her arms with a huff and turned to stare out the side window.
Lucia had every right to be angry, worried, scared. The two of them had been dragged into this dangerous situation because of him.
For the remainder of the fifteen-minute drive, everyone was silent. Isabella stared out the window. Lucia was deep in their own thoughts. Eddie and Cole scanned the area for threats.
None of this would’ve happened without someone divulging his identity to Rodrigo Munoz.
The question was, who?
They weaved their way through the streets and headed toward the rental house. The combination of its remote location and having the team there made it the safest place for them to be.
Cole tapped his horn once, and a minute later, the garage door began to roll up.
Viking and Hawk stepped out, rifles in hand, and scanned the area while Cole pulled into the four-car garage and parked. His teammates walked backward into the garage, continually surveying the area until the garage door was all the way down.
“Is this where we’re staying?” Isabella unclipped her seat belt and held her bunny close.
“For a little while.” Lucia skimmed a strand of her daughter’s hair back from her face and tucked it over her ear.
Cole slid from behind the wheel and opened the door for Isabella.
Eddie hopped out and opened the back door for Lucia.
She ignored him and scooted to the other side to help her daughter, then climbed out after her.
“Lucia, Isabella, this is Hawk, and that’s Viking.” He pointed to each of his teammates.
The little girl shifted to stand behind her mom and peeked around her.
“I know they look kinda scary, but only bad guys need to be scared of them.” Eddie set his hand on her shoulder.
“It’s nice to meet you, Isabella.” Viking looped his rifle strap on his shoulder so it hung over his back, then he leaned down and held out his big hand.
She checked with her mom, who gave her a nod of approval.
Her hand looked tiny in Viking’s, but she gave him a good solid handshake. When she was introduced to Hawk, she repeated the process.
“We’ll take your bags inside.” Hawk grabbed the duffle bag and the larger suitcase.
Viking picked up the little backpack and Isabella’s suitcase. Eddie couldn’t help but smile at the sight of his very large teammate carrying a sparkly backpack and pink suitcase with princesses all over it.
Calliope bounded into the garage from the kitchen with her usual exuberant energy and smiled at them.
“Hi, I’m Calliope.” She thrust out her hand.
“Lucia.” She glared at Eddie over her shoulder. “But you probably already know that, don’t you?” She turned back to her with an insincere smile.
“I sure do.” His teammate wasn’t put off one bit by Lucia’s obvious upset at her situation. She simply turned to the little girl and said, “And this little cutie must be Isabella.”
The little girl nodded, no doubt overwhelmed by Calliope’s boundless enthusiasm.
“Do you like to swim?” Calliope leaned forward and propped her hands on her knees.
“I love to swim!” Her frown was wiped away by a big smile.
“Great! Because guess what’s in the backyard.” She tipped her head in the general direction.
“A swimming pool?” Isabella’s eyes grew big as saucers, and her voice was filled with awe. So much better than the terror that was there earlier.
“Yep, a big swimming pool.” Calliope straightened. “But you need mom’s permission to go in.”
“Mom, can I go in the pool?” She clasped her hands together and pleaded. “Can I? Please, please, please.”
“Honey, I didn’t bring your bathing suit.” At her daughter’s disappointed look, she quickly added, “I’ll tell you what, how about you swim in some shorts and a T-shirt until we can get your bathing suit.”
“Hooray!” Isabella hopped up and down in her older pair of sneakers and clapped her hands. “Mom said I can go swimming.” She conveyed the good news to Calliope as if she hadn’t been standing right there.
“Awesome! Come on, let me show you and your mom where you’ll be sleeping.” Calliope took the little girl’s hand and led her inside.
She could be tough and deadly as hell, but when it came to children, she had a gift for reaching them and putting them at ease.
Lucia gave him a long look he couldn’t decipher, then followed them inside.
Eddie started toward the door, and Cole stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“Hang back for second.” He shut the door leading into the house. “Calliope and Lucas have relocated to one of the empty bedrooms. We’re putting Lucia and her daughter in the master. I know you want to be close, so your stuff is in the room closest to them.”
“Thanks.” Eddie was prepared to sleep on the floor outside their door, if necessary.
“There’s something else. We need to get in touch with Burke.” Cole set his legs apart and crossed his arms. “Someone gave you up to Munoz, and we need to identify who that was.”
“It has to be someone with access to the encrypted database of field agents working under cover.” Eddie thought back to the assurances Burke had given him when he first approached him about taking on the Munoz assignment.
The NSA maintained separate databases to provide additional safeguards for their most at-risk employees. As a field agent working deep undercover in a Colombian cartel, Eddie held that classification, so his personnel information was shielded by the highest level of protection.
“We both know what happened after Burke’s assistant was busted.” Eddie had heard about it through the NSA grapevine, before it had been plastered all over the news.
Members of the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team had been sent to meet an informant from inside The Farm, a cult that used to operate from a compound in the mountains of northwest Montana.
The guy had information about a teenage girl who’d disappeared from the compound.
Unfortunately, it had been a setup. When they got there, the informant was dead, and the team ended up walking into an ambush.
What made it so much more devastating was when they discovered Burke’s longtime executive assistant had been responsible. She’d been blackmailed into passing information on to the cult leader, who’d then convinced a couple of his delusional, brainwashed members to take action.
Her betrayal had gotten Caleb O’Halleran and Power, his first K9 partner, shot during the op. The dog didn’t survive his wounds, and Caleb had to undergo months of extensive, painful rehab of his shoulder.
After that mess, every NSA employee, from janitors, to receptionists, to clerks, to the people with the highest level of clearance, had to go through another, more thorough background check. Several people ended up being released from the agency as a result of this more intense screening.
“Burke’s always been a secretive SOB.” Cole shook his head. “Being betrayed by someone he trusted, someone he worked with every single day for years, amplified his secrecy tenfold.” He rubbed his hand down the side of his beard. “I’ll call him from the office on the secured line.”
“Yeah, he needs to know he’s got another mole in his organization.” Eddie followed his boss into the house.
The deeper they got into this op, the more complicated it became.
And Lucia and Isabella were caught right smack in the center of it all.