Chapter 31
Thirty-One
“The feed has gone live again!”
Ryan rushed to Talley’s station. Every government office and private business known to utilize exterior surveillance devices had been canvassed. No sign of Grace’s SUV on any of their systems. They had reviewed that initial feed over and over and had come up with nothing.
As the images began to move again, Ryan’s heart, the same damned one he’d thought had turned to stone, shattered like glass. He hoped this was live and that she was safe. But time was running out. He didn’t want to be standing here watching when that final minute came.
Nameless or whoever the hell he was had his hands and the side of his face pressed against the wall. His mouth appeared to be moving as if he were speaking.
Grace was pacing. Every few seconds she glared at one wall and said something. Shouted something, judging by the furious expression on her face.
“The rooms are next to each other,” Ryan said, mostly to himself. His mind immediately started ticking off the possible scenarios.
“What’s she doing?” Pierce shouldered in closer between Ryan and Pratt.
Grace went to the wall farthest from the camera and bent down. She appeared to be pulling on something.
“There isn’t a door there,” Talley noted.
“Maybe there is,” Ryan argued. “Can you lighten that at all?”
“I can try,” Talley said. “I’ll freeze a frame to memory and then try lightening that frame.”
“Do it,” Pierce ordered.
Talley reduced the live screen and opened another to which he copied the frame. He clicked a few keys then said, “That’s the best I can do.”
Ryan leaned closer. “Is that a track?” He pointed to one side of the wall where Grace appeared to be pulling at something. “And over here?” He pointed to the other side.
“A garage door?” Pierce suggested.
“An overhead door,” Ryan agreed, anticipation igniting inside him. “But not a garage. Look at the size of the room in both screens.” Talley maximized the live views. “Same size. It’s as if he’s talking to her through an adjoining wall.”
“Public storage,” Pierce said as if the epiphany had just dawned.
“We need a list of every public storage facility in this town,” Ryan said to Schaffer. “Start with the ones closest to our location and work your way out.”
Ryan’s gaze returned to the screen, where Grace had given up on the door and started pacing again. “Hang on, Grace,” he murmured. “We’re going to find you.”
“Here we go,” Schaffer called to him from a computer station. “I’m sending the first dozen locations to the printer now.”
Ryan headed for the printer. “Pierce, we’re going to need Birmingham PD for this.” There would be far too many for them to hope to cover in ninety minutes.
“Done.” Pierce was on the phone as he said the word.
The cell in Ryan’s pocket vibrated. He pulled it out, didn’t recognize the number. “McBride.”
“Ah . . . sir, this is Aldridge.”
That the agent sounded hesitant ratcheted up Ryan’s tension level. “Yeah, Aldridge, what’ve you got?”
“I don’t know if this means anything, and I almost ignored her considering what happened, but she says it’s urgent that she speak with you.”
“Who?” Ryan’s instincts went on point.
“Nadine Goodman. She says she has information about Agent Grace, but she won’t talk to anyone but you.”
“What’s her number?” Instinct revved up the tension a little higher. Ryan grabbed the closest pen and wrote the number on his hand. He thanked Aldridge and ended the call, then quickly entered Goodman’s number. As soon as she answered, he said, “What do you want?”
“McBride?”
“Don’t waste my time, lady,” he snapped. If she hadn’t dug up that story on Grace, this might not be happening. He started looking through the map printouts of the nearest storage facilities even as the anticipation of what Goodman might have pumped up.
“When everyone else was covering Worth’s home and Fincher’s residence tonight,” the reporter said hesitantly, “I was watching Grace’s.”
He didn’t bother asking how she got into the gated community. Scavengers like her had their ways.
“I followed the two of you back to the field office.” Ryan set aside the page he’d just picked up. “And?”
“I saw Grace leave with someone.”
Ryan closed his eyes, fought back the ache in his throat. “That was more than an hour ago, what did you do next?”
“I followed them.”
Anticipation fired inside him. “Where are you?” This could be the break he was looking for.
“I’m over on Highway 31 across the street from Trusty Todd’s storage facility.” She exhaled a shaky breath. “He locked Grace into one of the units. And then . . .” Her voice faltered. “He forced me to make this call.”
Ryan absorbed the impact of that statement. “He’s there with you now?”
“Yes.”
Ryan surveyed the room. For one split second felt unsure of what he should do. But there was no reason to hesitate. Fincher had said he would get his invitation. This was it. “What’s the message?”
“Come alone. He’ll be waiting.”
“What’s your position, Ms. Goodman?” Again Ryan looked around, this time to ensure no one was listening.
“I’m in a gray minivan across the street at the Shop and Go. My cameraman is with me. As long as you come quickly and alone, he won’t hurt us or Agent Grace.”
“I’m on my way.”
Ryan ended the call and slid his phone into his back pocket.
. . . You’ll get an invitation as well, McBride, and when you do, you’ll understand exactly what you must do . . .
The message was loud and clear. All he needed was a way out of here . . . and a weapon.
He grabbed one of the maps and walked over to where Schaffer worked. He leaned down and pretended to show her something on the map. “Schaffer, I need you to do me a favor.”
She looked from the map to him. “Sure, what do ya need?”
“I need you to locate Trusty Todd’s facility on Highway 31 and print me a map.”
Schaffer hitched her thumb toward the printer. “I already printed that one.”
Ryan verified Pierce’s location at the station with Talley. “And I need to borrow your vehicle.”
Her gaze narrowed. “I suppose you want me to let you borrow it and then not tell anyone.”
He hoped like hell the part of her that had praised him in that cemetery would show up about now. “Yeah.”
She reached into the pocket of her jacket, pulled out a fob, and placed it in his hand. “Black Mustang. Scratch it and you’re dead.”
Now for the hard part. “One last thing.”
Reading his mind, she reached beneath her jacket and withdrew her weapon. He took it, holding it behind the map in his hand.
“I’m going to tell them you took it and the car,” she said quietly. “Don’t expect me to admit any of this ever happened this way.”
He smiled. “I’ll back you up.”
She put her hand on his arm when he would have moved away. “Don’t go getting Grace or yourself killed, McBride. You make this place interesting.”
He snagged the needed map to Trusty Todd’s from the printer and headed for the door.
“McBride?”
He froze. Dammit. He glanced over his shoulder. “I need a smoke.”
Pierce’s disapproval showed on his face, but he didn’t argue; he turned his attention back to the computer where Talley was still trying to track down the source of the video stream.
Four steps outside the conference room, McBride tucked the weapon into his waistband at the small of his back then broke into a run. He’d just hit the stairs when a voice stopped him.
“You’ll need backup.”
Ryan swiveled. “What’re you talking about, Pratt?”
If Schaffer had given him up already, he was going to have to change his opinion of her.
“I saw you running, McBride. I don’t think it’s related to a nicotine attack.” He shrugged. “And there was the weapon. I knew you didn’t have a weapon.”
“All right.” Ryan motioned for him to follow. “Come on.”
They took the stairs two at a time and hit the parking lot running. When they had dropped into the seats of Schaffer’s Mustang, Pratt said, “I’ve always wanted to ride in this car.”
Ryan started the engine and rolled toward the gate. Pratt waved to the guard and the gate slid open.
“Keep me going in the right direction.” Ryan shoved the map at him.
Pratt took a look at the map. “Yeah, I know this place.”
“Tell me the fastest route.”
Pratt gave the directions and Ryan drove as fast as he dared. Before he reached the storage facility, he pulled into a gas station parking lot on the same side of the street. A Check Advance and a pawnshop stood between the gas station and Trusty Todd’s.
“Here’s the deal, Pratt.” He surveyed the parking lot of the convenience store where Goodman and her cameraman were supposed to be waiting.
“Fincher knows I’m coming. I don’t know how he managed it, but he had Nadine Goodman call me.
Supposedly she and her cameraman are in that gray minivan over there.
I know there’s more going on than what she told me.
Fincher’s too good to allow a reporter to tail him. ”
You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist—and judging by his numerous degrees, Fincher was one—to figure out that Goodman had sent Nameless his invitation, so to speak, and now she’d issued one to Ryan.
Pratt glanced at the minivan. “What’s your plan?”
Ryan surveyed the area again. “I’m going over to the storage facility to see what I can find. If you see anyone heading that way, blow the horn twice.”
“But shouldn’t I go with you?”
“If you want to back me up, you’ve got to do what I tell you.”
Pratt shrugged. “Okay. But if I hear any gunfire, I’m calling Pierce and heading your way.”
“That’s just what I want you to do,” Ryan assured him.
He got out of the car, considered his options, then headed into the shadows of the buildings. There was a chain-link fence around the storage facility. He hoped it wasn’t hot. He touched it. The fence wasn’t electrified.
Continuously surveying the area around him, he climbed over the ten-foot fence. Dropping down onto the other side put him on the back side of a row of storage units.