Chapter Twenty-Eight
Maya went back to the front entrance and saw Kessler and the other two agents coming in at the side doors. She followed them
to the conference room where Pops had joined them. Had Josh told him yet about what he knew? She wanted to make sure the other
two agents didn’t find out about locating Marcus’s girlfriend just yet.
None of them took a seat. Kessler’s face was tight and he had circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. He had a daughter
too. She was still a baby, but even so, Maya had heard that once you had children, cases with kids took on a new meaning and
were even more taxing.
Kessler had his hands on his hips and took a big sigh. Then he opened his laptop and clicked on some files. “We received more
proof of life photos from Abigail.”
“What?” Maya asked. “Did she email them to you?”
“She did.”
Pops and Maya moved behind Kessler as he opened the photos. “Can you trace them?” Maya asked. “Maybe we can get a location.”
Kessler gave her a tired look. “We tried. I had the FBI cyber guys start looking into it immediately when I received the first pictures. Unfortunately, she’s managed to do what good scammers do and is using a program to remain anonymous.
The program hides her IP address and makes it hard to track where she’s sending emails from.
So far, the cyber guys have traced her location to servers in Russia and Africa.
It could take them days to sort through it all . . . and we don’t have days.”
“No, we don’t,” Maya agreed, peering over Kessler’s shoulder at the pictures. There was something about the background of
the photos that was familiar to Maya. A painting was hanging on the wall behind Hope. Maya had seen it before, but where?
“Abigail sent a demand too,” Kessler said.
“What does she want?” Pops asked.
“She claims she’ll trade Hope for Eric.”
“Then we should do that,” Maya said. “Eric would want it.”
“I know he would,” Kessler said. “But I would have a lot to answer for if I sent him, a person being detained with charges
pending including eluding capture, to an armed and dangerous person who just escaped federal custody. No way is that happening.”
“Then I’ll go,” Maya said. “Tell her she can have me in exchange for Hope.”
“What?” Pops said, his face turning red. “No way. You’re not doing such a crazy thing. She’ll kill you.”
Maya knew the red face was a sign his blood pressure was instantly rising. “Okay, but maybe we can use Juniper somehow to
help apprehend her. Maybe Juniper can track her.”
“I’m all for Juniper biting the crap out of her,” Kessler said. “But the problem is, we don’t know where she’s located.”
“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack,” Agent Bernardo added.
“Let me see that first picture again,” Maya said, leaning closer to the computer.
Kessler clicked on it and the picture came up.
“You really think you can figure out where they are from a piece of art on the wall?” Agent Ross asked.
“I do.” Maya worked to ignore his sarcasm and focus on the task. Hope’s scared expression and puffy eyes from crying helped
her concentrate. What an awful thing to go through. Anger coursed through Maya that Abigail had done this to not only a child,
but her niece. Everything Abigail did was personal and filled with vengeance. They had to find her.
“What makes you think Abigail’s back in this area?” Agent Ross asked.
“I told you, she wants to kill me. I knew she’d make contact, but wouldn’t make it easy. Be quiet so I can think.”
Maya heard Ross mutter some choice words, but she ignored him and instead focused on the picture behind Hope. From the little
bit that showed, she could tell it was a painting of an elk in the wintertime. Where had she seen that picture?
Think, Maya, think.
She closed her eyes. Her therapist, Dr. Meyers, had worked with her on sorting through memories.
She used some mindfulness techniques to think about the room where she’d seen that artwork.
Dr. Meyers had taught her that mindfulness could help her focus and shut out stressors like Agent Ross.
This helped her stay in the present, which improved her ability to recall memories.
She was always amazed at how much the technique could be of use.
There were pictures of elk in all sorts of places around Pinecone Junction.
Restaurants, gift shops, hotels and visitor centers. Visitor center.
Maya opened her eyes. “I know where she’s being held.”
“What?” Kessler whipped around and faced Maya. “Where?”
“It’s the visitor center over by Stone Creek Falls. The Forest Service has a bigger building there and I’ve seen that painting
in a back room.”
Pops looked at the picture too and said, “You’re right. It’s been a while since I’ve been over there for anything, but I bought
a fishing license there a while ago at the Colorado Fish and Game office that shares the building. I’ve seen that picture
too.”
“Wouldn’t there be people around?” Agent Ross asked. “Why would she be there?”
Maya worked to keep her patience. Agent Ross worked cases in Denver and dealt with city issues, not forest service visitor centers.
“Normally there would be people, but the fire evacuated this area. It’s in a voluntary evacuation zone, but I know that all the Forest Service employees headed out.
Many of them live in areas that are under mandatory evacuation, so the office and visitor center was shut down.
There might be cameras in the building we can access.
I can find out. If that’s the case maybe between Juniper and the HRT guys, we can go in and get her. ”
Agent Ross glared at Maya. “You better be right about this. We don’t need to send our guys into this building for nothing
again.”
Maya didn’t break eye contact with Ross. She wouldn’t be intimidated by some guy who thought because he was in the FBI he
was going to call the shots. “I’m certain.”
“Okay, okay,” Kessler said, stepping between them. “We’re all tired and cranky, but let’s focus on what’s important here—Hope.
I don’t care how many empty buildings we have to send our guys into. I’ll ask for them to deploy if it means there’s a chance
we can find this young lady.”
“I have an idea.”
Maya turned around. It was the other agent, Bernardo. He’d been very quiet.
“What’s that?” Kessler asked.
“When I met Eric, I thought I looked like him,” Bernardo said.
Maya had no idea where he was going with this.
“You kind of do,” Kessler said. “I can see that. Why?”
“If Abigail wants Eric, then I’ll go. I’ll put on a hat so she won’t be able to see me well enough to know I’m not him,” Bernardo
said. “I could distract Abigail and if Maya knows what room Hope is being held in, then I could keep Abigail out of the way
so the hostage rescue team can get Hope.”
“I like it,” Kessler said. “But how do we keep Abigail and Hope separate? I think there’s a chance Abigail might keep Hope with her as a hostage.”
“True,” Bernardo said. “But we can send her directions.”
“She might see through it,” Agent Ross said.
“She might,” Bernardo said. “But I have a daughter about Hope’s age. I would rather have us try this than to go in guns blazing
with the HRT guys and risk Hope getting shot.”
There was silence. Maya had to agree it was worth a try. She knew though that cell phone service was non-existent in the building.
They’d have to use radios and Abigail was probably listening to the law enforcement channels. She would know which ones were
utilized for emergencies.
“I think it’s worth a try,” Kessler said. “Thompson, can you talk the HRT guys through the building layout?”
“I can,” Maya said.
“Then let’s start making a plan,” Kessler said. “I’ll call my supervisor and get an approval in regards to Bernardo posing
as Eric.”
“With all due respect,” Agent Ross spoke up, “maybe before we put an agent and our HRT guys in harm’s way, we should try a
hostage negotiator.”
“No way,” Kessler said. “Abigail knows every trick in the book. She did some negotiating herself. It would be a waste of time.
She would toy with us. Let’s quit arguing and get to work.”
After the other agents left, Maya approached Kessler. “You have a minute? I need to tell you about what Josh found out in Wyoming. Just between us and Pops.”
“Sure,” Kessler said.
Pops went and closed the door and then Maya filled him in, finishing with, “Do you think you could find out more about Nick’s
partner, Aaron?”
“I can try,” Kessler said. “That’s starting to get above my pay grade since it’s another agency. But when I talk to my supervisor
about this plan with Bernardo, I’ll ask and see what I can do.”
“Thanks,” Maya said. Pops added in his thanks too. She thought about their plan. Would it work? Or were they all getting desperate
and tired?