Page 47 of Deadly Revenge
“It is,” Kessler agreed.
Maya knew if they had windows, they might be able to see Hope and create a better plan. “Kessler?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”
The other agents rolled their eyes, but Maya didn’t care.
“Sure,” Kessler said.
They walked to a spot about ten feet away. Maya spoke in a low tone so no one could hear her. “I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t have a good feeling about this. I think Abigail’s partner is one of the officers working with us and I think that person will tip her off. If it’sBernardo, he may just give her information, but if it’s not him then Abigail might know he’s coming. His life could be in danger.”
Kessler nodded, not saying anything. Maya wondered if she’d overstepped. Then he finally spoke up. “I thought of that too. Josh said that the lady he interviewed thought that Abigail was working with a marshal, right?”
“Right,” Maya agreed. “But we don’t know for sure. All we confirmed was that Abigail was working with someone. You could be sending Bernardo to his death.”
“We don’t have time to do anything else,” Kessler said. “We know where Hope is and if Abigail takes her and runs again, who knows what will happen? Bernardo has undercover experience and my supervisor approved this plan. Bernardo worked with Abigail. He can talk his way out of anything. Plus, he’ll be wired up and can call for help.”
“If he has time,” Maya said. “There’s a chance that the wire won’t work in that building and if Abigail knows the plan, she probably won’t be up for talking.”
“I think this is our best shot. We’re doing it.” Kessler’s face tightened. Maya knew she had better back off. He was tired, probably didn’t get any sleep last night and her questioning him was not helping. But she felt she had to say something.
“Let’s get Hope, then we’ll figure out the next step,” Kessler said, his voice strained.
“Good plan,” Maya said, trying to not ruffle any more feathers. Kessler was in charge and she had to respect that. She studied the group of men watching them. Almost everyone had pulled out their phones.They might have a pocket of service here. The mountains were funny that way.
She still worried about Bernardo walking into a trap since there was a chance one of the guys was texting Abigail right now. The only person she completely trusted was Josh. Once again, anxiety swept through her—just like the night things went very wrong with the mission where Zinger was injured and ultimately succumbed to his injuries. Somehow, Maya had always managed to escape.
Her therapist, Dr. Meyers, also a veteran, had told Maya she had survivor’s guilt. She felt like the grim reaper was waiting in the wings again. Who would it be this time?
Chapter Thirty
Hope sat in a corner of a dark and stuffy room. There was no air-conditioning running and it totally sucked. She knew she needed another shower, but that was the least of her worries. The crazy lady had been pacing around all morning, oblivious to how miserable it was in here. She’d at least given Hope some water and crackers, but that was it and now Hope’s stomach rumbled. What she wouldn’t give to be back home. Even the dingy old hotel room had been better than this.
They’d ditched the room when the crazy lady saw some cop looking at her car. That had thrown Abigail into a tizzy. She’d grabbed Hope and half dragged her over to the window, opened it and climbed out. Hope had thought about not following and trying to lock herself in the bathroom. If there was a cop then maybe someone was looking for her. But Abigail seemed to read her mind and had her gun pointed at Hope, telling her to get out. If it had been Jake and Vicki, Hope might have taken her chances.
But not Abigail. There was something different about her that made Hope take her threats seriously.
Hope had climbed through the window and Abigail grabbed her arm, taking her down the road to a parkedcar. At first, she thought it might be someone else’s vehicle and they were going to steal it, but then Hope realized there were keys sitting under the driver’s side floor mat.
Someone was helping Abigail.
Abigail had used plastic cuffs to tie Hope’s arms back and shove her in the back seat. They’d driven to this large building and now Hope was hidden away in a room with no windows. What would Abigail do next? She needed to escape. Somehow.
On the drive to their latest location, Abigail had started chatting more. Why, Hope didn’t know. Was she trying to build a rapport or intimidate? Or both? Abigail claimed she knew Hope’s dad. Hope had said she was sorry. Sarcasm had been her way of dealing with stupid people. It worked with her teachers and always got her out of class. Usually when she was sent to the principal’s office, Hope would duck out and go smoke her vape which was one of the reasons she ended up in summer school. But this time, the sarcasm just earned her an equal smirk from Abigail and the comment, “You think you’re real smart, don’t you?”
Hope didn’t say anything. She knew Abigail wasn’t looking for an answer.
Hope had managed to move around the room a little bit even though she was tied to a chair. She had been able to wiggle her butt and scoot closer to a counter with some drawers when Abigail had left her alone. The counter had a coffeepot, napkins and utensils. Probably some sort of break room, like the teachers’ lounge.
Hope had been eyeing the knives, but once she was closer, she realized they were plastic. She needed some sort of weapon. If no one knew where she was, then she was going to get out of here. No way was she going to let this crazy lady stop her. If she could ditch teachers, she could ditch Abigail. Although teachers weren’t allowed to point guns at their students. Or tie them to chairs.
Now knowing that the knives weren’t very sharp, she started to look for other options. Hope knew that the drawers at school often had things like scissors. Abigail was outside of the room texting on her phone, muttering under her breath and pacing around. She wasn’t paying attention. Something was up and that made Hope want out of there even more.
She scooted a bit more over to some drawers. Her hands were tied behind her back, so she had to lean over and use her teeth to pull it open. If there were scissors or something, how would she get them out? One problem at a time.
She glanced back to where Abigail had been. She was gone. Good. This was Hope’s chance.
