Блейк Пирс - Once Lost

She stammered, “Sir, I – I need to take the rest of the day off.”

Meredith looked up from his work.

“May I ask why, Agent Paige?” he asked.

Riley opened her mouth, but no words came out. If she explained that she’d just gotten a threat from Shane Hatcher, wouldn’t he insist on seeing the message? How could she show it to him without admitting that she’d just given the file to Jenn Roston?

Meredith looked concerned now. He seemed aware that something was wrong that Riley couldn’t talk about.

“Go,” he said. “I hope everything is all right.”

Riley’s heart flooded with gratitude at Meredith’s understanding and discretion.

“Thank you, sir,” she said.

Then she hurried out of the building and got in her car and drove home.

As she neared her townhouse in a quiet Fredericksburg neighborhood, she was relieved to see that the FBI van was indeed still there. Riley knew there was another van stationed in the alley. Although the vehicles were unmarked, they were hardly inconspicuous. But there was nothing to be done about that.

Riley parked her car in her driveway, walked over to the van, and looked inside the open passenger window.

Two young agents were sitting in the front seats – Craig Huang and Bud Wigton. Riley’s spirits lifted a little. She thought highly of both agents, and she’d worked with Huang several times recently. Huang had been a little too gung-ho for Riley’s liking when he first came to the BAU, but he was rapidly maturing into an excellent agent. She didn’t know Wigton as well, but he had an excellent reputation.

“Anything going on?” Riley asked them through the window.

“Not a thing,” Huang said.

Huang sounded bored, but Riley felt relieved. No news was definitely good news as far as she was concerned. But was it too good to last?

“Mind if I have a look inside?” Riley asked.

“Be our guest,” Huang said.

The side door to the windowless van slid open, and Riley stepped inside to find another agent, Grace Lochner, stationed inside. Riley knew that Grace also had a sterling reputation at the BAU.

Lochner was seated in front of a battery of video screens. She turned toward Riley with a smile.

“What have you got going here?” Riley asked.

Seeming eager to show off the technology at her disposal, Lochner pointed to a couple of screens that showed overhead views of the neighborhood.

She said, “Here we’ve got real-time satellite images showing all the comings and goings within a half mile of here. Nobody can get near here without us noticing.”

Laughing a little, Lochner added, “I’m glad you live in a quiet neighborhood. It gives us less traffic to keep track of.”

She pointed out several more screens showing street-level activity.

She said, “We’ve hidden cameras around the neighborhood to see what’s going on closer up. We can check license plates of any vehicle that comes near here.”

A voice crackled over an intercom.

“Have you guys got a visitor?”

Lochner answered, “Agent Paige just stopped by to say hello.”

The voice said, “Hello, Agent Paige. This is Agent Cole, in the vehicle around back of your house. I’ve got Agents Cypher and Hahn with me too.”

Riley smiled. Those were all familiar names of well-respected agents.

Riley said, “I’m glad to have you on the job.”

“Our pleasure,” Agent Cole said.

Riley was impressed by the communication between the two vans. She could see the van behind her house in a couple of Lochner’s screens. Obviously, nothing could happen to either team without the other team knowing about it immediately.

Riley was also pleased by the display of weaponry stocked inside the van. The team had enough firepower to fight off a small army if necessary.

But she couldn’t help but wonder – was it enough to fight off Shane Hatcher? She left the van and walked on toward her house, telling herself not to worry. She couldn’t imagine even Shane Hatcher thwarting all this security.

Still, she couldn’t help remembering the text message she had just received.

You can’t say you weren’t warned.

When Riley stepped inside her house, the place seemed eerily empty.

“I’m home,” she called out.

But nobody replied.

Where is everybody? Her alarm started to turn into panic.

Was it possible that Shane Hatcher had slipped through all that security after all?

Riley struggled not to imagine what might have happened if he had. Her pulse and breathing quickened as she hurried to the family room.

All three kids – April, Liam, and Jilly – were there. April and Liam were playing chess and Jilly was playing a video game.

“Didn’t you hear me?” she asked.

All three looked up at her with blank expressions. They had obviously all been concentrating on what they were doing.

She was about to ask the kids where Gabriela was when she heard her housekeeper’s voice behind her.

“Are you home, Señora Riley? I was downstairs and I thought I heard you come in.”

Riley smiled at the stout Guatemalan woman.

“Yes, I just got in,” she said, breathing easier now.

With a welcoming nod and a smile, Gabriela turned and headed toward the kitchen.

April looked up from the game she was playing with Liam.

“Is everything OK, Mom? You look kind of agitated.”

“I’m fine,” Riley said.

April turned her attention back to the game.

Riley took a moment to marvel how mature her fifteen-year-old daughter looked. April was slender, tall, and dark-haired, with Riley’s hazel eyes. April had been through more than her share of life-threatening danger during the last few months. But she seemed to be doing very well these days.

Riley looked over at Jilly, a smaller girl with olive skin and big dark eyes. Riley was in the process of adopting her. At the moment, Jilly was sitting in front of a large screen blasting bad guys away.

Riley frowned a little. She didn’t like violent video games. As far as she was concerned, they made violence – especially gun violence – seem both too attractive and too sanitized. She believed they had an especially bad influence on boys.

Still, Riley considered, maybe these games were harmless compared to Jilly’s own experience. After all, the thirteen-year-old had survived real-life horrors. When Riley had found Jilly, she had been trying to sell her body out of sheer desperation. Thanks to Riley, Jilly had a chance at a better life.

Liam looked up from the chessboard.

“Hey, Riley. I was wondering …”

He hesitated before asking his question.

Liam was the newcomer to the household. Riley had no plans to adopt the tall, gangly kid with red hair and blue eyes. But she had rescued him from a drunken father who had beaten him up. He needed a place to live right now.

“What is it, Liam?” Riley asked.

“Is it OK if I go to a chess competition tomorrow?”

“Could I go too?” April asked.

Riley smiled again. Liam and April had been dating when Liam had come to live down here in the family room, but they had promised to keep that relationship on hold for the time being. They had to be hermanos solamente, as Gabriela had put it – brother and sister only.

Riley liked Liam, all the more so because of the positive influence the bright boy had on April. He’d gotten April interested in chess and foreign languages and schoolwork in general.

“Of course you can go, both of you,” she said.

But then she felt a renewed burst of worry. She got out her cell phone and found some photos of Shane Hatcher and showed them to all three kids.