Jeff Abbott - Panic

‘Of agents?’

Gabriel hesitated for a moment. ‘I think so.’

‘It either is or isn’t names of agents.’

Gabriel shrugged.

‘What were you going to do when Mom gave you these names?’ Evan steadied the gun at him. ‘I don’t have a single reason to believe a word you’ve said. You could have been lying to me from minute one, and I don’t think you saved me out of any debt to my mom or out of the milk of human kindness. You want those files as bad as Jargo, you could lie about what’s in them and why you need them.’

Gabriel kept his mouth shut.

‘Fine. Play silent treatment. You can tell me about it on the way.’

‘Way where?’

Evan took his laptop and left the room. Gabriel didn’t deserve an answer. Evan sat down in the darkened hall, put his head in his hands, weighed his options. Gabriel knew the complete truth, but wasn’t talking. He could stick a gun up to Gabriel’s head and threaten to kill him if he didn’t talk. But he and Gabriel both knew that Evan wouldn’t murder him in cold blood. Gabriel saw it in his eyes.

So another tactic, and a better one that would give Evan his dad and stop Jargo. The man behind his mother’s death, if Gabriel wasn’t lying.

But Evan had a call to make. His cell phone was with the Austin police, but Gabriel’s phone sat on the breakfast counter.

He picked the phone up and dialed Carrie’s number.

They had rocketed south on I-35 from Austin, veering west onto Highway 46, through the old German town of Boerne. Live oaks and twists of cedar covered the hills. The sky began to cloud.

Carrie sat in the front, Jargo in the back, Dezz drove. The highway sign read BANDERA 10 MILES.

Carrie’s phone hummed in the silence. She had set it to vibrate, not ring, and she thought, Oh, no.

‘I hear a phone,’ Jargo said.

‘Mine.’ Carrie’s palms went slick with sweat.

‘Evan. Hallelujah,’ Dezz said.

‘Answer it. But hold the phone so I can hear.’ Jargo leaned forward, put his chin over the seat, his head close to hers.

Carrie dug the phone from her purse, flipped it open. ‘Hello?’

‘Carrie?’ It was Evan.

‘Sweetheart. Oh, my God, are you okay?’

‘I’m fine. Where are you?’

‘Evan, for God’s sake, you were kidnapped, where are you?’

‘Carrie. How did you know I was in danger when you called me?’

Jargo stiffened next to her.

‘Three men were at your house when I came back with breakfast for us. They said they were with the FBI, but I thought… I thought there was something fishy about them. I didn’t like the look of them.’ She chose her words carefully, aware she had two audiences to please. ‘They looked like thugs trying to act like government agents. I didn’t let them in the house, Evan.’

‘What did they want?’

‘They wanted to ask you questions about your mom. Where are you, what’s happening?’

‘I can’t really talk about it.’ Evan seemed to give a sigh of relief. ‘I just wanted to be sure you were safe.’

‘I’m fine, I’m just afraid for you. Please tell me where you are. I’ll come, wherever it is.’

‘No. I don’t want you involved. Until I figure out what’s really happening.’

‘Goddamn it, tell me where you’re at, babe. Let me help you.’ Jargo’s hand touched Carrie’s shoulder.

‘Where did you go yesterday morning, Carrie?’

‘You’ – she closed her eyes – ‘you gave me a lot to think about last night. I went for a drive. Then to get us breakfast. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up. I didn’t mean to send a mixed message to you.’

‘You should leave Houston. Put space between your life and mine. I don’t want you hurt by… whoever is after me.’

‘Evan. Let me help you. Please. Tell me where you are.’

Jargo eased her closer, put his ear even closer to the phone. ‘I love you,’ she said.

A moment’s silence. ‘Good-bye, Carrie. I really love you. But I don’t think we can talk for a while.’

‘Evan, don’t.’

He hung up.

Jargo shoved her hard against the window. ‘Goddamn you stupid bitch!’ The glass smacked hard against her skull, the barrel of his Glock pushed against her throat.

‘Should I pull over?’ Dezz asked.

‘No.’ Jargo yanked the cell phone from Carrie, read the call log, dialed Galadriel on his set, ordered her to trace the number. He hung up and stared at Carrie. ‘You called to warn him? You told me you didn’t call him.’

‘No, I called to give him a reason to stay away from the FBI or the CIA if they came looking for him.’

‘I didn’t tell you to do that,’ Jargo said.

‘Initiative. I wanted him to shut up, about everything, until we could get to him. You didn’t get to him in time. You let the police get a hold of him. But I didn’t get to tell him the entire spiel. Gabriel attacked the police cruiser just as I’d gotten him on the phone.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Because you’d freak out, just like you’re doing now. I didn’t get useful information, but I didn’t put us at risk.’

‘If the police recovered his cell phone, your phone number’s on the log.’

‘I used a backup phone. Stolen. Untraceable.’

‘It was stupid,’ Jargo said.

‘You want him alive so you can get the files. If his mother told him about you or the files, I didn’t want him saying a word to the police about the CIA. It was to protect him and to protect you. Our interests coincided.’ She watched Jargo’s gun, wondered if she would be dead in the second it took to see the bullet launch from the barrel.

He lowered the gun. ‘This is really not the time for me to worry about your loyalty. We clear?’

‘Crystal clear.’ She gripped his arm. ‘The CIA killed my parents, you think I want them killing Evan? If he’s with Gabriel, and we can get Evan back, let me talk to him. It’ll be much easier if you let me handle it. Please.’

‘You think you can recruit him.’

‘I think I can start the process. He’s lost everything. Except me. He’s vulnerable. I can win him over, I know I can.’

‘He said he loves you,’ Jargo said.

‘Yes. He told me that last night.’ She faced the front of the car.

‘So you’re his weakness,’ Jargo said with a laugh.

‘Apparently.’

‘Him loving you should make things easier,’ Dezz said with a laugh. ‘Bring him over with a good screw, and we’re set.’

‘Shut your stinking mouth,’ she said. She wanted to smash Dezz’s nose in, break the teeth in his smirk.

Jargo’s cell phone beeped. He answered, ‘Galadriel, don’t disappoint me.’ He listened. Nodded. ‘Thank you.’ He clicked off. ‘The cell phone is owned by one Paul Granger.’

‘Same name as the e-mail,’ Carrie said. ‘How far away are we?’

‘Less than five minutes,’ Dezz said. And then the sirens were wailing, the blues and reds of a police car flashing behind them.

Carrie was safe.

Thugs trying to act like government agents, Carrie had said. Was it really the FBI? Or could it be the CIA, looking for him? How would they know about him, about his parents and their connection to these damnable files? It didn’t make sense to him, but nothing did this morning. What mattered was Carrie was safe and sound. He would have to resist the urge to hear her voice and keep her at arm’s length, clear of this nightmare.

I find you and lose you, all at once, he thought. But just until he could find his dad, find out the truth of what had happened to his family. Then they could be together.

He went back to the bedroom where Gabriel was chained. Now Gabriel was sitting close to the headboard.