No Place to Hide (27 page)

“You turned off the alarm.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“But I am working.”

Jackie turned to see a man in his early thirties. He blinked and thunderclouds rolled in his eyes. She thought his smile was forced, but he leaned over and kissed Maria. “What’s going on?” Maria asked.

“There’s been a threat.” He flashed his badge toward them. “ATF. Explosives Enforcement Officer.”

“What? What kind of threat?”

“One dealing with bombs, sweetheart. I’m here to check the float. No way I’m letting anyone on there without checking it out myself.”

Maria swallowed and stepped back, motioning for the man to go ahead. Jackie tilted her head, wondering if her foggy brain was playing tricks on her. She squinted at the man. Had she met him before?

“Christine has Lewis and Lucy at the warehouse and they’ll
be here shortly,” Maria said. “Do I need to text her and tell her not to bring them?”

“No,” he said.

Jackie stepped forward, her eyes on Leo.

He scowled and shot her and the others a dark look before taking a deep breath and walking to the float. He ran his hand over the edge of the trailer, then hopped on. Maria sighed and watched, her concern and anxiety clear on her pretty face.

Elizabeth’s phone rang and she answered it. Jackie tried to listen in, but it was impossible. She didn’t talk long, though. “Other agents are checking the floats for any masks in the floor.”

“Can someone please tell me what this is all about?” Maria asked.

“Like he said, there’s been a threat.”

Leo looked down at them. “It’s all clear. No explosives.”

Elizabeth stepped forward. “Do you mind if I check the floor of your float?”

Maria looked shaken. “The floor? For what? And what kind of threat?”

“One against the parade.”

She swallowed and looked around. “But why check the floats? Security has been tight. No one has gotten on without clearance.” She glanced at Leo. “Someone’s threatened to plant a bomb on one of the floats?”

“Something like that, but it’s not going to happen on my watch.” His phone rang. “Excuse me.”

“Since it’s been cleared, do you mind if I go up there?” Elizabeth asked Maria.

“Okay, just be careful to step around the perimeter. There are clearly marked areas for the children. You can step in those too.”

Elizabeth walked up the steps and onto the platform. Jackie watched, but her gaze was riveted on Leo, who’d moved to the
front of the float to take his call. She moved closer. Uneasiness flickered across his face and he turned his back on her to finish his conversation.

She went around to the side and climbed the steps. Maria frowned at her and Jackie ignored her. She stepped carefully along the side of the platform. Elizabeth saw her. “Nothing here. Nothing on the floor. No trap doors.” She threw her hands up. “Just nothing.”

“Maybe,” Jackie muttered.

“What?”

“Sh.”

Elizabeth’s brows drew together, but she hushed. Jackie eased up behind Leo. She didn’t care if it was rude, she needed to listen in on his conversation.

“. . . a go. The feds are everywhere, it’s taking time.”

He turned and locked eyes with her.

She drew in a deep breath. “It
is
you.”

7:55 A.M.

Ian gave a shout when Leo shoved Jackie out of his way and jumped to the ground, his backpack bouncing with every step. Jackie threw herself right after the man while Ian pushed forward to see what the problem was.

“Stop him! It’s him!”

Ian understood and gave chase, his stiff muscles protesting the continued abuse. He kept going, kept pushing. He didn’t bother glancing back to check on Jackie, he knew she was right on his heels.

Leo dodged the parade participants, weaving in and out like a professional football player. Ian kept pace. He didn’t even know what street he was on, he just didn’t want to lose the man who’d put Jackie in a coffin and tried to burn her alive.

Only Leo didn’t play nice. He shoved people into Ian’s path, knocked over anything that could cause Ian to stumble.

And finally he did. Ian went down with a hard thud on the sidewalk. Pain raced through him. He rolled and bolted to his feet, nursing a bruised elbow and scraped hip. Jackie flew past him, followed by Elizabeth and several other agents.

And then the man was gone.

Ian pulled to a stop. “Where’d he go?” He did a one-eighty. No sign of the runner.

“No. No, no, no,” Jackie pounded a fist against her thigh. “He can’t just disappear.”

A flash of black backpack caught Ian’s eye. “There!” The three took off once again, running, weaving, shouting apologies to those they bumped or jostled. “Stop!” But of course the man didn’t. He ran. Fast. Ian gasped, side aching, muscles protesting the further abuse. Leo turned the corner. Ian pounded after him. How long had they been running? Elizabeth had dropped back, shouting orders into her phone. Jackie stayed with him. Sirens sounded in the distance.

Where was the guy headed? It was like he had a destination in mind, something other than just a random run to escape.

And then he was gone again. Ian pulled up short and gasped. He was in good shape, but that had been at least a two-mile run at top speed. Throw in the sore muscles and pounding head from the car accident and Ian knew he wasn’t exactly at the top of his game. Jackie pounded up beside him and Elizabeth joined them, panting, her phone now held to her ear.

“Where did he go?” she asked.

Ian pointed to the entrance to a warehouse just ahead of him. “In there, I think.”

“What’s in there?”

Elizabeth gave their location into her phone. “This is the warehouse where Maria said the teacher and the kids were.”

“He’s going after his son,” Jackie said. “His son is in there.”

A cab pulled up and Maria jumped out. “What’s going on? Where’s Leo? Why did he run?”

Within seconds, the police were on the scene and no one had answered Maria’s questions.

Jackie stood beside the woman. “Would your husband hurt his son?”

“What? No, of course not. Why would you even ask that?” She rushed toward the door of the warehouse.

“Ma’am! Wait!” an officer called out.

Maria kept going and opened the door. Jackie stayed right behind her with Ian on her heels. Elizabeth waved her badge at the NYPD. Even if someone had tried to stop them, it would have been too late. Jackie stepped inside the warehouse with cautious steps, not sure what she would see. Her eyes landed on Leo first. He held his son on his left hip, his weapon in his right hand. The black backpack lay on the ground.

The door slammed shut behind them and Leo spun, his son in his arms, his weapon raised to point toward Jackie. “Back off!” The rest of the children cowered against the back wall, their teacher and other adult chaperones huddled around them, protecting them.

“Leo! What are you doing?”

“Mama!” Lewis cried. He wiggled in his father’s arms, but Leo just held him tighter.

Jackie stepped forward. “You have the virus. What’d you do with it?”

“What I was paid to do,” he sneered. His eyes landed on Maria and frustration glinted. “We almost made it, baby.”

“What are you talking about? Made what? Put Lewis and the gun down and tell me what’s going on.”

Leo barked a laugh. “It’s all over now. I accomplished the mission, but I failed in every other way.”

“What mission, Leo? Start making some sense, will you?” Maria’s voice held an edge, not hysterical, but rather a calmness that had Jackie looking at her twice.

The other children, chaperones, and teacher cowered against
the wall. Children cried and the adults whispered in their ears, offering what little comfort they could.

Jackie found Lucy’s eyes and the child gasped and squirmed to get a better look at her. Her gaze bounced to Ian, and Jackie saw his name form on her lips. Jackie held up a finger, praying Lucy understood what she meant. The little girl frowned, but settled back against the wall, her eyes on her uncle.

“Officers are outside, Leo,” Elizabeth said. “You’re not going to get out of this alive unless you give up.”

“Actually, Lewis and I are going to walk out the back door of this warehouse. Anyone tries to follow . . . well, let’s just say, I’d rather take Lewis with me into the afterlife than let him grow up without me.” He stared at Elizabeth. “And you’d better leave your weapon in your holster or I’ll just use the gun and finish this right here, understand?”

Jackie sucked in a deep breath and knew the man was serious.

Maria gave a sharp cry and dropped to her knees. “Leo, no, you wouldn’t. Let him come to me, please.”

“Not a chance.” He glanced at his watch and started to back toward the rear entrance.

Jackie turned to Elizabeth. “Where’s the cavalry?”

“Surrounding the building. I managed to get a message out. He can’t get anywhere without someone spotting him or following him.” She glanced at her phone. “There’ll be a sniper on one of the buildings, maybe two, but they won’t endanger Lewis.” She stepped forward, following Leo, who kept glancing over his shoulder, but not dropping his gun. Lewis cried, but didn’t fight his father.

Elizabeth motioned to the others. “I’m going to send the others out of the building, Leo, all right?”

Silence.

“Leo?” Maria’s voice wobbled. “Leo, think about this. How are you going to get away? The police are everywhere.”

Leo didn’t answer, just stood by the window. Lewis’s head swiveled in the direction of his mother’s voice. “Mama! Come get me.”

Maria took a step forward and Leo met her gaze. “Don’t do it.”

The woman fell back and tears dripped down her cheeks.

He glanced once more out the window, then looked back at them. The children and the other adults were almost to the door, ready to slip out to safety. Leo lifted his weapon and pulled the trigger. Screams echoed through the warehouse as the bullet hit the door. The adults pushed the children to the floor and covered them. Jackie dove for Lucy the same time Ian did.

Jackie got there first. She hovered over the child and those next to her as best she could.

Elizabeth’s phone rang.

She reached for it and Leo swung the gun on her. “Answer it and you die.” Leo stepped away from the window. “It looks like we’re surrounded.”

“What are you going to do, Leo?”

“If I’m not leaving, then neither is anyone else.”

8:25 A.M.

Ron stood outside the police barricade and rubbed his chin. He waited, nerves tense, ready to burst through and drag Jackie out of the situation. But he couldn’t. What he could do was continue to wait. He’d provided David with more information about the terrorist trapped inside with innocent children.

His phone rang. “Please tell me you have something.”

“Leonardo Alexander Fox is married to Maria Fox, born Mariya Oksana Bashmakov,” David said.

“Russian?”

“Yes. And get this. Her father was Vasily Bashmakov, who worked with an Islamic militant group.”

“A terrorist.”

“Yes. Fifteen years ago, Homeland Security got intel about a plot that he was instigating. He was closely monitored, and when he ordered a hit against the US ambassador to Moscow, US Special Forces intervened. He must have gotten wind of it just before it was to go down because he was in the process of running. When he realized he was trapped, he killed two of his children. The Special Forces team had no clue what he was
going to do until they heard the shots. By the time they got inside, it was too late.”

“What? Why would he kill his kids?”

“I’m getting to that part. He held a gun to his head with one hand and the phone to his ear with the other. When our guys entered the house, he had his wife on the phone.”

Ron blew out a breath. “I think I can see where this is going.”

“He waited for them to enter. Of course when they saw his weapon, they shouted at him in Russian and English to put it down. He told his wife the US monsters were there to kill him, that he loved her very much and would see her on the other side of eternity.”

“Let me guess. He pulled the trigger.”

“Yes.”

“And she believed that US soldiers killed her family.”

“Indeed.”

Ron shook his head and muttered under his breath. He’d seen a lot in his time, evil stuff he sometimes still dreamed about, but people who could just kill their kids . . . “Anything else?”

“She has a nephew. We got a hit using the facial recognition software. He was the one who shot the vet and Stroebel. The picture was blurry and he was only facing the camera for a nanosecond, but we got it and finally got it cleaned up. It took awhile, but his name came back as Hector Mann.”

“What’s his real name?”

“Miloslav Bashmakov. He was taken into custody about thirty minutes ago.”

Ron shifted his gaze back to the building. “Good. Good. Now just pray for Jackie and the rest of those being held.”

“What’s the status?”

“It’s quiet, but crowded around here. ATF, FBI, the whole alphabet soup of law enforcement. Snipers are on the roof,
waiting, trying to get a shot.” Tension threaded his shoulders into knots. “What’s it looking like for the start of the parade?”

“It’s still a go for nine o’clock sharp.”

Elizabeth’s phone rang again.

“Don’t answer that phone! Everybody up and in the corner,” Leo shouted.

Jackie peeled her body from Lucy and helped the little girl to her feet. She threw herself into her uncle’s arms and clung to his neck. “Uncle Ian, I want my mommy.”

“I know, sweetheart,” he whispered.

Jackie’s heart lurched and she patted the little girl’s back. Leo waved his weapon in the air.

“You have your gun?” Ian asked.

“No, it was missing when I woke up in the coffin.”

“Should have asked Elizabeth for another one.”

Jackie grunted. “Elizabeth won’t draw hers until she can do so without risk of him pulling the trigger.”

“Too many children’s lives at stake.”

“I can’t believe Leo hasn’t demanded she turn it over to him. He knows she has it,” she murmured. “Why hasn’t he asked for it?”

Ian drew in a deep breath and hugged Lucy to him, using her to shield their conversation. He slid down the wall, his eyes on Leo. Jackie did the same, her mind spinning. Ian settled Lucy in between them and she knew it was so she felt protected on both sides. He helped another little girl sit on the other side of him, and Jackie placed her arm around the child who’d sat next to her. Adult. Child. Adult. Child. Scared whimpers rose from around her and she clamped her jaws hard in order to control her tongue. Lashing out at the man wouldn’t help the situation.

Something nagged at her. It was something Leo had said. “Did you catch what he said about completing the mission?”

“Shut up!” Leo pointed the weapon in her direction and she clamped her lips together. Sweat dripped into his eyes and he had a frantic energy about him that said he might be close to losing control.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen, huh, Leo?” Elizabeth asked from her position on the floor. He swung his attention to the agent. “Let me help you.”

He waved the gun at her. “You don’t want to help me, you want to stop me.”

“Well, yeah, but if I can help you out at the same time, I’m not opposed to the idea.”

Her honest answer seemed to stop him for a moment, then he simply shook his head and glanced at his watch.

Elizabeth glanced at her phone. “They’re calling.”

“Hang up.”

“Come on, Leo, you know how this works. If you don’t communicate with them, they’ll come in.”

“You’re right, I do know how this works and they won’t risk the kids getting hurt. Leave it, I’m not interested in negotiating.”

“He did something to the float,” Jackie whispered.

“What?” Ian asked.

“What time is it?” She had her arm around Lucy and couldn’t see her watch.

He glanced at his. “8:45.”

“We don’t have long. We have to end this.”

“What are you going to do?”

She shot a look at Elizabeth and Leo, who were still going back and forth. What was the woman doing? What was Leo doing? The man was a highly trained ATF agent. There was no way he was going to fall for anything Jackie tried. She wouldn’t
be able to lure him in front of a window for a sniper shot and he probably knew all of the negotiating tricks. He’d probably even been involved in some hostage negotiations when explosives were involved and listened in. So what was the deal? She went around and around it in her mind. And saw him take another glance at his watch. “He’s stalling,” she whispered. “He did something to the float and he’s stalling.”

“You mean he lured us away from it on purpose?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth still had Leo’s attention so she kept whispering. “He wants the parade to start on time. He knew where the kids were staying and he led us directly here. All of the attention is now focused on this area about two miles away from the start of the parade. Far enough away, they might not postpone it because of what’s going on over here. The parade route is in the opposite direction of where we are so the floats won’t be anywhere near here. You still have your cell phone?”

“Yes.” He slid it out of his pocket and passed it across to her behind Lucy’s back. The little girl snuggled closer to her uncle.

Her eyes on Leo, she wrapped her fingers around the device and pulled it to her. “And that doesn’t make sense either. He should have taken our phones, but he didn’t do that.”

“Then your conclusion could be right. He just wants to stall.”

“Will you two shut up before he decides to start shooting?” The woman to her right hissed. Her frightened blue eyes seemed overly large in her very white face. She shot Leo a scared look. “He said to be quiet. Can’t you just do that?”

Jackie patted the woman’s shoulder. Her ID badge read Mrs. Thompson. “I know you’re frightened, but we’re going to get out of this, just give us a chance, all right?”

“Are you a cop?”

“Something like that.”

That seemed to mollify the woman and she sat back, her eyes closed, lips moving.

Jackie leaned closer to Ian. “The virus is on that float, Ian,” she whispered. “I don’t know where, but I’m willing to bet that Leo put it on there on the pretense of inspecting for explosives. He was on there a good long time.”

“We’ve got to stop him.”

She slid the phone down to the floor next to her thigh. In between her and Lucy. She hit the text message icon, then pretended to look down and rub her eyes. While she massaged her forehead with her right hand, she punched in Ron’s number with her left. Then in the message box, she typed,

WE R DISTRACTION VIRUS IS ON TOY FLOAT

“Hey! What are you doing?” Leo’s narrowed eyes met hers as he stormed toward her. “Give me that!”

She hit Send. Leo grabbed the phone from her fingers, threw in on the floor, and stomped on it.

Ron’s phone vibrated. He raised it to take a look at the text message.

WE R DISTRACTION VIRUS IS ON TOY FLOAT

His heart thudded an extra beat and he looked at the time. 8:53. He spun on his heel and made his way through the crowd that had gathered behind the police blockade. He hit the number he’d put on speed dial early that morning.

“Special Agent in Charge Scott Mitchell.”

“I’m at the parade. The virus is on the Manguson Toy float.”

“What?”

“Don’t let anyone on that float. Stop it now.”

“How do you know? Who is this?”

“I’m a friend. Do you want to risk the lives in this city or just cause it a bit of inconvenience? We’re running out of time. Get the float out of the lineup and let the rest of the parade go on as planned.” He kept his voice calm, his temper in check.

“I have a hostage situation going on right now with twelve children involved.”

“It’s a distraction. The man who’s holding everyone hostage is just waiting for the parade to start. Somehow, when the float starts moving, it’s going to release the virus.”

Silence. Ron let the clock tick. There was nothing else he could say. Either the man would believe him and act. Or he wouldn’t.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Ron hung up and dialed David’s number. 8:59.

“Is Jackie all right?”

“Not yet. Nothing we can do for her at the moment.” He gave David a fifteen-second summary of his conversation with the Special Agent in Charge. “I don’t know if he’s going to stop it or not.”

“Then Adam and I’ll have to find a way.”

“It’s 9:00, David. Hurry.”

Ron hung up and looked back at the warehouse. “Come on, Jackie,” he whispered. “Do something. Just don’t get killed doing it.”

“We could get killed, you know that right?” Ian whispered.

“We could, but we have skills. It’s time to use them.”

Ian started to respond, then snapped his lips shut when Leo
turned his attention from his watch to his hostages. “Just a little longer folks, then you can all leave.” He gave them a grim smile and focused back on Elizabeth. Ian caught the agent’s eye. She looked back at Leo, but Ian thought she might be watching him from the corner of her eye. “You grab Lewis, I’m going to knock his feet out from under him and get the gun,” he said to Jackie.

She nodded. He stood slowly, ever so slowly, not wanting any movement to catch the man’s eye. Jackie did the same.

Ian looked at the adults who were watching and held a finger to his lips. Some frowned, some shook their heads, eyes pleading for them to sit back down. Ian tensed. The children whispered amongst themselves, but Leo didn’t seem to care if they talked. And their whispering covered any slight noises he and Jackie might make. However, if any one of the hostages called out—