Colby Core (14 page)

12:05 p.m.—22 hours, 30 minutes remaining

Riley wished there was something he could say but there was nothing.

Tessa sat in the SUV, staring at the cell phone the Master had given her. She had tried calling him and his deputies at every number she knew but had gotten no answer. Agent Ross had placed a tracing device on her phone in case she was contacted.

The women and children had been transported to a New Orleans hospital where they were being examined and treated if necessary. Agent Ross's special agent-in-charge had arrived to ensure the families were notified and interviews were properly conducted.

All the victims held at the compound were accounted for except little Sophie.

Riley climbed into the driver's seat next to Tessa and sat for a moment before speaking. “I know we've been over all this before, but I want you to think
long and hard about places you've been with him. Other transfer locations. Secondary residences. Vacation spots. Has he visited other associates? Any family?”

“We were his family.”

The hollow sound of her voice widened the crack in his already damaged heart. “He has a name. He was born somewhere. Most likely he has relatives somewhere.”

“The only name I know is Master. He never spoke of family or places.” She leaned her head against the seat. “We rarely went to transfer locations. The one in Chicago was an exception because of the murder.”

Riley studied her weary profile. “Murder?”

She nodded. “The man in charge of operations there, Lane, I believe, purchased a child from a man who had tried to kill his wife. He ended up dead for his trouble.”

“The Master didn't make it a habit of buying children from murderers?” Give the man a gold star.

Riley was aware of the murder…that tragic event had ignited the case that had brought him here.

“Too much risk. He prefers clean takes, typically from low income or at-risk families. The kind who don't get as much support from the police.”

“What about you?” Tessa's family was upper-middle class, pillars of the community.

Tessa stared out at the winter sun for a time, then said, “He said he knew I was his from the moment
he saw me. He could think of nothing else. I was to be his eternal companion.”

Riley stretched his neck. With all that was going on he'd had no time to consider that the damned device locked around his throat was ticking down to a deadline.
Dead
being the operative word. The question he wanted to ask Tessa was actually none of his business, but he needed to know…for reasons that were beyond reasonable.

She turned to him, studied his face a moment before settling her gaze on his. “Not his mate in the physical sense,” she said. “His soul mate. Emotional mate. A life companion.”

More that didn't add up. “What about Sophie?”

Tessa looked away. “She's his daughter, but she was conceived in the same manner as the others.”

“So you didn't have a physical relationship.”

“Not even once.”

Riley parked his hands on the steering wheel just to have something to do with them. According to the file he'd read, Tessa's family and friends had all stated the same when it came to her personal conduct. Good girl. Never got into trouble. Rarely dated. Had scarcely been kissed. Was it possible that she had never had sex?

Why the hell was he worried about that right now?

A realization slammed into his gut. “Is there or was there ever anyone else like you? A soul mate for the Master, I mean?”

She shook her head. “Brooks and Howard didn't like it. They said I came between them and the Master. But they got over it eventually.”

“Then…” the wheels stared to turn in Riley's head “…that means he's not likely to take losing you so well. Maybe that's why he took Sophie. For leverage to get you back.”

Their gazes met. She recognized the merit in his theory.

A chime pierced the air. Tessa sat up straighter, stared at the caller ID. “It's him,” she breathed the words.

Riley jumped out of the SUV and waved to Ross and Stark to alert them to the call. He turned back to Tessa. “Answer it.”

“Hello.” Her voice shook a little.

Ross rushed over with an earpiece that would allow Riley to listen in on the conversation.

“Where is Sophie?” Tessa demanded.

“She is safe with me, of course,” he assured her with sugary kindness. “It was necessary to move her away from the danger.”

“I don't understand what's happening,” Tessa said. “Brooks refused to allow me to speak to you. When I returned to the compound police were all over the place. I don't know what to do.”

“I've lost your signal, Tessa,” he said, the warmth of his tone going ice-cold. “How did that occur?”

“It's the FBI agents,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper. “They forced me to allow their removal.
They said it was for my own safety. They're watching my every move. How do I get away?”

Good girl. Pride swelled in Riley's chest. They had gone over certain key phrases she needed to say if he called. So far she'd remembered every single one.

“Are you sure they're not listening?” he asked, a hint of skepticism detectable.

“I don't think so. I didn't tell them about this phone. Smith didn't, either.” She sighed audibly. “Unless he has since they've been interrogating him.”

“You and Smith did a good job with your task,” he said. “All went exactly as planned with Renwick.” Tessa's gaze collided with Riley's.

She moistened her lips. “Then why did you leave me? I followed your orders. It required two meetings but we accomplished our goal and then Brooks wouldn't let me speak to you.”

“Two meetings?” the Master asked.

Riley had reminded Tessa to mention a second meeting in case anyone had been keeping an eye on them when they met with Stark and Ross at the old factory.

“The first was with some of Renwick's lower-level soldiers. It was a waste of time. I didn't like the idea. Smith is not as reliable as he claimed. That's why I have to hurry. If he tells them everything they'll never let me go.”

Riley gave her the thumbs-up for that last line. Award-winning performance for sure.

“Tessa,” the Master said, “I want you to think back to when you first became mine.”

Riley wanted to puke.

“Yes.”

“There was a place you loved to visit. Remember?”

Several beats of silence passed. “By the water? Yes, yes, I do remember.”

“Yes, that's the one.”

“Tell me what to do.”

“Be there at midnight. Sophie and I will be waiting for you.”

“Please, may I speak to her?”

The connection severed.

Tessa turned to Riley. He nodded.

She climbed out of the SUV and came around to where he stood. “Do you think we can trust him?”

“Not at all,” Riley said, giving her the truth. “But we'll be ready for whatever he has planned.”

“Ms. Woods.”

She turned to Agent Ross. “Yes?”

“We need to have a strategy meeting and prepare for the next phase of the operation.”

Stark joined them. “I just got a call from Simon.” Simon Ruhl, the second in command at the Colby Agency. “He has been interfacing with your folks at the lab here in New Orleans,” he said to Ross. “Between Jim Colby's findings and Simon's coordination skills, they believe they may have found a way to unlock the band.” This he directed to Riley.

Relief inched its way up Riley's spine. “Sounds good to me.”

“Why don't you and Stark go to the lab?” Ross suggested. “Ms. Woods and I will begin developing tonight's strategy at the temporary command center.” A command center had been set up in a nearby church that had been closed for years.

Riley shook his head. “I'm not leaving, Tessa. They can come to us, or they'll just have to wait until this is over.”

“Porter,” Stark countered, “you're not being reasonable. That thing might not continue to be stable. We need to see what we can do now. The lab would be the safest environment for that.”

“You should go,” Tessa said. “The longer you're burdened with that thing the bigger the risk.”

“If I go—” Riley stood his ground “—she goes.”

“Fine,” Ross relented. “We'll convene a strategy meeting at the lab.”

Maybe Riley was being unreasonable, but he wasn't allowing Tessa out of his sight.

Just last week an agent from the Chicago Bureau had double-crossed Trinity Barrett. Most of the FBI agents across the nation were the best law enforcement officials to be found. But as with anything else, occasionally a bad apple could be found in the barrel.

Ross pulled out his cell. “Ross.”

They all waited for him to finish the call. Even the
air seemed to still as if the world knew that whatever the call was about it couldn't be good.

“Keep me informed,” he said before ending the call. He looked from Stark to Riley, then Tessa.

“There was an explosion across town. Six people are dead. One of them is a man named Phipps. The others haven't been identified.”

Tessa's gaze shot to Riley's. The bastard had set up Renwick and his people. None of this had happened by chance.

Stark clapped Riley on the shoulder. “Come on. Let's get out of here.” He headed for the SUV in which Riley and Tessa had been sitting. “You two can ride with me.”

Riley, for one, would be grateful to be away from this place.

Jefferson Parish Crime Lab, 1:38 p.m.—20 hours, 22 minutes remaining

T
ESSA WATCHED FROM THE
safety of the viewing room. Riley sat on a stool in the center of a sealed and reinforced room designed for defusing and deactivating bombs. A technician dressed in protective gear stood by in preparation for the attempt.

“A number of prints were lifted from the cell phone at our first meeting,” Ross explained. He and Stark waited with Tessa in the viewing room. “None were in the system except yours. So we had no choice
but to treat each of the other two individual prints as potentials.”

“One set probably belongs to Howard,” she noted, her mind not really on the discussion but on the man beyond the shatterproof glass. Funny, she didn't know Howard or Brooks by anything other than those names. She had no idea if those were surnames or first names. The soldiers were all simply “soldier” to her. The women, the patients, she had learned their names, but only in secret.

She had no idea who the Master was. Not his name or where he was from. She only knew him. The evil, heinous monster who had stolen nearly six years of her life. Had stolen far more from too many victims to count.

“We've made a sort of skin that mimics each one. The material has components of plastic, but it's incredibly pliable. This technology is still somewhat experimental, but it's our best shot at turning this thing off.”

“If there's a safety feature built in?” She knew the answer but she wanted to hear Ross say as much.

“Investigator Porter is aware of the risk.”

Tessa's heart lurched as the technician reached toward Riley's throat. He was the savior she had prayed for. The hero that had refused to let her down.

Now his life was at risk because of her.

A dangerous game masterminded by a ruthless monster.

“He's trying the first option now,” Ross commented.

Tessa held her breath.

The seconds felt like hours.

Then the tech glanced toward the viewing glass and shook his head.

Tessa wasn't sure whether to be relieved or terrified.

“Now, he'll try the second one.”

More of those trauma-filled seconds elapsed.

The tech shook his head once more.

It was over. There was nothing they could do.

Riley's only chance at surviving was finding the Master.

Tessa turned to Ross. “What if we can't find him?”

Ross didn't have to ask who she meant. “Then we'll try a more aggressive technique.”

He didn't need to explain. She understood that by aggressive he meant dangerous.

The next forty-five minutes were a blur to Tessa. The agents prepared and reviewed a strategy. More agents were called in, but no local law enforcement in an effort to keep security tight.

Through all of it Tessa couldn't block the worries that despite the evacuation, the Master could still have someone watching her.

If he discovered she was lying to him she would never see Sophie again and Riley would die.

If he got even a whiff of a setup the meet would not happen.

“We need to add an escape to this strategy,” Riley announced.

Tessa perked up. He'd read her mind! “I agree.”

The agents around the room looked at Riley then at her as if they'd both gone over the edge.

“If this so-called Master decides Tessa has lied to him and that she's working with the enemy, he'll abandon the meet. We have to assume he may have someone watching her.” Riley shook his head. “It wouldn't have been too difficult for anyone to have watched today's activities from an undetectable distance.”

“Porter and Tessa are right,” Stark chimed in. “We need to stay in character here. To Tessa—” he gestured to her “—we're the enemy. Anyone watching needs to observe that relationship in Tessa's actions.”

The shaking started out of the blue. Maybe the events of the past twenty-four hours had caught up with her. Whatever it was, she couldn't keep her knees from bouncing. She clasped her hands together to control their shaking.

Riley stood. “We done here?”

“I suppose we are,” Ross said reluctantly.

“I'll need a weapon and a charged cell phone.” He glanced at Tessa. “Tessa will need a weapon as well. She's a crack shot.”

Tessa pushed back her chair and stood on shaky
legs. “I'll need a change of clothes.” The Master was obsessed with cleanliness.