Flee the Night (29 page)

“Trying to reacquire the scent. My air-tracking dog might be able to locate Micah if he was on a vehicle, but even then the smell of exhaust would decay the human scent.” Dannette crouched to study the grass. “Looks like a four-wheeler. These tracks aren’t wide enough for a pickup.”

Lacey watched the dog for another minute. She keyed her radio. “Search to Base.”

Sarah’s voice responded. “Base. Come in Search.”

“Your buddy Hank still around, Sarah?”

Static. Then, “He’s not my buddy. But yeah.”

“Tell him to follow the service road we took. It should intersect with an old logging road. And tell him to bring the GPS. Micah has an ELS on him. If he’s still alive, he’ll have activated it.” Her voice faltered on “if he’s still alive.” She closed her eyes.
Please, God.

But despite her inklings that God had sent Micah, there was no way He was going to listen to her now. She’d messed things up and let her impulses grab ahold of common sense by giving in to the small, compelling urge to let Micah come to her rescue. She just hoped they could find him before whoever took Ex-6 discovered the virus.

She had no doubt that Micah’s life—if he still lived—was a ticking clock.

Dannette called her dog and rubbed her hand over his head. “Good job, buddy. We’ll find him.”

“Copy that, Search,” Sarah said, affirming Lacey’s plan.

“Base out.”

Lacey tapped the receiver against her knee. “Please, Micah, stay alive.”

Micah felt like a deer carcass, strapped to the back of the four-wheeler as it roared through the forest. His wrists burned against taped bonds, and he fought the blindfold that cut into his eyes. Every jolt speared him anew; every rut that sent them into the air threatened to drive his teeth through his skull. It took all his focus to muscle through the fog of darkness and pain to stay conscious.

At least all this pain meant he was alive. And the one thought that saved him was the gut feeling that Emily was safe.

Emily
and
Lacey.

The four-wheeler hit a bump, screamed through the air. When they landed, Micah’s head banged on the fender. He saw white light and gritted his teeth.
Focus on staying awake.

They skidded to a halt. Rough hands yanked him to a sitting position. “On your feet.”

Micah didn’t even have the strength to lash out at the voice so he let himself be shoved over to a pickup. He was thrown into the back, and the tailgate was closed. The smell of dirt and oil curdled his nose, making his misery acute. He curled into a ball and let the pain suck him under.

He awoke—or thought he awoke—to darkness. He tried to open his eyes, but they seemed glued shut. Panic rose inside and he fought it, centered on his heartbeat, and took an assessment.

He was still bound: his hands behind his back, his ankles together, tape over his eyes. His leg burned, but he could move it, so it wasn’t broken. He lay on his side, his wounded shoulder facing up, and when he took a breath, the pain was so sharp he had to stifle a gasp. He strained to hear past his racing pulse and made out two voices, one barking orders. They were talking about … Ex-6?

“It doesn’t work.” The voice was accented.

“Why?” This voice sounded familiar, and it nudged a memory—one he couldn’t quite grasp.

“Everything I’ve tried to decode has returned corrupted. She double-crossed you.”

Micah heard swearing, shattering glass.

Then his skin prickled when a breath cascaded over his ear. “You’re so pitiful, you know that? If only you knew the woman you risked your life for.” The contempt in the voice raised another flint of recollection.
Who?

Micah swallowed a retort.

“Oh, so you’re awake, huh?” A short laugh, no—a burst of satisfaction. “You know she planned this, don’t you? I hope you don’t think your little agent girlfriend is trustworthy.”

“She won’t give you what you want,” Micah snarled. Would she? Or would she abandon him to his fate? She had warned him, practically begged him not to follow her. He deserved what he got, right?

“Yes, she will. Because it’s all part of the plan. And she’ll tell your friends that she doesn’t want to cause the death of another man.”

“That was an accident,” Micah growled.

“Oh, was it? Were you there? Did you see her try and trade John’s life for a profit?”

Micah was silent, furious at himself.

“Oh yes, she knew we’d double-cross John. She wanted a piece of the action.”

“She was trying to save John.”

“Then why did she let him go in the first place? She met him at the hotel before our meeting. If she told him he was compromised, why did he go? Do you think he didn’t know we’d have him killed?”

Micah tried to close his ears, but questions churned in the deep places, where he’d buried them over the past three days.

“Have you ever considered that Mrs. Lacey Montgomery
wanted
her husband to be killed? That maybe she had a better offer? One we’ve been waiting to cash in on for years? Oh yes, pal, we had this planned from day one. She and I. She knew the money we’d make, hand over fist, with the gasification process, and when it went south it was your Lacey who hatched the new plan … the one involving Ex-6.

“She was the one who told us where she’d be traveling; she was the one who set up the plan for a kidnapping. She was the one who wanted to barter her daughter for Ex-6 because if she got caught, she’d have a credible defense. And she was the one who decided to call you since we were never sure if you saw me or not back in that warehouse in Kazakhstan, and we didn’t want any loose ends.”

“I don’t believe you. The text message said ‘No Jim Micah.’”

“That was her idea. She knew the one way to get you involved was to keep you shut out. Tell me, how did you find out? Did she tell you, or did you sneak the information off her?”

Micah remembered that moment in the truck. To her stirring just as he took the cell phone out of her pocket. To her stillness as he read the messages. No, she wouldn’t have … except, if she had the same training he had, she would have jostled with the first nudge in her pocket. More than that, she wouldn’t have kept such a valuable piece of equipment in her pocket, where it could be easily lifted. Truth felt like a sword dissecting his heart.

“She’s been neck deep in this the entire time. And she’ll act like she’s bargaining for your life. When, in truth, she’s just playing a part. Delivery girl. And in turn, she’ll end up with a wad of cash in her offshore account, a new identity, and the gratitude of North Korea.”

Micah felt kicked right in the heart. No, she hadn’t used him. Couldn’t have faked her feelings in the pickup, the way she’d kissed him, or her tears over her daughter.

Only she was a career spy. Someone trained in deception. He fought a rush of hot fury—at himself for believing her and at her for using his own heart as a weapon against him.

“If you think she cares if you live or die … well, you’re more gullible than John Montgomery was. He might have been a two-timing snake of a husband, but he married a black widow.”

Dawn bruised the sky as Lacey tracked back on the four-wheeler to Service Road 20. She’d been up and down every logging road, every dent in the forest. No Jim Micah.

Which meant that he was either dead and didn’t hear her or had been taken by the people who had taken Emily.

She felt emptied and hollow as she pulled up to the huddle of vehicles. Conner leaned against his truck, his arms folded across his chest, pushing the dirt with his foot. Dannette held Sherlock’s lead. Sarah and Emily were sleeping in the cab of Conner’s truck.

Hank strode up to her. “Anything?”

She shook her head.

“You’re tired. Maybe I should have a go.”

Lacey got off the four-wheeler. “No. He’s gone. They took him; I feel it in my bones.”

Andee climbed out of Dannette’s truck, then slammed the door. The noise frightened a flock of crows to flight. A chilly, early morning breeze stirred the trees. “What should we do now?” Fatigue lined her pretty face. She’d tied her hair back with a bandanna, and the effect had made her look even more petite. More pretty. Lacey had a hard time believing this woman could muscle a helicopter into submission.

“I don’t know.” Lacey scrubbed her hands down her face. “If they have Ex-6, it won’t take them long to figure out it doesn’t work. And then I don’t know what they’ll do to Micah.”

“We’re going back to Poplar Bluff,” Conner said. “You still have the cell phone, right?”

Lacey felt for it in her pocket. Just to confirm, she checked. No new messages.

“Why don’t you ride with me, okay?” Conner didn’t elaborate as he walked around to the passenger side, but Lacey had a sick feeling it had to do with Dannette and the fact that Lacey had led the man Dannette loved into danger.

And here she’d been thinking she and Micah might have had a future. Fool. Fool! That’s what happened when she’d started to listen to Micah’s words of faith with her heart instead of her head.

She felt brittle as Conner lifted a sleeping Emily out of Sarah’s arms.

“I have an older model truck. No air bags. Emily can sit in the front seat,” Conner said when Lacey peeked in, glancing for a backseat.

Sarah awoke and shot a questioning look at Conner. He shook his head, and her face fell. “Sarah, would you mind riding with Hank or Dannette?”

Lacey wasn’t surprised when she opted for the lady’s truck. Conner slid Emily into the middle of his cab and buckled her in. Lacey climbed in beside her, holding her close. When Conner pulled away, leading the caravan, she stared into the dark forest and felt her worst fears unhinge.

She’d killed Jim Micah.

She pulled her daughter tight and closed her eyes. Conner said nothing. Lacey didn’t know whether his silence stemmed from fury or a desire to protect her.

As if she deserved protection.

The ride to Poplar Bluff seemed like a blink. They arrived just as sunlight emblazoned the store windows. Lacey cradled Emily in her arms and trudged up to the motel room.

Dannette said nothing as she opened the door to the women’s room and let them inside. After Lacey tucked Emily into one of the double beds, she sat at the end and hung her head in her hands. She felt empty. Like a hole had been scooped out of her chest where her heart had once been. She began to shake, forced herself to settle down, and walked over to the sink. She splashed water on her face, then scrubbed it hard with a towel.

She heard Dannette leave, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Lacey slid down into a ball, knees up, and buried her head in her arms.
I’m so, so sorry, Micah. I told you; didn’t I tell you?
Her eyes burned.

From across the room, her cell phone trilled.

She leaped for it, crawling then finding her feet and digging it out on the third ring.

TEN TONIGHT.

TUNNEL BLUFF CAVE.

NO COMPANY.

BRING THE REAL EX-6.

OR JIM MICAH DIES.

She stared at the message with a mixture of euphoria and disbelief. Micah was still alive, right? Hope felt too raw, but she closed her eyes and held on anyway.
Please, God, don’t let Micah pay for my mistakes.
This time she didn’t care if she didn’t deserve to throw her requests at God. Micah deserved it.

She got up, checked her daughter, then headed for the door. Conner was leaning against the outside rail, talking to Dannette in low tones. Their conversation must have been serious because they stopped talking, and Conner straightened, frowning. “What?”

“He’s alive. And they want the real Ex-6. Or they’re going to kill him.”

“That’s not an option.”

“I know.” She looked down at the text message. “I’m not going to let them kill Micah.”

“I mean, giving them the real Ex-6.” Conner crossed his arms. “I can’t let you do that. Micah and I had a chitchat before we left. He told me that under no circumstances was I to let you hand over Ex-6. Ever.”

Lacey stared at him, seeing the soldier he’d once been.

“Micah swore to protect his country with his life. And he’ll do that. He would die before he’d let another country tap into America’s secrets.” Conner narrowed his eyes. “I would think you took the same oath.”