Love Inspired Suspense September 2015 #2 (31 page)

“You also loved my mom's Mississippi mud pie,” she said,

“Oh, don't even go there. That's hardly fair when we're stuck here with nothing more than a few boiled eggs and a handful of cashews.”

“And peppermint candies.” Maddie laughed, welcoming the temporary distraction from their situation. “But yeah...my mom's cooking is great. She's always been a bit of a
Food Network
junkie. Always trying out new dishes.”

“What else do you remember about me?” he asked, handing her a peppermint.

She pulled off the wrapper and popped the candy into her mouth. She couldn't exactly tell him how she remembered having a crush on him all those years ago. About how she'd always looked for an excuse to hang out with him and Darren. As far as she'd known, though, he'd never even really noticed her. She's simply been Darren's younger sister. And after Darren's death, he'd eventually stopped coming around.

“Because I remember you always asked Darren to bring you Lindt truffles and Toblerone whenever we were flying back through Europe,” he said.

Maddie smiled. “I love that stuff. He always teased me because I couldn't make it last.”

“That was because the few care packages we did get, we learned to ration out as long as possible.”

She studied his profile, unable to deny the welcome wave of comfort that enveloped her over the simple familiarity of his presence. Or the magnetism of those blue eyes and the dark shadow along his jawline. Their gazes locked briefly, making her wish Antonio would return. Because even all these years later, Grant still managed to leave her breathless.

She leaned forward and rested her elbows against her knees. “You keep asking me questions. Now it's my turn.”

There was a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Okay. Shoot.”

“What motivates you to risk your life?”

“You're getting serious on me.” Grant shot her a smile. “All I can say is that after seven years in the military and a medical discharge, it seemed like a good career move.”

Her eyes widened, though she shouldn't be surprised. Her brother had once told her the same thing. “So demining was simply a good career move?”

“Most of the time I'm simply involved in training locals to do the actual demining. I supervise their work and ensure cleared areas are marked properly.” He clasped his hands together in front of him. “But yeah, I admit that most people tend to look at me like I'm some insane humanitarian. Someone who could get blown up trying to save the population of countries most people have never even heard of.”

“And what do you tell them?”

“That it's the best way I've found to use my training to help others. And that there's no one waiting for me at home.”

“Waiting to see if you'll come home, you mean. Alive or in a coffin.”
Like Darren.
Maddie looked away. “I'm sorry, but...don't you have plans to marry someday?”

She knew she'd crossed the line and that her questions were far too personal.

“I suppose when the right woman comes along I'll have to rethink things,” he said. “What about you? Do you still think about marrying one day and having a family?”

She blushed under his steady gaze, but she'd walked herself right into this one.

“I do, actually.” She flicked an invisible speck of lint off her pants and stared across the room, avoiding his gaze.

Movement caught her attention then. Alistair was pulling a laptop out of his backpack. She clutched the locket between her fingers, her adrenaline quickening. With a computer they could find out what was on the flash drive. But was it worth the risk?

ELEVEN

“W
e got us a computer.” Grant grinned a minute later as he sat down beside Maddie and balanced the borrowed lightweight laptop on his knees.

“And our new friend over there didn't mind?” Maddie leaned toward Grant so she could see the screen.

“He said he could listen to music just as well as play games on this. We're going to have to hurry, though. Apparently there isn't much battery left.”

Maddie flipped open the locket and handed him the flash drive.

Grant slid it into the USB port and clicked it open. “Wait a minute...it wants a password.”

“A password?”

A safeguard box had popped up, verifying that the drive was locked with a password. “Did Sam give you one?”

Maddie shook her head. “No. He never mentioned a password.”

He caught the concern in Maddie's voice and blew out a sigh of frustration. So far he felt as if they were fighting a phantom at every turn. If he was going to keep her safe, he needed to know what they were up against. And at the moment that meant they needed that password.

“Think, Maddie. Start going through your conversation with him again. There has to be a way to open this flash drive.”

He started typing random words into the password box.
State Department... Guinea-Bissau... Drug Trafficking...

Nothing.

“Wait a minute.” Maddie rested her hand against his arm.

Grant looked up from the computer. “What is it?”

“Try Crystal.”

“Okay. Why?”

“I hadn't been able to remember before, but her name was Crystal.”

“Whose name?” Grant typed in the name.

“Remember I told you I thought he was talking about his girlfriend? What if Crystal's not a person, but a password?”

“You're right. We're in.” Grant grinned as the list of documents popped up. “Not a bad password. Cocaine comes in two main forms, powder—”

“And a crystal rock form,” Maddie finished.

“Okay, let's see what we've got on here.” He started clicking through the documents. “The last file Sam opened was the day before his death. Looks like we've got a name... Reid Johnson. There's a pretty extensive profile of the guy.”

“Who is he?” Maddie asked.

“I'm not sure yet.” Grant skimmed through the document. “Born and raised outside of Detroit... Graduated from Liberty High School. Attended the University of Michigan where he earned a degree in political science... This has got to be our guy. Look at this.” Grant pointed at the screen. “He's worked with Homeland Security, congress, education and training initiatives, a post in DC, Country Director for West Africa, international security affairs...”

“And currently?”

“He works for the State Department and is connected to the US Embassy in Dakar.” He let out a low whistle. “If this is right, Maddie, this guy's going to have a lot of clout.”

“Enough clout to try to make sure I disappear.”

“Unfortunately, yeah.” He caught the fear in her voice and squeezed her hand. “But he's not going to win this. And now that we at least know who we're up against, I'm hoping we can somehow figure a way to be better prepared.”

“What else is in there?”

Grant clicked open a dozen files and let them pop up across the desktop. The laptop's battery indicator showed it was almost at its end. “Look at this. It looks like Sam somehow got ahold of all the dirty details of this guy's secret life. Dozens of documents, spreadsheets, cell phone records of calls placed and received, off-shore bank account records and even emails all proving his involvement.”

“Do you think he's the only one from the State Department who's involved?”

“I don't know.”

Maddie leaned back against the bench and sighed. “What we do know is that Sam died for this information, Grant.”

The thought was sobering. It also expelled any lingering question that Maddie had become a target because of Sam and the information they thought he'd passed on to her. Someone—namely Reid Johnson—couldn't afford for this information to get out. Grant started closing down all the files before the computer shut off. “Did Sam tell you where he got all of this?”

Maddie shook her head. “I wish he would have, but no.”

Grant rubbed the back of his neck, waited for the computer to shut down. “To get this kind of information, someone had to have access to Reid's private files and records, and we can assume it wasn't on his work computer.”

“It would have to have been someone close to him.”

“Exactly. A secretary, colleague, girlfriend or some other close friend... Someone who found out his secret.”

“Someone willing to betray him,” she said.

Grant pulled out the flash drive, set it in her palm and closed her fingers around it. “There's a good chance Reid knows he's been betrayed. Maybe he doesn't know who betrayed him, but he clearly believed Sam was involved.”

“Which was why he was willing to kill Sam to keep him quiet.”

Grant tightened his fingers around hers, as the entire picture of what was going on became clear. “You're the link, Maddie. The last person to see Sam alive. And the only link between Sam and whoever gave him this information.”

“But I have no idea who Sam talked to.”

“Yes, but Reid doesn't know that. He's making assumptions while desperately trying to cover his tracks.”

She slid the flash drive back into the locket. “Which is why I'm scared, Grant. In spite of all my training in dealing with disasters, I've never been this close to death. It's like we're suspended in time, waiting for some horrible end to it all.”

He reached down and wiped a tear that was running down her cheek. “Don't give up yet. Somewhere deep inside, I have to believe this is going to turn out all right.”

She nodded, but he still caught the hesitation in her eyes.

He reached out and laced their fingers together. “We have the advantage now, Maddie. We know who he is.”

“And no way to do anything about it.”

“But we will. As soon as we reach the capital.” He squeezed her hand. “In the meantime, I'll give the computer back to Alistair. Then I probably should go out and see if I can find Antonio. See if he's feeling any better.”

She nodded.

Grant got up to return the computer, wishing there was something he could do with the information they'd just found. No cell phone communication. No internet access. Until the ferry docked their hands were completely tied.

Alistair was pulling out a digital camera from his backpack.

“Really appreciate you letting us borrow this,” Grant said, handing him the computer.

“No problem.” He slipped the computer into a padded section and held up his camera. “Thought I'd go take a few photos out on the deck. At least I'll end up with an interesting write-up with photos for the readers of my travel blog.”

Alistair headed for the open deck while Grant made his way back to his seat. He found Ana sitting up and sipping on some of Maddie's rehydration drink.

Grant crouched down next to the sleepy-eyed girl. “Morning, Ana. It's good to see you up and awake. How are you feeling?”

Ana gave him a weak smile. “Better.”

“I'm glad to hear that,” he said, standing back up.

A sudden jolt of the boat almost knocked Grant off his feet. Someone across the room screamed. He caught Ana with one arm and the edge of a bench with his hand, and managed to hold them both steady.

He quickly glanced around the room. Except for startled looks on a number of the passengers, no one looked hurt.

“Are you okay, Ana?” he asked.

She nodded while Maddie hurried to clean up Ana's spilled drink. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“Yes, it is.” Grant glanced toward the windows. The storm seemed to be dissipating, but the air conditioner had gone off, leaving the room stuffy with the humidity. “On the bright side, it does look like we're moving now.”

“But for how long?”

A loud commotion toward the stern stopped Grant from attempting to answer her question. Someone screamed again. Shouting from below escalated. Most of the passengers in the VIP room headed to the windows to see what was happening.

Grant started toward the deck, just as Antonio stepped inside the room.

“Antonio...what's going on?”

“No one seems to know for sure. It looks like the ferry just hit something—a reef or a sandbar—but the bottom line is we're taking on water.”

* * *

A drop of perspiration blurred Maddie's vision. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, fighting to process Antonio's words. And fighting to stop the panic sifting through her. Because the ferry couldn't be sinking. Not after everything else that had happened this past week. Not when they were so close to finally reaching the mainland.

“How serious a situation are we talking about at this point?” Grant asked.

“I'm not sure, but we need to prepare for the worst,” Antonio said.

Maddie frowned. Two months ago, a local boat transporting people had sunk less than a mile off the coast. The majority of the fifty passengers had drowned. She tried to shake off the thought. She knew there wasn't time to wallow in what-ifs. Bracing her legs against the rocking of the craft, she looked out across the bewildered scurry of passengers on the deck below them. Men threw heavy bags of peanuts and other items overboard in an attempt to save the boat from sinking.

God, we need You to intervene in this situation. Please, God...

Maddie paused at the request. Growing up, praying had always been automatic whenever she needed something. But moving to Africa had slowly shifted the focus of her prayers almost entirely to her patients. Because somehow her own requests—at least compared to the situations she saw daily in the hospital—seemed frivolous. Not that God hadn't listened. Or didn't care. But she'd begun to realize just how much she really had. This past week, though, her prayers had shifted again, because never before had she faced the frightening reality of someone wanting to take her life. Or of the chain of events that had brought them to this moment.

“What's the captain doing?” Grant asked.

“They're trying to pump out the water and have radioed the capital for help. But even with the storm slowly dying out, there's no coast guard available to come to our rescue.”

Maddie bit the edge of her lip. “We're also sitting ducks out here. What if whoever sent those men to grab us gets suspicious, and they send out more reinforcements?”

“Then we deal with that when—and if—it happens.” Grant reached out and squeezed her hand. “The captain assured me that they are keeping an eye out for any oncoming vessels. I don't know what else we can do at this point.”

Passengers darted across the deck. People shouted. Maddie worked to push away the fear as her brain kicked into emergency mode. Countless shifts in the ER had trained her to think clearly during a crisis and not give in to the spreading alarm that surrounded her. Because Grant was right. All they could do was focus on one crisis at a time. And for now, they were far enough out to sea that if something wasn't done quickly, their already difficult journey could quickly end in disaster. She had to do whatever she could to prepare.

She grabbed one of the bright orange life jackets that had been tucked away in case of an emergency, slipped it on over her head and secured the straps, before grabbing one for Ana.

She nodded at Grant. “The two of you need to put on a life jacket, along with everyone else.”

They were pretty much completely off the grid, and with no instructions on what to do in case of an emergency, she couldn't assume that the crew was fully prepared to manage a disaster without outside help.

“What do you know about boats?” she asked, slipping the old-fashioned life jacket over Ana's head. “How fast before something this size sinks?”

“There's no way to know, though a hole doesn't automatically mean a ship's going to sink. I don't know about this one, but many boats—whether large ferries or cruise ships—are compartmentalized like an ice cube tray,” Grant said, after tossing a life vest to Antonio.

“Meaning if there's a hole, it will be limited to that section of the ship.”

“Exactly. But a ship can only withstand so much flooding in any compartment before it sinks.” Grant finished securing his life jacket. Then he and Antonio started handing out vests to the rest of the passengers still in the VIP room. “It's also possible that with the large swells, the cargo could have shifted, changing the center of gravity.” He glanced toward the window. “There's an island over there,” he said while pointing. “If the ferry does go down, it's the best option at this point.”

“The only problem with that scenario...” Maddie said, pulling out another stack of life jackets from the open cupboard, “Despite living near the water, I've found that most people can't swim. Especially this far out from land.”

“She's right.” Antonio said in English, helping a young mother secure one of the life jackets around her waist alongside a couple of the crew members. “If this ferry goes down, this boat is going to turn into a graveyard.”

Maddie kept praying as the helplessness of the situation swept through her. She didn't even want to think about worst-case scenarios, which were much more likely if the boat did sink. Instead she grabbed her medical bag, wondering if it was going to be enough.

“What about you, Antonio? How are you feeling?” Maddie grabbed Ana's hand and headed for the door, noticing that for the first time since they'd left the port his skin didn't look clammy.

“I'm still queasy, but those peppermints helped.” Antonio adjusted the straps on his life jacket. “The fresh air helps a bit as well.”