Power of the Raven (22 page)

Daniel handed Gene a white hard hat that matched the one he was putting on. “The gas company headgear is blue, but these will have to do.”

The hard hat felt a little big to Gene, but there was no time to do any adjusting and he wouldn’t need it for long. The handheld radio was far more critical, and he checked the unit on his belt again.

Paul slowed, made the turn at the end of the block, then stopped at the alley that separated the backyards of the eight houses on the block. He steadied the big basket of flowers on the seat beside him. “Okay, this is it, guys. I’ll circle back around and pull into the Farmer driveway close to the garage, blocking the way. Once you’re in position, give me the go-ahead call and I’ll deliver these flowers. Listen in and when you hear me say ‘Johnson,’ make your entry one way or the other.”

“Copy that,” Daniel said as he opened the side door of the van and jumped out. Gene followed, carrying two shovels, part of their cover. Paul drove off immediately as they began their walk down the alley.

As they reached the back gate, Gene felt his stomach tighten. Knowing Lori was in danger was eating him up inside. He’d wasted so much time. Despite the iron grip he’d always had on his emotions, he’d fallen head over heels in love with Lori, and there was no turning back.

He’d fight for her, maybe even bleed for her, but to hold on to Lori he’d need to show her how he felt. Then the next move would be up to her. He’d accept her gratitude for the help he’d given her, but he wouldn’t use that to bind her. He wanted her heart—nothing less.

Gene unfastened the catch and opened the gate, and Dan followed him in. While Dan brought the yellow Taser out of its holster and thumbed the button on his radio, Gene continued to inch along the wall, careful to stay out of sight. When they reached the back door, they stopped and waited, listening for Paul’s signal.

Gene heard a doorbell, then silence followed for about thirty seconds. After that, heavy footsteps came from somewhere inside the house.

“Hello, I have a delivery for Mrs. Johnson.”

Hearing the signal, Gene kicked the back door just below the knob as hard as he could. The force hurled it open and Gene rushed in, Daniel right behind him.

As Gene stormed into the living room, Steve Farmer, trying to evade Paul, ran straight toward him. Gene tackled him to the floor, then brought his fist back.

“No!” Lori yelled, stepping into view from the hall. “It’s not his fault. You need to hear him out.”

Cursing, Gene hauled Farmer up.

“He’s
not
the bad guy in all this,” Lori said quickly. “His wife’s been kidnapped, and he’s been trying to save her. We’ve got to help Steve or she’ll die.”

A
S THEY TOOK SEATS AROUND the living room, Gene finally saw the cut-up rope sections on the sofa that Steve had used to tie Lori up.

He jumped to his feet. “You tied her up?” he bellowed, moving for Steve.

Lori grabbed Gene’s arm and held him back. “It’s not important now. Someone’s life is at stake.”

“No, it
is
too late,” Steve said, tears forming in his eyes and his voice cracking. “I’m sure they either saw or heard you guys bursting in here. Sue’s as good as dead.”

“No, don’t assume that,” Lori said quickly. “The guys broke in through the
back,
so maybe the kidnappers didn’t see them. Don’t give up hope,” Lori said and quickly explained what Steve had done and why.

“How sure are you that they’re watching you?” Paul asked, going to the window and peering out through a small gap in the curtains. “I didn’t see anyone when I drove around the block or pulled up, and nobody was sitting in any of the cars parked in or around the driveways on this street.”

“They always seem to know where I’m at. They have to have someone keeping an eye on me. I often see a green pickup—a Ford 150—so maybe that’s them.”

“I’ll drive off in the van, then park in the alley and have a look around,” Paul said. “If anyone’s watching the house, I’ll spot them.”

“Be careful,” Daniel said.

As Paul walked out, Lori looked at Gene, and the tender emotions mirrored in his steady gaze took her breath away. Today, she’d seen the bear unleashed, but this other side of Gene just drew her to him even more.

“They’re out there,” Steve repeated dully.

“We’ll know soon enough,” Gene growled at him. While Daniel watched Steve, Gene took Lori’s hand and led her into the hall.

As soon as they were out of view, Gene pulled her into his arms. Covering her mouth with his, he forced her lips open and drank her in with the desperation of a man long denied.

When he eased his hold at long last, her legs nearly buckled. Her entire body was throbbing with need and awareness. “Wow,” she managed in a shaky voice. “Whatever happened to the slow-moving man I’ve come to know? First, you charge into the room, and now…that kiss…well, wow!”

“A man has only so much restraint.... After that, all bets are off.”

She bit her bottom lip and smiled slowly. “I like this side of you very much,” she whispered.

He brought her against him once again, kissing her with a force that rocked everything she’d thought she’d known about him.

“I can’t get enough of you,” he said, his breath hot on her lips.

She steadied herself by leaning against him, but before she could say or do anything, Paul came into the hall, having returned through the back.

“Okay, you two, save it for later. We’ve got a problem.”

Feeling guilty, Lori immediately moved away from Gene and focused. Steve Farmer and his wife needed their help now. This was no time for distractions of any kind.

As she and Gene joined the others in the living room, Lori saw Steve sunken down in the sofa, his eyes hollow and empty. He looked completely defeated.

“What’s happened?” she asked quickly.

“When I walked to the van I saw a green Ford pickup with two men inside parked across the street, half a block down. It wasn’t there when we arrived, so it hasn’t been there for long. I backed out into the street, and a second later, they casually drove off in the opposite direction,” Paul said. “I waited until they were out of sight, then parked in the alley. They won’t be able to see me from the street now.”

“Doesn’t matter. They’ll kill her—if they haven’t already,” Steve whispered.

“You’re not seeing things in the right light,” Paul said. “What they saw was a flower delivery man, and they drove off before I could get a look. They didn’t want anyone in the neighborhood to be able to give the cops a description of them.”

“What if they took off because they thought
you
were a cop?” Steve asked.

Paul shook his head. “A cop wouldn’t have left your house so soon and alone, then allow them to drive off without going after them.”

Steve nodded at last. “If you’re right, then maybe Sue still has a chance,” he said, then looked at Lori. “You’ve got to give me that flash drive.”

She took a deep breath, wishing with all her heart that she could have avoided telling him the truth. “Steve, I’m really sorry, but when I couldn’t get the flash drive to load up my files, I assumed it was corrupted. I threw it out, and trash pickup was the day before yesterday.”

“What?”
He jumped to his feet and stepped toward her. Gene instantly blocked his way.

“Sit down,” he snapped, grabbing Steve’s arm firmly.

Steve took a step back, then seemed to crumple into the chair. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m going out there to find them. If they’re going to kill Sue, they might as well put a bullet in me, too.”

“Don’t think like that,” Lori said. “You’re not in this alone anymore. What we have to do now is find a way to turn the tables on them.” She was scared, but she also felt a terrible sense of responsibility for what was happening to Steve and what might happen to Sue. Logically, she knew it hadn’t been her fault. She’d had no idea what was going on.

Yet when she looked at Steve now, all she could feel was sympathy. She couldn’t just sit back and hope everything would somehow turn out okay.

“Let’s start with what we know,” Lori said. “They’ve got you under surveillance, but it’s not around-the-clock, so it’s possible that they still don’t realize what’s really going on. Let’s find out for sure.”

“What do you have in mind?” Despite Steve’s weary voice, he was now sitting up a little straighter.

“We need the kidnappers to come out of hiding and I think I know a way to do that,” she said. “Steve and I will leave in the van,” Lori said, then looked at Steve. “It’s in the garage, right?”

He nodded. “It was the only way I could get you into the house without my neighbors seeing.”

“When you pull out this time, Steve, I’ll be sitting beside you, like I’m being coerced and have been convinced to cooperate. If they’re back again and watching, they’ll pick up on us,” Lori said.

“You and Steve alone? No way,” Gene said.

“Then come with us. Ride in the back and be sure to keep your head down,” she said.

Paul shook his head. “Slow down, guys. No one’s going anywhere yet. Give me a chance to get a few things together.” He met Steve’s gaze. “You’ll be wearing an ankle bracelet, so if you bolt and decide to go on solo, we’ll find you,” he said, his eyes drilling holes into him.

“After Paul returns with the gear, he and I will follow Steve’s van but stay well back,” Daniel said. “If you pick up a tail, we’ll let you know. From that point on, the objective will be to find out where they’re hiding Sue.”

Lori saw the trapped look on Steve’s face. “This will buy us some time,” she said. “If the kidnappers call, tell them that I’m taking you to where I left the flash drive. It’ll work, you’ll see.”

Daniel looked at Paul. “The next move’s yours, bro. Go get what we need. Make sure you come back with more flowers, too, as if you made a mistake on your first trip, just in case they’re back, watching.”

“Do you really think this will work?” Steve asked Lori, his tone hopeful for the first time.

“We’ll get her back, Steve,” she said. “We’re all on your side.”

Paul was gone for forty minutes and time seemed to drag, turning each second into a small eternity. With every passing moment, Steve’s panic grew.

Lori wanted to reach out to him, to help him somehow, but there was nothing she could say to him now. The thought of losing his wife was slowly killing him. As she watched Steve, she wondered if love was actually worth the aching sense of vulnerability that always seemed to go with it.

W
HEN
P
AUL RETURNED
,
HE came in through the front with another big bouquet and a shopping bag this time. Moments later, Paul removed the ankle bracelet from the bag and slipped it around Steve’s leg.

“If you run, I’ll find you,” Paul said, his eyes and voice expressionless as he activated the device. “This is necessary because you’re scared and not thinking straight. Your best hope of getting your wife back safely is to work with, not against, us. Remember that.”

“Let’s load up,” Gene said, once Paul was done. “Follow the van, guys, but be careful. Don’t get spotted.”

“We won’t,” Daniel said. “No one will see us, but we’ll be there.”

Gene, Lori and Steve went out through the kitchen into the garage and climbed into the van.

“I’ll stay back here,” Gene said, crouching down as Steve pushed the remote and opened the garage bay door.

“You had a maroon van at the beginning of all this, didn’t you?” Lori asked Steve.

“Yeah, but I traded it off in a really bad deal at one of those used-car lots out on East Main. I needed to keep you off balance.”

“I wish you’d have come to me right away,” Lori said, “but never mind. We’re on your side now and we’ll move heaven and earth to help you get Sue back safe and sound.”

“This is my fault. If I’d only applied for a job elsewhere…”

“No. Stop. This is
not
your fault. Sue’s kidnappers are the guilty ones.” Yet even as she spoke, she could tell that he didn’t believe her. “You can’t take the blame for decisions you didn’t make,” she said, thinking of what had happened between her parents as well as Steve’s present situation.

“I just want her back,” Steve said, his voice unsteady. “Have you ever been so much in love that you’d rather die than see the other person hurt?”

“Love can be the most wonderful feeling in the world,” she said, deliberately not answering his question, “but it always comes at a price.”

He nodded, but said nothing else.

Lori felt Gene’s gaze on her, but he never said a word.

Chapter Twenty

They’d been driving around for about thirty minutes when Daniel, now alone in the other van, called Gene. “You’ve got a tail. Green Ford pickup. It’s hanging back but keeping pace with you. Paul’s driving on a parallel street, and he confirmed that it’s the same one he saw earlier.”

“Let’s make sure the truck’s tailing us, not just driving on the same street,” Gene said, then told Steve to take a hard right.

A second later, Daniel spoke. “He’s still there, but neither Paul nor I can close in. There’s too much traffic at the intersection I’m at, and Paul’s a block over.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Gene said. Putting Daniel on speaker, Gene told Steve to head down the next alley between the small Spanish bakery and the tire shop. “Once we’re in there, slow down just enough for me to jump out. I’ll hide behind the trash bin while you go a little farther and park sideways, blocking the way. Then I want you to haul Lori out of the car and act as if you plan to rough her up.” He paused, then in a low voice added, “Make it look good, but if you hurt her in any way, I’ll make you wish you were never born. You get me?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Steve said.

As they drove down the alley Gene saw a line of big industrial trash bins on his left. “Once I’m out, don’t look in my direction and ignore the green Ford. Somebody else will be watching it. If all goes well, we’ll soon know where these guys are keeping your wife.”

Steve slowed enough to allow Gene to jump out. As he did, several pigeons scattered but remained on the ground as Gene ran behind the bins.