Searching (PAVAD- FBI Romantic Suspense Book 18) Page 26

  And teach the girls to use them. Perhaps he should find an RV or something. Take it west; if anyone asked, he could state that he was taking his girls to learn about the country while he worked over the internet. To distract them from the death of his wife. Perhaps she had died from cancer. Or a car accident.

  Something tragic that people wouldn’t expect him—or the girls—to discuss easily. He’d need to dye his hair, too. Cover the birthmark on his neck so it wasn’t so easily identified. He would have to think of some way to make an income. Two young girls would cost a fortune to raise appropriately. In spite of what had happened to their mother, he owed them a proper future.

  Maybe, in a few months, he would search out another mother for them. One with some funds of her own. He could sell insurance, or even real estate. He knew how to get into the right places to build himself an identity. There, he’d find a woman with the right background.

  Perhaps he would be fortunate and she would be a redhead this time. One who looked much like Jaclyn.

  It would just take time. And planning.

  But first, he had to get his daughters well again. And avoid being caught.

  He could not go to prison. That would just leave his daughters out there in the world alone. He had seen what that had done to his son.

  Bentley would always be his greatest failure. One for which he would never forgive himself. His son was all alone out there now, among wolves larger and stronger and meaner than he could ever hope to be.

  He had had no idea how to fix that, to get Bentley out of that place.

  Until he’d learned that was the means by which Lytel and the others were planning to control him if he’d failed.

  And there was nothing he could do to fix it.

  He would not let his daughters suffer the same fate.

  85

  Jac knew the instant each team checked in that this was going to be another wasted endeavor. Max’s team was the first to check in. They’d gone to the most likely place.

  Nothing.

  She looked at Dani next to her. “We need to regroup, reevaluate. What if he wouldn’t stay close to here? What if he’d cut his losses, take his wads of cash, and run?”

  “What about the girls? Would he take them with him?”

  Jac thought for a moment. Thought about every movement he’d made in front of her, every word she had heard him say. How controlling he had been with Rachel and his daughters, how he had seemed to want approval from the most popular fathers at Max’s house that day. “I think he would. He visited Bentley weekly, according to social services records. He wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t felt some connection to his son. He has been a reasonably active father in the girls’ lives. Maybe he’s taking them and running.”

  “But once again…the magic question is, where would Philip/Paul go?”

  “He feels threatened. He has to know people are hunting him. Maybe Rachel was accidental—though I’m leaning premeditated, considering his past history—and now he has two small girls with him. Children are harder to hide at times than adults. Harder to keep secret. He’ll need a vehicle. We have him connected to two SUVs in the Sturvin name and a rental. Miranda and her new buddy confirmed that earlier.”

  Jac and Dani went over everything again and again, looking for some small key, some small detail to tell them where and how to find Paul. They kept at it until Max and the rest of the teams made it back to the conference room.

  Frustration was almost palpable. Max’s face was tight, and his shoulders tensed.

  And he was the most relaxed of the group.

  “No signs of Sturvin or anyone at any of those three places,” Max said, coming up behind her. Jac watched him over her shoulder. “We miscalculated.”

  “We need to get more people going over Sturvin’s online searches,” Jac said, feeling sick at the idea they had to start back at the beginning. “He’s fleeing. He’s going to go where he feels comfortable.”

  “Maybe. Or is he smart enough to know that’s exactly how we’ll track him?” Max asked. He X-ed off the three cabins that had been searched. He turned to the man who’d entered behind him. “Lytel, we have two more cabins here. Can you send teams to clear each one?”

  “Not going yourself?” Barnes asked. “Why?”

  “Time. If the other cabins are abandoned as well, we would lose hours.”

  “Hours we can’t afford to lose”,” Jac added. “We’re approaching the forty-eight-hour window now. Once we hit that, our chances are finding the girls safely are cut drastically.”

  “We’ll do. Barnes? Want to ride along? See how it’s done by the experts?” Lytel asked.

  Barnes actually paled. But he nodded. “Let’s go.”

  86

  The last thing Todd wanted to be doing right now was a ride-along with Eugene Lytel. The man made his skin crawl.

  “Who all is going with us?” Todd asked quietly. There were four men in full tactical gear walking ahead of them. Todd didn’t know who they were; he assumed they were just members of Lytel’s auxiliary team.

  He was damned sure he was walking into enemy territory now.

  His only comfort was that Lytel thought Todd was on his side.

  “People I can trust.” Lytel looked right at him. It felt like he was peering right into Todd’s soul, seeing the guilt for the text he’d sent hours ago. Todd forced himself to act cool. To not do anything too stupid. “If we get the opportunity tonight, Sturvin’s to be taken out. The man knows just too much.”

  The men in front of him had heard Lytel. And hadn’t reacted. They were probably as dirty as Lytel was.

  Todd’s stomach clenched. He just nodded. The man was telling him to commit murder. Like they were discussing taking out the trash. Either commit it himself, or sit back and watch it happen. Let it happen.

  That it was a child killer who was targeted made little difference. Todd was just supposed to watch it happen.

  Then walk away. So that Lytel would have Todd in his pocket, right where he wanted him.

  To Lytel that was probably exactly what they were talking about.

  Todd used every bit of his training to keep himself from looking like a total asshole. Or a coward.

  First chance he got, he was going to go to Dennis, confess his sins. He wasn’t about to keep getting deeper and deeper into this.

  Not with innocent people dying. He had his own code of honor; murder had no place in it.

  Lytel ordered him to stay close. Todd remained in the command post, in the van with Lytel’s own computer tech. The guy barely looked at Todd.

  It was a wasted trip. He knew it when Lytel radioed back. He didn’t let his relief show.

  The instant he was getting back to the PAVAD building, he was going to go to Max Jones and confess. See if that guy would run interference for him with the director.

  He was going to do the right thing. First chance he got.

  87

  Ava needed medical attention. She wasn’t getting better, and he suspected the respiratory virus was triggering her asthma. He didn’t know what to do. If he took her to the hospital, it was over for him. He’d be arrested and taken away from the girls in an instant.

  They’d become wards of the state.

  He couldn’t do that again. He couldn’t live with losing his children again; not into that horrific system that was destroying Bentley. His beautiful, wonderful, almost perfect children. Three of them. He still had three beautiful children living. His legacy for the world was secure.

  His mark would be left.

  He had to take some solace in that. In knowing that at least he wouldn’t be forgotten.

  When the time was right, he was returning for Bentley. Going to get his son and raise him with the girls. Raise him properly. It was his duty to his child. To Holly’s child.

  Bentley was all that was left of Holly, too.

  Ava coughed again. She wheezed. It terrified him. None of the cold medicines were working, and her rescue inhal
er was almost empty. He used it and prayed. She’d ended up in the hospital more than a dozen times with the wheezing.

  Life on the run was no kind of life for her, not with her regular need for medical treatment. Not her, she just wasn’t strong enough yet.

  He held her until the coughing and wheezing finally stopped and she slept curled up against his chest.

  He carried her to the window; it had always soothed her to be carried around when she didn’t feel well. Olivia was snoring softly in the bed, congested and feverish but not as ill as Ava, snuggled with the new stuffed animal he had bought her. He’d just wanted to distract the girls from the horrible news he’d given them tonight.

  They hadn’t known Rachel had died. Thank God Debbie hadn’t told them.

  That had left him free to tell them exactly what he wanted them to hear.

  As far as his girls would ever know, the mother who had adored them had died falling down the hallway stairs. Their mother’s aunt had died when the car had run off the road—because she had just been too sad to focus on driving safely. He’d told the girls Rachel and Debbie were angels watching over them now.

  Now, their father was there, and he would always take care of them. But…the loss of their mother made him too sad to go back home right now.

  Ava had believed him. But Olivia…he didn’t know if Olivia believed him at all.

  Paul stood at the window for the longest time, just holding his daughter, as the fever raged her tiny body.

  He had to help her. He just had to.

  Paul looked at the little girl still sleeping on the bed. Olivia was waking, but Ava…she was almost comatose. He had to do something. To end this for his daughters.

  Paul told Olivia to stay where she was while he gathered everything they’d carried into the cheap motel room. Within ten minutes, he had the car he’d taken from his biological mother’s home loaded.

  He returned for his daughters.

  Paul scooped his youngest into his arms and ordered her older sister to follow him.

  It was time he did what he had to do.

  His daughters were counting on him.

  Paul was going to be the father his children deserved.

  The sun was just rising, illuminating the damned arch over the city, as he turned the car south.

  Toward an address he had memorized weeks ago.

  There was only one thing he could think to do now.

  88

  Nat had always risen before the sun. It was just a natural thing for her. Especially after nearly sleepless nights. The idea that two little girls were missing and she was unable to help guaranteed she would have nightmares.

  She had too many memories of being left in the woods with only Jac to count on to rest when Olivia and Ava were still out there.

  Nat was just finishing her shower when she heard the first sound. She had a house a few miles south of the city. She had wanted enough land for Kudos and Karma to have room to play—where she’d have acreage to train them daily. Jac’s new place was closer to PAVAD. Nat had wanted to be closer to the building—chances were good search and rescue was going to be called out again very soon.

  She’d checked in with Dan Reynolds, the CCU coordinator, before retiring last night. He’d told her the teams were going out searching cabins. Cabins meant woods. Terrain.

  Critical search teams, where time was of the essence. Anything she could do to be ready and get there sooner. Including resting and being ready when the call came.

  She’d cleared it with her sister; Jac had given her the spare key the day her sister had taken possession of the house—for this very reason.

  Kudos liked to romp around Jac’s backyard whenever they stayed over. Karma was more about following Nat at all times. Just watching, with her kind ways.

  Nat smiled, stopping on her way to the kitchen to rub over the sweet girl’s head. Karma just licked her palm and waited for Nat to speak to her.

  Kudos barked from the backyard. Not exactly something that was all that unusual. He was a bit of a loudmouth. Nat usually just ignored it.

  Until he just kept barking. Whining.

  Nat ran. She didn’t have shoes on, but that didn’t matter. There were callouses aplenty on her soles. Kudos was in trouble. There wasn’t anything Nat wouldn’t do to protect him.

  Those weren’t ordinary sounds out of her boy. Nat knew the difference.

  Nat bolted into her sister’s backyard, her weapon clutched in her hand.

  There was a patio, one her sister had big plans for, and she jumped off the eighteen-inch platform and rounded the side of the house. She could hear him barking.

  Loud. Like he’d seen a threat.

  He was a search and rescue dog, but he was very protective of her. If something was out there that made him feel unsafe, he would react. He would protect.

  He looked vicious doing it, though at heart he was the most sensitive dog she had ever worked with.

  She yelled his name. The barking got more excited.

  A car door slammed nearby. Loud. An engine revved. Her mind automatically cataloged everything over the barking. The crying.

  Crying.

  That wasn’t her dog making that noise.

  A car drove off. Nat stared at the car, burning it into her memory. There was a man in the driver’s seat, but he was too far away for her to see anything other than that.

  Nothing identifying, except the first three digits on the license plate number—CH5.

  A maroon four-door family sedan, possibly from the early 2000s. With darkened windows on the rear.

  Kudos ran back toward her, around the corner of the house. To the side door.

  Nat hurried after him. The crying had gotten louder. And louder. There was something behind one of the hedges. Something moving. Kudos hunkered down on his front legs, whining. Nat called him back to her side.

  He obeyed immediately.

  That’s when she saw the blanket. Pink and mint green. With yellow-and-cream accents. She looked closer.

  It had puppies printed on it, yellow-and-cream puppies.

  The blanket was still, for the longest time. Then she saw it—movement. A wiggle.

  There was something in that bundle.

  Nat switched the gun to safety and tucked it out of sight.

  With a careful hand she flipped the blanket back. In a previous case she’d worked, an ex-husband had left poisonous snakes on his wife’s stoop—wrapped up in a blanket. Nat wasn’t stupid.

  Anything could be in that blanket.

  Something sobbed. And she knew.

  She went down on her haunches.

  “Hello. My name is Nat, and I’m here to help you.”

  89

  He’d managed to catch four hours of sleep, a shower, something to eat, and a five-minute phone call with Emery before Max rejoined the rest of the team in the conference room. Whit had taken over for him sometime around three a.m.

  Jac was sprawled out on the small loveseat pushed against a wall. Max’s own suit coat covered her. She’d changed clothes and cleaned up sometime since he’d last seen her. Max hoped she’d grabbed something to eat, too.

  He stood over her, just watching her for a quick moment.

  Whit looked up at him. “Hey, boss. She’s been out for a few hours.”

  “I don’t think she’s had more than three hours since…” Max checked his watch. “The night Rachel was killed. And she’d just gotten back from a case before that.”

  “Jac was about to crash sooner or later, then. Not that it’s been a power nap. She’s flipped and flopped like crazy. Worse than I’ve seen her do it before.”

  “She is a restless sleeper, especially when she’s stressed. Worried.” They’d all grabbed catnaps wherever they could when working together before. It was just a nature of the game.

  He would have said more, but his phone buzzed. Jac’s buzzed nearby, too. Max grabbed his quickly, and tossed Jac’s to Whit as Jac sat up with a jerk.

  “It�
��s the director,” Whit said as he looked at the screen.

  “I can take it,” Jac said. Whit tossed the phone to her immediately.

  Max stepped across the room and took his own call from Dan Reynolds.

  When he looked up, his eyes met Jac’s green ones. His shock was echoed on her face.

  “Let’s go,” Max said. “I’ll drive.”

  “What in the hell has happened now?” Whit asked.

  Max didn’t have a clue.

  90

  They chose to send Eugene Lytel to secure Jac’s place. Jac had one thought as Max drove. “We have Ava. What has he done with Olivia?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Ava might,” Jac remembered Nat at four. Jac had been seven. Just like Ava and Olivia. Nat had always been tiny, vulnerable. Jac had been taking care of her Nat’s entire life. “We’re going to have to question her.”

  “She’ll never make a reliable witness.”

  “No, but she might be able to give us a direction to go in.” Fear for both girls was still uttermost in her mind.

  The director had told her that Nat had called for an ambulance, that Ava was definitely in need of medical care. But he hadn’t known more than that.

  “I’m just thankful Nat was there,” Jac said. “She wanted to stay closer to PAVAD, in case we needed to move quickly. She was on call, anyway.”

  “Yes. If she hadn’t been at your place, would a neighbor have found Ava?”

  “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. But Nat was there, and that’s what matters. And now…we’ll find Olivia and Paul/Philip. Go from there. But we have Ava. We’ll take that as the gift that it is.”

  “Yes. That’s all we can do now.”

  “He has my address. Why would he take her there?” Jac tried to figure it out. But the idea that he had taken Ava to her house didn’t fit anything they’d profiled about Paul Sturvin/Philip Sullivan at all. “Why would he have that? I gave it to Rachel. Not him. I wrote that Post-it note myself.”