In Desperation

8

Phoenix, Arizona, Mesa Mirage

C ora’s phone rang.

All activity in her home ceased.

She held her breath and looked at Gannon.

This was the first call on her landline since she and Gannon had returned to the house with Hackett and Larson a few hours earlier. During that time a stream of agents and detectives had flowed through her door. The FBI had put a trace on her home phone to identify incoming calls.

“This call’s from the Phoenix area,” said the agent working at a computer laptop equipped to record calls.

As the agent locked on the address, an FBI hostage negotiator put on a headset to listen in. He had a clipboard and pen, ready to give Cora instructions. She looked at the negotiator. He nodded.

Her hand trembling, she answered on the third ring.

“Hello.”

“Cora, Ed at the depot. Are you coming in at all this afternoon?”

“I can’t.”

“Have you heard from Lyle yet?”

“No. Have you?”

“No, but-you sound upset, Cora. What’s going on?”

“It’s just-it’s a thing with Tilly. I’m sorry, Ed.”

“Well, we’ve got trouble. We’ve got the FBI in here with search warrants and nobody knows what the hell’s going on. We can’t reach Lyle. Have you had any luck? Do you have any idea what’s happening, Cora?”

“No, I wish I could talk but it’s a bad time.”

“Man, tell me about it.”

“Ed, I need a favor.”

“What is it?”

“If you hear from Lyle, tell him I need to talk to him now.”

“That makes two of us, kid.”

Cora hung up and thrust her face in her hands. Hackett, Larson and the dozen other law enforcement people from the FBI, the Phoenix PD’s HIKE unit, the County, the DEA and U.S. Immigration and Customs who’d joined the case, watched her for several moments before continuing their work.

When Cora regained her composure, she resumed describing the suspects to the FBI’s sketch artist, a blonde woman with red fingernails.

“The one who spoke had a Hispanic accent,” Cora said. “He had a scar along his left jawline. He had narrow eyes. He was in his mid-thirties, about five feet ten inches, one hundred and sixty pounds, slim build. The silent one was in his early thirties, about the same height, weight and build. Both had short black hair. The car was a light-colored Ford. I think maybe a Crown Victoria. It looked like the one my friend at church has.”

As the artist worked with her on the faces of the suspects, the magnitude of her daughter’s kidnapping began to sink in.

Investigators had moved fast, filling Cora’s living room with tables of equipment, including extra phone lines, GPS, radios and encrypted fax machines. She had volunteered her phone, bank and computer records, everything. They examined it all. People worked on laptops, talked softly on cell phones, drank coffee, consulted files and shared notes, while uniformed officers came and went after updating detectives. Still others continued searching her home.

So far, they’d determined that the call Cora had received at her office from the kidnappers was made on a prepaid cell phone bought with cash at a corner store in Tucson. From there, the trail went cold.

After finishing with the artist, Cora joined Gannon in the hall, watching the FBI’s evidence team. They’d finished with the kitchen and living room and were now processing Tilly’s bedroom. It was the first time Cora had looked into her room since the abduction.

Since the moment when she’d last checked on her daughter.

Cora took a deep breath as her eyes went around the room. The room where she’d tucked Tilly in, the room where she’d listened to her dreams, chased away her fears and promised to keep her safe.

Now, seeing the evidence people in there with their protective clothing and latex gloves-people who worked in the aftermath of evil touching Tilly’s most private things-felt like a violation. Yet it was eclipsed by the greater desecration committed by the monsters who’d stolen her child.

Where was Tilly? Time was slipping by.

Panic rose in Cora’s stomach and was stifled by a dog’s yelp.

Through the bedroom window she glimpsed the K-9 unit sniffing in her yard for evidence. Down the street she saw other detectives canvassing the neighborhood, interviewing people. Cora dreaded the fact that soon everyone would know what had happened. Her attention was pulled back to the living room, where Hackett was huddled with agents and detectives. Not far under the surface of the investigation, his suspicions toward her bubbled beneath his cold, insistent frown.

“Are you telling us everything we need to know?”

She had nothing to do with Tilly’s abduction and nothing to do with drugs. Cora and Tilly lived a good life. Still, Hackett’s mistrust tore at her, made her feel guilty for not knowing Lyle, for every sin of her past.

Like the secret she’d kept buried for so many years.

Did one single act, all those years back, deliver Tilly into the hands of a drug cartel now? No, it can’t be. It’s just not possible. It was so long ago. That was another life. No one must know about what I did. I have to protect Tilly.

“Excuse me.” One of the agents had follow-up questions. “Could you tell us what she was wearing when she was taken? It’s for the alert.”

After Cora described Tilly’s pajamas, and the sneakers, shirt and jeans Tilly had been carrying, the agent asked for a recent photo. She found one of Tilly taken at a friend’s birthday party.

“This was last weekend.”

There was Tilly with other eleven-and twelve-year-olds at the mall, laughing in the food court, eyes bright with innocence, on the cusp of adolescence, her whole life ahead of her.

Would she ever hold her again?

Cora then saw forensic people bagging Tilly’s old toothbrush and comb. “For DNA analysis,” someone said. She watched them process Tilly’s computer mouse for fingerprints.

Hackett approached her.

“Cora,” he said. “Were you aware of the seriousness of Quick Draw’s financial trouble?”

“Like I said, we had to cut some staff and watch costs. Lyle told me we had faced rough times but that he’d taken care of it.”

“Did you know where his influx of cash came from?”

“No, he did the books. He never showed me the company’s finances. I ran the office. He ran the company.”

Hackett took a moment to assess her answer.

“All right, in a few hours we’re going to hold a press conference and make a public appeal for Tilly and for Lyle.”

“What?” Cora said. “No! The kidnappers said they would kill her. God knows what they’ll do to Tilly when they learn I’ve gone to the police.”

“Your daughter’s life was in danger the second they stole her,” Hackett said. “We can’t deal with these people. Right now secrecy is their best weapon.”

“But we can’t have a press conference. There has to be another way!”

“There isn’t. At this time, we have no leads on your daughter’s location or safety. We have no leads on Lyle’s whereabouts. We have no leads on the suspects, or the gang involved. We have no choice, none.”

Hackett shot a glance toward Gannon.

“It could be the only way to get Tilly home,” Gannon said.

“Earl,” Larson said from down the hall. “Call from EPIC.”

Gannon’s ears pricked up. He knew EPIC was short for the El Paso Intelligence Center, the multi-agency operation at the U.S.-Mexico border that coordinated information on Mexican cartels and human smugglers.

Gannon had an idea and took it to a quiet corner of the house. Up to now, he’d been useless in the search for his niece. Using his cell phone, he called Isabel Luna in Mexico. “Isabel Luna, El Heraldo.”

“It’s Jack Gannon.” He lowered his voice. “I’m in Arizona and I need your help but this is confidential. You can’t report any of this yet.”

“Of course, Jack, we are working together.”

“An eleven-year-old girl has been kidnapped from her home in Phoenix, Arizona, by narcos. They claim a Phoenix businessman who runs a courier company stole five million dollars from them and vanished. He has five days to surface and return the money.”

“Has any of this been reported?”

“Not a word yet, but you must keep this all confidential.”

“Why the secrecy?”

“The girl is my niece.”

“Your niece? Do you know who took her?”

“No, my sister works for the man the kidnappers are trying to pressure.”

“What can I do to help you, Jack?”

“I need you to find out who might be responsible. Can you check with your sources in Juarez, see what you can dig up confidentially?”

“I will at once.”

Gannon ended the call and exhaled just as his phone rang.

“Jack, Melody in New York. Where are you and what do you have?”

“I’m in Phoenix and we have a story.”

“What is it?”

“An eleven-year-old girl has been kidnapped from her Phoenix home, likely tied to the theft of five million dollars from a cartel.”

“I’ll put it on the next news budget. You write us a first hit. We’ll need it in about thirty minutes.”

“No. We can’t write anything yet.”

“What?”

“Alert our Phoenix bureau to expect a news conference with the FBI late in the day.”

“News conference? Isn’t this our exclusive?”

“No, it’s complicated.”

“We need exclusives, Jack.”

“I know and this could lead to one. You have to trust me.”

“What’s going on?”

Since he’d already told Isabel Luna, Gannon surrendered his information to the editor he trusted most.

“The girl who’s been kidnapped is the daughter of my estranged sister, Cora-my niece. I’m sorry, but it’s complicated. I’ll explain later.”

“Good Lord. Is she okay?”

“No.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Thanks, I’ll let you know. Just trust me on this for now, please. I really have to go. I’ll call you when I know more.”

Gannon scanned the house and saw Cora on the edge of a chair, being offered water and comfort by paramedics. They’d been monitoring her vital signs from the get-go.

Watching her now, he battled his emotions.

Am I scum? His sister had called him for help. Was he being a brother and an uncle, or was he being a reporter? Why did he feel a greater obligation to his job than to Cora? Because it didn’t feel like she was his sister. At times he felt that she was a stranger. Then there were warm flashes, when he’d recognized the same gentle spirit who’d guided him when he was a boy.

His big sister, Cora.

And he wondered what their lives would’ve been like had she not run off and devastated their family. But dwelling on it made him angry. His thoughts shifted when Cora indicated that she wanted to talk to him alone.

The paramedics gave them privacy.

Cora gripped his arm.

Since this had happened, she hadn’t slept or eaten. Her eyes were reddened from tears. She pulled him closer. Her lower lip started trembling.

“Am I being punished, Jack.”

“What do you mean?”

“For my past. In the worst times of my life I had to do things to survive-awful things, Jack.”

“What things? Tell me. Maybe it will help find Tilly.”

“No, it’s not like that.”

“If it has something to do with why you cut yourself off from us, then tell me. I need to know. I deserve to know.”

“I can’t.” Her face contorted with fear. “What if I never see her again?”

“Take it easy.”

“This is not about me, not about my mistakes. It’s about my daughter.”

“I know, I know. You’re upset. Maybe you should rest.”

“You have to help me find her before it’s too late, find out who took her and bring her back!” She collapsed onto his chest.

“It’s all right,” he whispered, looking down at her. He held her until she calmed down. When the paramedics returned to check on her, Gannon met Hackett’s stare. He’d been watching.

He took Gannon aside.

“Saw you on your phone, Jack. Mind telling me who were you talking to and what you told them?”

Gannon considered his question.

“My boss needs to know where I am.”

“That right? Listen, you’d better give serious thought about your role here. For some reason, your long-lost sister thinks having you here now is important.”

“She was scared and she called me. The situation brought us together.”

“That’s fine-you’re family. But your actions could be counterproductive to our efforts. Anything you learn here is privileged. Sharing it outside the investigation could undermine our work, force us to look at excluding you from the house and consider obstruction charges. You got that?”

“Oh, I get it.”

“Good.”

“We have the same goal-the safe return of my niece.”

“As long as we’re on the same page, Jack.”

“We are-the one that says you do your job and I’ll do mine.”

Hackett glared at Gannon until a heart-stopping shriek cut through the impasse. Paramedics were struggling to stem Cora’s rising hysteria as she moaned to everyone.

“Please, bring my daughter back to me! Please!”