The Lost Girls

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Siobhan woke up at four that morning after nearly five solid hours of sleep. She didn’t want to get up-the bed was the most comfortable she’d ever slept in, with smooth sheets and a thick down comforter. She sighed, stretched, then relaxed and checked her phone for messages. One from her editor she’d been ignoring for days. He wanted to know what she was working on. She wasn’t-she hadn’t been doing much of anything since she got the call from Father Sebastian about the locket. She’d planned to visit a Habitat for Humanity site in El Paso-they were building a series of town houses that would eventually house twelve families. Each of the families was required to help, and Siobhan wanted to explore their stories in a photo journal of the entire project.

She liked to think her mom would have been proud of the path she’d chosen. Siobhan’s mother, Iona, had planned to be a nun from when she was little. The Sisters of Mercy didn’t require their members go through a convent, though most were nuns, but they required a three-year commitment and a devout lifestyle. It was at the end of the three years that Iona had met Andrew Walsh… but she didn’t want to leave her work.

Siobhan’s dad loved them, he wanted to marry Siobhan’s mother, but Iona didn’t want to settle in the States. She wanted to continue doing what she felt God called her to do. She never once called Siobhan’s birth a mistake, though considering Iona and Andrew weren’t married until Siobhan was five, the pregnancy was certainly unplanned. It was that year, when Siobhan was five, that Iona took a year off from the sisters and brought Siobhan to the States. She’d met her half sister Andie, her half brother Bobby-who was already in the Marines-and they lived on a horse farm in Virginia. Siobhan loved it. The house, her family, the horses, that she had her own room! She’d didn’t want to leave, but she didn’t want her mother to leave, either.

Siobhan didn’t know exactly what happened between her parents, but they got married that summer and then Iona took Siobhan back to Mexico to work with the sisters. Her father visited for two weeks each year, wherever Iona was working, and Siobhan spent a month every summer in the States-but Iona never joined her. Her dad wrote to her often, and Siobhan took photos of everything that interested her and sent them to him. When Siobhan turned fourteen her mother said that she could choose-to go to school in the States or stay with the sisters.

Siobhan chose the States. She missed her father. She liked living a missionary life-she knew how to grow crops, deliver a baby, treat almost any injury, and she was the best fisherman among the sisters, much to the frustration of Sister Bernadette who had taught her. Her mother taught her English and even some Gaelic; she learned Spanish from the sisters and the locals; she taught English to the younger kids. Sister Gretchen, from Germany, had been a physicist before she got her calling. Siobhan learned math up to calculus by the time she was fourteen because Sister Gretchen was such a great teacher.

But Siobhan missed her dad. She wanted to experience more-the States, movie theaters, limitless books. She wanted to talk to people and see what they were like. She wanted to go to museums and see a big city and not be scared anymore.

Because for all the joy the missionary life gave her, there was fear. Great fear. Of men with guns, of the cartels, of corrupt police and executions.

She’d learned that fear came in all shapes and sizes; that the grass was always greener on the other side of the border, but in the dark of night you had to know in your heart that you were on your path, not the path forged for you by someone else. It wasn’t until her father died, joining her mother in Heaven, that she searched her soul, searched her heart, and knew what she should do. And the last ten years-through violence, through illness, through heartbreak-she had a deep inner peace because she was on the journey she was meant to be. It wasn’t the path of her mother, or her father; it was her own.

When the digital clock changed to five o’clock, Siobhan got out of the warm, soft bed and dressed in layers as she habitually did. Lucy had been kind enough to let her use her laundry room, so she pulled all her things out of the dryer and repacked her lone backpack. It was durable, military grade, and could hold far more than it appeared from the size.

But she felt naked and lost without her camera.

It wasn’t just the cost of the equipment. It was state of the art, for certain, and it would be difficult and costly to replace, but without her camera she felt incomplete. She’d had a camera since she was five years old; she itched to hold one right now.

She walked down the hall to the light in the kitchen. Lucy was there, pouring herself coffee. Siobhan had been thrilled to finally meet the girl who’d won Sean’s heart, but she wished it could have been under better circumstances.

“Coffee?” Lucy offered.

“Thank you. Black.” She used to drink it with cream and sugar, but when she was on the road with the sisters, she couldn’t be guaranteed either, so she grew used to drinking it black. Fresh-brewed coffee itself was a luxury-she really despised the instant kind. “Well, maybe just a sprinkle of sugar.”

She sat down and looked around the kitchen. “This is really a terrific house. And the neighborhood is so quiet. I get itchy when I’m in a city after living so many years in the middle of nowhere, but this doesn’t feel like San Antonio.”

“It’s an established neighborhood. Sean picked it out.” Lucy put the coffee in front of Siobhan and sat across from her. “I thought it’d be too big, but we’ve had a lot of company. Kane stayed here for three weeks after his surgery.”

“I’m glad he took time off-I was afraid he’d go right back into the trenches. He’s not getting any younger.”

“I think he realized that.”

“Sean has always been there for Kane, but Kane is hard to get close to.” That was an understatement. Siobhan wanted to throttle him half the time and kiss him the other half. Kiss him? She wanted to do a lot more than kiss him.

But Kane was stubborn. Stubborn with a capital S.

“How long have you known the family?” Lucy asked, sipping her own coffee.

“Forever,” she said. “Andie, my half sister, was Kane’s commanding officer when he enlisted. I was a kid, didn’t meet him until I was seventeen and Andie was awarded a Purple Heart and a Medal of Honor for saving her unit and a bunch of civilians. Kane was at the ceremony, came back to the house. He reminded me of Bobby, my half brother. He’d been killed in Afghanistan the year before, and Andie missed him tremendously. I thought for the longest time that Kane and Andie were involved, but they’re just friends.” She didn’t know much about her sister’s private life. All she knew was that she’d been in love once and he’d died. She never talked about it, and Siobhan didn’t ask.

Then seven years later, Siobhan saw Kane again. Under far more dangerous circumstances than a party at the house.

“Anyway,” Siobhan said, shaking off the memories, “I started college in Virginia, then went to Ireland. I had no intention of going back to the Sisters of Mercy. My mom died when I was fifteen, after nearly twenty years of serving, and I didn’t have the same calling. But… well, long story short, I’ve always loved photography. There’s something the camera sees that we don’t. The sisters’ numbers were shrinking, they had fewer resources. I’d been working for National Geographic and traveling all over the world and I loved it. Then Sister Bernadette reached out to me. She asked if I would join the sisters for six months and help rebuild a village that had been destroyed in a flood. I could take pictures and document their work, bring attention to the plight of these small communities, and also help the sisters with their fund-raising. It was the least I could do, after having lived my first fourteen years with them. That was ten years ago. Now I spend three or four months each year with the sisters. The rest of the time I travel through Mexico and South America, primarily, freelancing for a couple magazines. National Geographic, Life, Photography, whatever I can sell to. Sometimes the Times if I can get a good Sunday feature story worked out. It’s a good balance for me.”

Sean walked in. “You were up early, Lucy,” he said.

Lucy leaned up and kissed him. “You didn’t sleep well last night. I thought I’d let you sleep longer.”

Sean took out a pan and started preparing scrambled eggs. He got out tortillas, sausage, salsa, and cheese. “Spicy or sane,” Sean asked Siobhan.

She laughed. “Spicy.”

Sean moaned. “You and Lucy. It’s a wonder your taste buds aren’t fried by now.”

“You don’t have to cook,” Lucy said. “We can get something at Starbucks.”

“Sit. At least you’ll have one good meal today.”

“You’re not hearing me complain,” Siobhan said.

Sean left for a minute, then returned with a small black bag and put it in front of Siobhan. “It’s not what you lost, but it should work until you can replace your camera.”

“What?” Siobhan stared at the bag, then looked at Sean.

“Open it.”

Lucy crossed over to Sean and kissed him. “You’re amazing,” she said.

Siobhan opened the bag case. Inside was a digital camera. Almost as nice as the one she’d lost. “I can’t take this.”

“It’s a loan, until you get yours replaced. Seriously, I rarely use it. I configured it like your old one, so it should work with your phone app.”

Siobhan jumped up and hugged first Sean, then Lucy, then Sean again. She blinked back tears. “You guys are so, so… wonderful. Thank you.”

There was a beep at the door that startled Siobhan. “What’s that?”

“Our security system.” Sean typed in a code on a small tablet that was attached to the wall. “Oh, he has the code.”

“You gave Noah the house code?” Lucy asked.

“Of course not. Kane.”

Siobhan froze. “Kane’s here?”

“Yes I am,” a deep voice behind her said.

Her heart raced as she whirled around to face him.

Kane looked like he always did-hard, handsome, rough around the edges. He’d lost weight, and he’d never been overweight. His jaw was still square, firm, defiant. He had a touch of gray at his temples. His dark hair was still short, but a little longer than the military cut he usually kept. He wore khakis and a black T-shirt. He dropped his duffel bag just outside the kitchen entry.

He stared at her, his dark-blue eyes unreadable because he was good at shutting down his emotions.

I’ve always loved you, Kane.

She had, from that day when she rescued the little girl and he saved them both. He was impossible, arrogant, condescending, loyal, and brave. He cared more than he showed, more than he could say, about the plight of others. He acted, always acted, to stop bad people from hurting innocents. He didn’t want to care, he said he didn’t, but she saw that those who talked cared less than those who acted.

Kane didn’t talk much.

He could deny his attraction until his last breath, and she wouldn’t believe him. She’d spent too much time with him, on and off, over the years. She knew he loved her. Knew it as deeply as she knew the truth about her own feelings. He would come to accept the truth-though seeing him now, after what happened after his surgery, how he’d ordered her to leave as if she were one of his soldiers… that had hurt. She tried to tell herself it didn’t, but it had. How was she going to get through to him?

“Just in time for breakfast,” Lucy said, breaking the awkward silence.

“Seems you’re not surprised to see me,” Siobhan said to Kane.

“I’m not.” He didn’t elaborate. What did he know about the baby? Marisol and Ana? She opened her mouth to ask, but he cut her off.

“We need to leave, Sean.”

“Breakfast first,” Sean said.

Siobhan frowned, looked from Kane to Sean and back again. Silent communication.

Lucy took Sean’s hand and pulled him from the room. Siobhan glanced over her shoulder, wistful. They loved each other and told each other often. They didn’t stop touching. The little things. Sean brushing by her shoulder, planting a light kiss on her lips. Lucy rubbing his biceps. They couldn’t pass each other without physical contact. Why couldn’t she have that? Why did she have to fight for everything?

Kane took over where Sean left off and slipped Siobhan a breakfast burrito. Then he pulled out aluminum foil as if he knew the kitchen well and made two burritos to go for him and Sean. He dished up the remainder of the food for Lucy, put it on the island, and popped a bottle of hot sauce next to her plate.

“I like her,” Siobhan said, hating the silence between them.

“She’s one of the best.”

“From you, high praise.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, Siobhan.”

She bristled. “Don’t start.”

“You were arrested.” He turned around and stared at her. There was a flash in his eyes, heat and ice, and she almost couldn’t speak.

“I did what had to be done. You would have done the same.”

“I would never have been caught.”

“I’m just not as good as you then,” she snipped. “Where are you and Sean off to? Someone disappeared in Mexico, Sean said?”

Kane opened his mouth, then closed it. He glanced over Siobhan’s shoulder, and for a moment Siobhan saw indecision on his face. Kane was never indecisive.

“Businessman disappeared with his son,” he said. “Friend of Sean’s.”

Kane put the breakfast burritos and several water bottles into a small cooler and zipped it up. He was about to walk out when Siobhan reached out and touched him.

“Kane.”

“Good-bye.”

“I meant what I said three months ago, and if you think I’ve forgotten, you’re an idiot. I certainly know you haven’t.”

He walked out.

“Well, dammit, that didn’t go well,” she muttered and ate her breakfast.

Kane drove, which irked Sean-he much preferred driving.

“You didn’t tell me Siobhan was at your house.”

“Problem?”

No answer.

“She was pretty shaken last night. What was I supposed to do, tell Lucy to leave her in Laredo after her motel room was ransacked?”

“Why didn’t she call us?” Kane said.

It took Sean a full minute to understand what Kane was talking about. “You mean, why did she call Rick and not JT?”

“The feds are ill equipped to handle this situation.”

Sean had second-well, tenth-thoughts on leaving Lucy this week. “Lucy told me about the case.”

“She doesn’t know the half of it.”

That angered Sean. “Then give her something. She trusts you, Kane. If you keep something important from her because of some stupid jealousy thing, that’s on you.”

“This has nothing to do with jealousy, little brother. I talked to Rick. This isn’t sex trafficking. It’s black-market babies.”

“Lucy is good at her job. She already figured it out.”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t.”

“What’s with you and Siobhan?”

“She finds trouble. Actively seeks it out. If she had a lead on the missing sisters, she should have contacted RCK. Rick chose his side long ago. He’s good, but he and his people can’t do what needs to be done.”

Sean’s phone rang, cutting off this infuriating conversation. He glanced down and swore under his breath before answering. “Madison.”

“Where are you? What’s going on?”

“I told you last night that Kane and I were leaving first thing in the morning.”

“And I told you I need to come with you!”

“And I said no. Go back to California, Madison. There is nothing you can do except slow us down. If you hear from Carson or Jesse, call me at this number. Otherwise, I don’t want to hear from you at all.”

“Sean-don’t be like this.”

That was rich, coming from a woman who’d lied to him for thirteen years. Lies of omission were still lies. “I’m serious. If I need something, I’ll call.” He hung up. “Don’t say anything.”

Kane didn’t speak. Sean was angry, but more angry with himself. He had wanted to talk to Lucy, but when? In front of Siobhan? Wake her up in the middle of the night? Damn, he couldn’t sleep most of the night, but he must have crashed late because he hadn’t even heard Lucy get up.

He was embarrassed by his past behavior. His irresponsibility. Angry at Madison for keeping this secret. Worried about Jesse, a kid he didn’t know, depending on a man he thought of as his father who was a criminal. Sean wanted his son in his life, but what would he say when he met the kid? I’m your dad, I love you.

And he felt selfish and then guilty for feeling that way. Why did this have to happen now? Why six weeks before his wedding? Why couldn’t this have happened two years ago, before he met Lucy? Or in two months, after they were married and back from their honeymoon.

There was no good time to be told you had a half-grown child.

“You didn’t tell her, did you?”

How did Kane know things he shouldn’t know?

“There wasn’t time.”

“Call her.”

“I’m not telling her over the damn phone.” And that was that, subject dropped.

Kane turned into the small private airport that Sean used. They checked in with the desk, filed a flight plan that was as vague as they could get away with, and Kane walked over to the edge of a runway. “Wow. Nice ride. Where’d you get it?” Sean couldn’t help but admire the Piper Seneca.

“Friend of JT’s. He knows everyone, and everyone seems to owe him a favor.”

“Who else knows?”

“I haven’t told anyone, but the kid looks just like you, Sean. JT didn’t ask. He didn’t have to.”

“I fucked this up.”

“You did shit. This is on Madison. What you do from this moment forward is on you.”

Sean said, “I’m flying.”

“Good, because I didn’t sleep last night.”

Sean got himself familiar with the Seneca. He asked Kane, “You talked to Rick-what does he know about the situation in Laredo?”

“Nothing more than Armstrong and Lucy know. I gave him information about my search for the girls when they first disappeared. The guy they worked for is clean. Believe me, I pushed. He gave me access to his employees, I found a few lowlifes, but no one with ties to the girls or to trafficking. I tracked law enforcement, they didn’t find anything-no bodies have popped up that could be the girls.” He paused. “I know they were grabbed in the middle of the night. Their roommates were paid off by some lowlife to disappear. I think they’re dead.”

“Siobhan didn’t tell me that.”

“She doesn’t know because it led nowhere. I tracked down the lowlife. Throat slit. Whoever he was working for took care of loose threads.”

Sean hesitated. As if Kane could read his mind, he said, “Rick-and you-vouch for Armstrong. And I planted some seeds in Rick’s head that they may want backup they can trust down there, that this case could either disappear with no leads or blow wide open.”

“Nate.”

Sean would feel better if Nate was watching Lucy’s back.

“I could send in my people, but we’re spread thin right now. Partly because I’ve been out of commission. Let’s get your kid back on US soil and then we can both be involved.”

“Lucy absorbs everything. These investigations-yes, she’s good, I trust her, but she can lose herself.”

“You love her. I get it.” Kane closed his eyes. “It’s why I don’t get involved.”

“You don’t? Really?” Sean would have laughed if he weren’t so worried. “Then what was that thing with Siobhan in my kitchen?”

Kane didn’t respond. Typical.

Sean finished getting himself familiar with the plane so he could take her up.

Madison McAllister Spade paced the hotel room. How could she go back to California when her son was missing? When her husband wouldn’t return her calls? When her entire world was falling apart and she could do not one thing to stop it?

She had never wanted Sean Rogan to know about Jesse. In a perfect world, she would have stood up to her father and told Sean from the beginning… or, maybe not. She’d been nineteen. Sean wasn’t even eighteen when they were dating, though he was far more mature, and a lot more fun, than anyone her age. They’d been silly and stupid and she knew exactly when they conceived Jesse. Four weeks before Sean was expelled, the first weekend after classes started, Sean had flown them to Las Vegas, bought quality fake IDs, and they gambled and drank and went to shows for two amazing nights. Sean had won a huge amount of money at blackjack, and she suspected he was counting cards-he was that good. And it was that weekend he’d told her about the professor who had child porn on his computer.

She’d told him to turn the professor over to the university. Then he admitted that he’d hacked the computer to play a prank on the guy because he was a jerk and that’s when he found the videos.

“They won’t care about that-if he has child pornography, you might get a slap on the wrist.”

“I think they’ll bury it. Remember the fraternity that was accused of feeding girls mickeys at that blowout party last spring? Slap on the wrist because no one could prove who was behind it. Big institutions want to make problems disappear. Then there’s the fact that he’s a tenured professor.”

“Sean-what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet. But I’m going to expose him, one way or the other.”

What would she have done if Sean hadn’t been expelled? If she didn’t have an excuse to keep her pregnancy secret? Would she have stood up to her father and told Sean about the baby? Would she have expected a wedding? A commitment? He hadn’t loved her. Not then. Maybe he could have learned to…

She could lie to herself all she wanted, but he didn’t love her like she loved him, and she didn’t want to be the burden. The girl who had to get married. The girl who roped a guy into a family. They had fun, and that’s all it was. He was smart and exciting, he treated her very well, he was considerate… but he didn’t love her.

As it was, she’d left school after the semester ended, before she started to show, and transferred to UCLA. Because even though Sean went to Stanford for only a year, he had made a lot of friends. She didn’t keep in touch with any of them. She rebuilt her life in LA.

She’d gone through a litany of emotions from grief to embarrassment to anger to sorrow. She considered an abortion-had even made an appointment-but in the end, she couldn’t keep it. This baby was part of her, and deep down she knew that no matter what her father thought of Sean Rogan, he had good genes. He was attractive and smart. He was a genius. If she’d gone to a sperm bank and checked the boxes of what she wanted in a donor, Sean Rogan would have been at the top of the list.

Carson Spade was the opposite of Sean in so many ways, though just as handsome and just as endearing. But Carson wasn’t wild. He was five years older than her, stalwart, a businessman who cared about image and status. She wanted to tell herself she didn’t care about those things, but that would be a lie. She did because her father expected it. He wanted the whole package, not just money, but stature, respect, respectability. Carson Spade was everything her father wanted in a son-in-law, so when they started dating a year after Jesse was born, he’d gone from boyfriend to fiancé in a matter of months. He loved Jesse as if he were his own son. And that was one of the reasons Madison loved Carson. He loved Jesse unconditionally. He didn’t care who his father was, and didn’t hold it against her for keeping the information from Sean.

It wasn’t until Jesse was eight and came to them with some simple addition and subtraction that they told him the truth-at least, part of the truth. That Carson wasn’t his biological father, but he loved him as much as if he were.

Madison put her hand to her stomach. She felt sick. She should never have told Jesse that his father hadn’t wanted him. She should never have told Jesse that his father was a wild college boy and she’d had a lapse in judgment. That it had been a one-night stand. She didn’t say that, exactly-she had to phrase it so an eight-year-old would understand-but Jesse got it.

She just hadn’t expected that Sean and Jesse would ever meet.

Her phone rang. It was a blocked number, but she answered it immediately.

“Hello?”

“Mom?”

“Jesse! Oh God, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom. Sorry I didn’t call sooner, we couldn’t get a signal. Dad wants to talk to you.”

There were muffled voices, then Carson came on the phone. He said to Jesse in the background, “Go grab me a bottled water, will you please, Jess? Then you can talk to your mom again.”

A second later Carson said in a low voice, “Madison, what have you done?”

“What have I done? You disappeared with our son! I waited at the airport, thinking you missed your flight, but you didn’t call, didn’t text. You weren’t on any plane and you checked out on Saturday. I have no idea where you’ve been for three days! What the hell is going on, Carson? Why haven’t you returned my calls?”

“Stop. Please, Madison. Just calm down.”

“Calm down?”

“You panicked. You’re putting us all in danger. Someone has been sniffing around, a PI making calls. Did you hire someone to find me?”

“Yes! Yes I did because I thought you were kidnapped or… or worse.”

“Dear God, Madison, you’re going to get us all killed! Call them off.”

Madison sank down into the hotel desk chair. Killed? Killed? This could not be happening. What was her husband doing?

“Are you being held? For ransom? Do they want money? I have money-my dad-”

“No, Madison, nothing like that! Jeez, girl, your imagination is out of control. This is just business.”

“This is not just business! Carson, tell me, or I swear, I’ll send an army after you.”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle. Just a little money problem. I’m fixing it, and then we’ll be on the next flight home. But you have got to call off the dogs. Right now. You’ll freak out people we don’t want to freak out. You’re lucky I found out about it before my employer did.”

“I cannot believe this, Carson.” Madison was going to hyperventilate. She could feel it building and tried to force herself to calm down. Panicking was not going to get her son back. “You have my son in the middle of something this dangerous?”

“It’s not dangerous! Just someone else’s mistake I need to fix. Trust me, Madison. I love you, I love Jesse. This is just a small glitch and I’m the only one who can fix it. Nothing is going to happen to him, but you’re panicking, and that’s not good for any of us.”

“You should have told me from the beginning. You should never have brought Jesse down there.”

“I’m taking a risk calling you now. If everything goes right, I’ll be done here by Thursday, Friday at the latest.”

“Where are you?”

“Honey, I’d tell you, but right now you’re not thinking straight, and the last thing I need is you showing up here. Or sending a damn PI after me. Call him off. I mean it. I love you, Maddie.”

He hung up. He hung up on her!

She was torn. Carson was obviously in the middle of something potentially dangerous, which put Jesse in danger. But she’d just spoken to both of them, and they sounded fine. They were alive, they were healthy, Jesse didn’t sound like anything was wrong. She wanted Sean to bring her son back… but she didn’t want to get her husband hurt.

“How could you do this to me?” she screamed in the silence of her hotel room.

She had to trust Carson. They had celebrated their tenth anniversary in April. She loved him. Her father respected him. He’d provided for her, took another man’s son as his own, helped her build her own business-antiques, something she loved and was good at. She had a life and Carson and Jesse were a part of that life. They were her life.

Coming to Sean Rogan was a mistake. Carson was right, she’d panicked. Why had she even come here? What had she hoped to gain?

Because you hadn’t spoken to your husband and son in three days and Carson lied to you.

Damn damn damn!

Why hadn’t she called her father?

She knew why. Her father would know then that Carson was moonlighting. He would know they had financial problems that Carson had taken a second job to remedy. And Carson wouldn’t forgive her. He may never forgive her for talking to Sean. Why had she called Sean? She could have found someone else…

Punishment. You were mad at Carson for scaring you, for taking Jesse when you really didn’t want him to go… and then lying to you. So you went to the one person you should never have seen again.

“It’s okay,” she told herself, as if speaking out loud would make it true. “Jesse is my son, I would do anything to protect my son.”

Carson and Jesse were safe. For now. She had to call off Sean. To keep them safe.

She grabbed her purse and cell phone and ran out of the hotel.

Jesse brought his dad the water bottle. He’d already drunk half of another on the way back from the kitchen. “Here,” he said. “Where’s Mom?”

“The phone cut out-cell reception is terrible here.”

“She sounded really worried. I thought you said she was fine with us staying longer.”

His dad drank some water. “I thought she was, but she worries, you know that.”

Jesse shrugged and sat down on the couch. His mom was moody all the time lately. His dad said it was girl hormones, but Jesse thought it was something else. She’d seemed sad when he left last week. “I should call her back-or maybe we can just go home? Do we have to stay until Friday?”

“This is important, Jess. You’re right-I should have left you at home, but I thought this would be good for us to have some guy time. You have straight A’s, it’s not like you’re going to miss anything if you miss school for a week. And I talked to Dom, they have season tickets to the football team here. They’re playing tonight.”

“Really?” Jesse loved soccer. He’d been playing since he was six. But he’d never been to a professional game.

“I may be able to wrap up everything by Wednesday. We’ll leave as soon as I’m done.”

“Sure. Whatever.”

“You’re having fun, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Just bored. I wish we didn’t have to leave Acapulco.”

“I can’t let you just go out and explore-it’s pretty safe here, but you know how Mexico can be. We need to be smart.”

“I know.” Jesse finished his water bottle. “Can I go swimming?”

“Of course. You can go anywhere on the property-Dom has forty acres to explore. But come in before noon, the sun can be murder.”

“Okay.” Jesse put his DS on the charger and left the suite of rooms Dominick Flores, his dad’s boss, let them use. He already had his swim trunks on-he’d been swimming every morning and night since he got here. But he was bored. There were no other kids, everyone was serious except for Gabriella.

Two of Dominick’s bodyguards asked him where he was going. “Swimming,” he told both of them.

It was weird to be here in a house full of armed guards. His dad said that Dominick was extremely wealthy and there was always the threat of kidnapping for ransom or thieves. And they were in Mexico. So why not just stay at the resort? At least there was a lot to do-they had a totally badass game room.

Jesse went outside and around back to the pool. It was early, but hot. It would be sticky and gross later.

He swam for thirty minutes or so, but it really wasn’t that much fun. Everyone seemed to stay up real late and sleep in… so except for his dad and the guards, he hadn’t seen anyone. Dominick’s younger brother Jose was sort of cool-he had a totally sick gaming system in his apartment and had let Jesse play with him last night. But then he and Gabriella had gone out.

Jesse dried off, pulled his T-shirt over his head, and went to the back door. It was locked. He walked around the side of the house-the place was a mansion. It had to be like ten thousand square feet. Maybe more. The kitchen door was often open because the cook liked to go out for a smoke like every ten minutes. Yeah, Dominick was rich-he had his own personal chef.

The kitchen was open, but no one was inside. Jesse picked a muffin off the cooling rack-the cook was a jerk, but he baked the best muffins and pastries. He went through the dining room, down the hall, through the foyer, and thought he heard his dad in the library. The door was partly open, and he almost walked in, but then he heard Dominick raise his voice.

“I hope you’re right, Carson. I can’t afford any scrutiny right now. Neither can you.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” his dad said. “We’re on track, but I need to get to the bank today, set up the new accounts. By tomorrow-Thursday at the latest-I’ll have moved all the money. Even if the feds track the old accounts, they’ll be shut down.”

“You’d better be right.”

“I am,” his dad said. “But I’ve added another layer of security. In three months the new accounts will automatically be converted into yet another new account. I can set it up in advance. So even if-and it’s a big if-they track us, by the time they figure it out, the money will be gone.”

“I like the plan in concept-but it had better work.”

“Dom, I’ve been doing this for years. I set up the contigency plan in the first place, and it served you well, didn’t it?”

Jesse heard two people walking down the main staircase, so he quickly turned into the closest room and shut the door. The room was empty-a sitting room. Dominick had a dozen sitting rooms all over the house. Double doors led into the atrium in the center of the house. Jesse waited until he thought the people had passed, then walked through the double doors and into the atrium. There were lots of plants and even full-sized trees in the huge room. Dom had a lap pool in here, too, but it was for family only, Jesse had been told.

“Swimming so early, little man?”

He jumped and almost stumbled halfway up the stairs. Gabriella stood in the middle of the atrium looking up at him.

“Yeah,” he said. “Before it gets hot.”

She walked up the stairs and stopped on the stair beneath his. Looked him in the eye and said, “Be careful, Jess. There are a lot of eyes-and ears-in this house.” She then smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said as she passed him on the stairs, heading toward her apartment, “Next time you go for an early swim, let me know.”