Yeah.He paused for a moment before continuing.I, uh, sense something.
Like what?
Someone is trying to contact me.
What do you mean?
Someone is trying to talk to me. I mean in my head, like we’re talking.
Who?
Do you remember when Smith first captured me, and he kept telling me about other couples who were children from the clinic?
Yes.
It’s one of them, I think.
Why can you hear them and I can’t?
He shook his head.Maybe because I’m dead and you’re not?
Yeah.
She might have said more, but Smith strode into the room. “Good news,” he said. “I’m going to let you go.”
For a moment, hope rose in her chest, until she realized it had to be a lie. She knew too much.
Glancing at Travis, she saw the devastated look on his face. She wanted to whisper, “It’s not your fault.” But no way could she give away to Smith that he was in the room with them.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
“Do you know how to find the estate?” Stephanie Branson asked Rachel.
“I think so.”
The six members of the team from Louisiana had landed at BWI International Airport and rented a van. As a group, they had decided that Rachel and Jake Harper should go on the rescue mission, along with Matt Delano, Elizabeth Forester, and Stephanie and Craig Branson. Gabriella Bordeaux and Luke Buckley had stayed home because she had to keep the restaurant open to make it look like everything was normal at the Bordeaux plantation.
The team had already crossed the Bay Bridge and were speeding down Route 50, heading for St. Stephens, when Rachel gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Jake demanded.
“Smith is getting ready to kill Olivia and Gabe Bowman, the detective who was investigating Travis’s death.” She had already filled the group in on the players, so they understood the situation.
“Smith,” Stephanie muttered.
“And we still don’t have his real name?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
Still, they were pretty sure he was the same guy who had tried to kidnap Stephanie and later Matt and Elizabeth.
On the way from New Orleans to Baltimore, Rachel had told them as much as she knew. They understood that Gabe wasn’t one of the children from the Solomon Clinic. He’d gotten caught in Smith’s net when he was investigating Travis’s death.
Rachel had been getting ready to direct Jake to Smith’s estate, but suddenly she gasped.
“What is it?” Stephanie asked.
“Smith’s going to deep-six Olivia and Gabe. Change of plans. Instead of heading for his estate, we have to get to the town dock and rent a boat.”
