“Be right back,” he said to Evangeline before retreating down the hall with the doctor.
Evangeline poured more coffee. Instead of sipping, she dumped the black liquid down the drain and splashed cold water on her face. Her stomach was in knots, her heart ached, and her thoughts had coagulated into a jumbled mess.
She had no idea where the real Uncle Charlie had taken Hannah and Robert. She had no idea where Dakota had taken Thomas Monty’s body. She was wrecked over taking his life, but if she hadn’t, Sin would be a dead man, along with the rest of them.
The situation had been surreal. After she’d tied the shirt around Sin’s leg, the three of them had stabilized Jacoby. Then, while the surgeon operated on him, she and Sin had cleaned up Monty’s blood.
Killing in self-defense was one thing, but being an accessory after the fact was a whole different story. Covering up a killing was a crime. Until this moment, there hadn’t been time to process what had happened, only to react to and handle the chaos.
Feeling lightheaded, she sucked down a deep breath, then slid onto the cold tile floor. This was the first time she had taken a life to save another’s. In Monty’s case, he was a fugitive preying on the innocent. He was wanted for known crimes and suspected of others. Her action kept him from killing Sin and from harming others.If only evil didn’t exist.
Despite the justifications chattering in her head, she was guilty of kidnapping Monty and for not calling the police to report the shootings.
As she tried to make sense of everything, she was missing a huge piece of the pie. She knew nothing about Dakota. What did he do? Why did he have a black site? She thought he was a successful real estate broker with a well-established business. Was that his cover? Was he one of the good guys, deep undercover? A vigilante seeking justice for the innocent? Or was he up to no good? If she had involved law enforcement, would she have been helping or hurting their situation?
Pushing off the floor, she returned to her laptop. Fighting her mounting panic, she switched tracks. Instead of searching for the facility, she would see what she could find out about Maya and Craig Fields’ plans to adopt.
As she perused their social media accounts, she remembered meeting the couple at Birdie and Charlene’s holiday party. Beneath one photo of the couple, Maya had written: “Exciting news coming soon!” They’d posted another selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower. That picture had been posted several hours ago. This time, they’d written: “Been sitting on something wonderful for a while. Can’t wait to share!”
Her pulse soared.She’s talking about Robert!
Dread powered through her, but voices in the hallway snagged her attention.
“Where’s Jacoby?” a woman asked, the stress in her voice slicing through the silence.
“I’m taking you to him.” Sin’s strong, calm voice soothed Evangeline.
Sanchez entered the break room. “Sin filled me in. How can I help?”
Evangeline showed her the social media posts. “I need to know if Maya and Craig Fields are connected to Uncle Charlie and where The Institute is located.”
“Why don’t you take five and let me see what I can dig up?” Sanchez opened her laptop.
Like a caged lioness, Evangeline paced in the hallway.
Sin returned and drew her into his arms. “How are you doing?”
Gazing up at him, she felt herself starting to crumble, but mustered the strength to keep it together. “I’m okay. How’s your leg?”
“It’s fine, along with the rest of me.” He tipped her chin, dropped a light peck on her lips. “We’ll find them. Is Sanchez hacking into their accounts?”
She nodded. “Looks like the Fields’ are in Paris, which means they don’t’ have Robert yet. How’s Jacoby?”
“He’s stable. Dr. Joyce said the damage was much less than the blood loss indicated. Thank you for stopping Monty.” Sin paused. “Thank you for doing what had to be done.”
“The police should have been called, along with the FBI. I’m not sure which side of the law I’m on right now.”
He pulled her in for a comforting hug. “Let’s find Hannah and Robert before we go there.”
“I might have found something,” Sanchez called out.
They hurried in and pulled up chairs alongside her. “I hacked into Maya’s email account and changed her password and security questions. That should buy us some time.” Then, she pointed to an unread email from Uncle Charlie.
“Open it,” Sin instructed.
Subject: Your package is ready for pick up.
Show this barcode to the front desk attendant when you arrive. Final payment is due at time of pick up. Congratulations and good luck.
