Page 73 of Dark ’N’ Deadly

Her stepfather had Jesse. There was no possible way her brother would have gone willingly.

When the elevator didn’t come, she ran through the corridor to the stairwell. A doctor and several nurses stared after her, but she ignored them and pushed open the heavy door.

She tore down the stairs, her flat sandals clicking on the concrete. A knot the size of a grapefruit lodged in her throat.

It was a given that Pritchard had informed her stepfather that she was in New Jersey, but if they’d found Jesse at the hospital that could only mean they’d found a way to track him.

At the ground floor, she flung her weight against the door, pushing it open and running out the main entrance to the parking lot, racing to her car. She dug her keys from her purse, got in, and started the engine.

A sob rose in her throat as she realized another of her mistakes. During the controlled delivery, she’d let it slip that Jesse was in the hospital with appendicitis. “How could I have been so stupid?” She might as well have given them a road map. They could have searched nearby hospitals, asking for Jesse. Privacy restrictions would have been no impediment to a man as resourceful as her stepfather.

She dug her phone from her bag, about to turn it back on, but stopped as the impact of all her mistakes became screamingly apparent.

Jesse’s cell phone.

Maybe she hadn’t turned it off in time. If her stepfather had indeed used the online app to trace the phone’s location, he could have known Jesse had been staying at Eric’s house. Even though Eric was a federal agent and was no doubt discreet about his address, with the internet it would be next to impossible to hide public records concerning property ownership. Now she was certain someone had searched her Camry.

Another frightening thought occurred to her.

What if her stepfather had been tracing the phone the entire time Jesse had been en route from Alabama to New Jersey? The apps were good enough to provide fairly accurate locational specificity. If that was the case…

Her stepfather would know her brother had been inside a federal courthouse, the meaning of which would be crystal clear: Jesse had been arrested. And both she and her brother were working with the feds. He’d be labeled a snitch.

She’d waited too long. Now Jesse’s life was in danger, along with countless other people’s lives. If her stepfather and Pritchard were both here, it could only mean one thing.

Eric was right. They really were building a bomb.

She turned on her cell phone, digging her nails into her thigh as she waited for it to power back on. When it did, two text messages from Eric popped up on the screen.

Call me. Immediately.

The second text contained the address of the ATF office. There was also a voicemail message from him. With fumbling fingers, she cued up the message and put the phone to her ear.

“Tess, I need you to come to the ATF office. Now.” There was an undeniably angry emphasis on the last word.

Oh, no.

The phone rang, startling her so much that it slipped from her hand, falling between her feet. She expected it to be Eric again, but when she retrieved the phone, she froze.

The number staring back at her wasn’t Eric’s. Her heart slowed. All the hope and optimism inside her instantly died.

It was him.

My stepfather.

Her vision blurred. The old adage, there’s no going back, seemed ridiculous, because a phone call from him meant that was precisely where she was going.

Back to hell.

With a trembling finger, she touched the green button and answered the call.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Eric hated giving presentations, especially to a room packed to the gills with some of the highest-ranking law enforcement officials in two states.

I’d rather suck-start a stick of dynamite.

Didn’t help matters that his concentration had gone to shit. All he could think about was the confrontation to come with Tess the second she walked in the door. As soon as he confirmed what he suspected, he’d update his superiors. First, he needed to hear it directly from her.