Page 92 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Get over it and get the heck out of here.

With the suitcase behind her, she opened the door, searching what she could see of the inside of the bank before heading out. Only a few customers had come in and were waiting in line for a teller. Mustering a smile, she walked briskly, waving as she passed Li-Mei’s desk. “I’m all set. I emptied out the box, and I won’t be needing it anymore. Thanks again.”

“Oh, that was fast.” The other woman stood. “Would you like to grab lunch sometime?”

“Uh, sure.” Laia threw back over her shoulder, appreciating the gesture but knowing she’d never have lunch with Li-Mei or anyone else who worked at this bank. Too many memories. “I’ll call you.”

Then she was out the door. Searching the parking lot, she maintained a wary eye for police cars and SUVs like the ones Kade and Jamie drove but saw none. Some inner sense warned her to walk faster.

The suitcase wheels clicked on the asphalt, then thumped when she dragged it over the cement barrier between the bank and the convenience store lots. A man and a woman came out of the store and looked at Laia. Her heart rate picked up, but the couple proceeded to their car, ignoring her.

Great. Now she was losing her marbles, paranoid to the point where it felt as if everyone knew what she’d done.

Stolen $2 million dollars of drug money from a bank box that the federal government was, right at this very moment, getting a search warrant for.

She could already feel the cold metal handcuffs snapping onto her wrists just before being shoved into the backseat of a police car. She clicked the key fob and slid open the rear door of the minivan. With a grunt, she lifted the suitcase onto the seat and closed the door. She flung open the driver side door and got in, slamming the door shut.

I did it.

With the phony ledger she’d created and the cash she’d stolen, she was as ready as she could possibly be.

The digital dashboard clock read 9:55 a.m. She dug into her bag and reinserted the battery before powering up the phone. Pissing off the kidnappers by missing their call wouldn’t help any. The only missed calls were from Kade, but he’d left no more messages.

As she started the minivan and turned back onto the road, her phone rang. Her already pounding heart did so even faster. She grabbed the phone, barely avoiding hitting the car in the next lane as she inadvertently swerved.

She pulled onto the shoulder and braked to a stop. “Hello?”

“Do you have them?” the same computer-generated voice asked.

“Yes, I-I have the ledger and the cash.”

“Good. Drive to the address I’m about to give you. Remember, no police, or she dies. No FBI, or she dies.”

Laia gritted her teeth. “I want to talk to my daughter first. Put her on the phone.”

A moment later, she heard, “Mommy? I want to come home.”

Laia hissed in a breath. At least Rosa was still alive. “Are you okay, baby? Mommy is coming to get you real soon. I love—”

“Copy down these directions.”

Her hand shook as she scribbled the directions on a piece of paper.

“You’ve got two hours. Don’t be late.”

When the call disconnected, Laia squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then opened them, blowing out short breaths to clear her mind before heading back onto the road.

If all went well, by tonight, Rosa would be watching a movie or reading Cinderella and eating pineapple pizza at Alvita’s. Laia, on the other hand, would probably be in jail. As long as her baby was safe, she could live with that.

If things didn’t go well, they would both be dead.

Because there was no way that she was returning home without her daughter.

Chapter Thirty

“Good morning,” Laia’s friend, Li-Mei, said to Kade when he and Jamie walked up to her desk. “What can I do for you, gentlemen?”

“We’re federal agents,” he replied, holding up his ID, then the warrant. “This is a search warrant for safe deposit box number two thirty-nine. I have the renter key,” he added, wanting to get the box open ASAP.