Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            Tom had repeated the license plate numbers for Raeburn when a gun fired, followed quickly by a second shot. “Rafe?”

            “I’m not hit,” he said, a car door loudly groaning through the phone.

            “Our people are in pursuit of the ambulance,” Raeburn told Tom and Croft. “Are you talking to Rafe Sokolov?”

            Tom nodded once. “Yes.”

            Through the phone they heard Rafe shout, “SacPD. Drop the gun, asshole! Hands where I can see them! Do not push me, buddy. On your stomach. Do it. Now.” After a pause, Tom could hear the click of handcuffs and another groan from Rafe. “His badge says Saltrick.”

            “He’s the chief of security,” Tom said dully.

            “You hired your own muscle?” Raeburn demanded. “What the fuck, Hunter?”

            Tom couldn’t hear Raeburn, his boss’s words not sinking in. “Rafe, are you all right?”

            “Yeah,” Rafe said, breathing hard. “Your guys just busted through the fence. Saltrick’s restrained and he’s the only one I saw leave. Dammit. I almost had them.”

            “You got us the ambulance’s plate. Call if you need me.” Tom stood, feeling Raeburn’s barely restrained rage but unable to focus on anything but his own paralyzing fear.

            “Where are you going, Agent Hunter?” Raeburn demanded as Tom turned for the door.

            “To bring her back, sir.”

            Raeburn stood rigidly, shaking his head. Then gestured at Croft with a tilt of his head. “Go with him. Keep him from making this an even bigger clusterfuck.”

            “Yes, sir,” Croft said respectfully.




SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

            TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2:00 P.M.

            “Where are we going?” Liza asked, proud that she didn’t sound afraid even though she was. But she’d faced worse and knew that Tom was searching for her. She only hoped the FBI was no longer looking for the ambulance.

            DJ had forced her from the vehicle, abandoning it behind what appeared to be a grocery store that had been closed for some time. He’d shoved her into a white Ford Explorer that had been parked, waiting for them.

            He’d stolen this SUV the night before, or so he’d bragged to Pastor. He’d left it here, knowing he’d need something sturdier to get Pastor up the mountain roads.

            He was probably telling the truth about going up into the mountains. They’d bypassed the interstates for a back road and were headed north.

            “Eden,” Pastor rasped from the back seat. DJ had moved Pastor from the ambulance to the back of the stolen Explorer with care. Whether it was genuine care or not, Liza couldn’t be sure.

            “We are,” DJ said amiably. “And since the Feds cut Pastor’s recovery short, you will be his nurse. I won’t abide by him getting poor-quality care. He’s too important to all of us.”

            In the back seat, Pastor beamed. That was, apparently, the right thing to say.

            Liza didn’t believe DJ, even if Pastor did. There was an oily quality to DJ’s words. He did not have Pastor’s charisma, for sure. It felt like he was pacifying Pastor. But why?

            For the money, she realized. It almost always came down to money. Waylon had figured out Pastor’s cipher system for the banking codes, but DJ didn’t know it. If he had, she didn’t think he’d have stuck around. He’d have stolen the money for himself.

            She also didn’t believe that DJ intended to have her care for Pastor. He’d likely kill her when he no longer needed a hostage. She wasn’t going to make it easy for him, though.

            She’d been thinking through the various scenarios and how she could best buy the time Tom needed to find her. Mercy and Gideon believed DJ had lied to Pastor to stay in his good graces so he could get the money. If that was true, pitting the two men against each other might be the best strategy. It might get her killed, but she figured that was in DJ’s eventual playbook regardless of what she did.

            “Then, as his nurse, I recommend you take him back. From what I’ve heard about Eden, it doesn’t have a lot of conveniences. Not to mention medical resources.”