Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            “Yeah.” Liza sighed. “I was trying to get away, but DJ said he’d kill everyone in the solarium. There were kids in there. He also claimed to have planted a dirty bomb that he could detonate with his cell phone. That’s why I got in the ambulance with him. Is Rafe okay?”

            Molina did not look pleased at that. “Yes. Did you hire him?”

            Liza met Molina’s gaze. And lied through her teeth. “Yes. Of course I did. Not like I didn’t trust you, but . . . I’m not stupid, ma’am.”

            Damn, but Tom loved her.

            Molina nodded. “I see.”

            Liza looked at her innocently. “I’m glad. Did you really find Eden?”

            “We have coordinates now,” Molina said. “We’re sending transport vehicles to bring the members down from the mountain. But there is, apparently, a woman about to go into labor?”

            Tom sat up straighter, ignoring the discomfort in his ribs. “Yes. Cameron Cook’s girlfriend, Hayley.”

            Molina tilted her head at the helicopter. “Have you ever delivered a baby, Liza?”

            Liza sucked in a breath. “Yes, ma’am.”

            The day her unit was mowed down, Tom remembered. Please let her help, he wordlessly asked Molina. Please.

            Molina extended her hand. “Come. We’ve got medics en route, but it’ll take them three hours to get there by car, two hours by air. We can get you there in under an hour.”

            Her smile radiant, Liza took Molina’s hand and let the older woman help her to her feet. “Tom too?”

            Molina met Tom’s gaze with a small nod and he remembered that she’d talked to Liza’s CO. She knew she’d delivered a baby that day, right before everything had gone to hell. “Of course he’s coming, too. But Agent Croft, I only have room for two.”

            Croft waved them on. “I’ll stay and wait for the crime scene techs and the ME. Y’all go. Text me later.”

            “I will,” Tom promised, then followed Molina and Liza to the helicopter.





THIRTY-TWO



EDEN, CALIFORNIA

            TUESDAY, MAY 30, 6:00 P.M.





Liza’s new fear of heights was put to the test an hour later when they arrived at the Eden coordinates derived from Daniel Park’s cell phone. There was no place to land, so they were lowered by a pulley to an area just big enough for two, maybe three SUVs.

            She and Tom looked up at the cave entrance. There was a short walk up a steep trail and they set off right away. Molina quickly caught up.

            Molina had explained that she was there for the Eden rescue and had only recused herself from the DJ Belmont part of the investigation. When Tom had asked her what she would have done if DJ had still been threatening them when she arrived, she’d merely shrugged.

            Tom had grinned. His boss was far more flexible than most people gave her credit for.

            The three of them were the first wave of the Eden rescue, Tom carrying bags of food and water that Molina had brought, hoping the offer of sustenance would ease their way in. Mercy and Gideon were on their way. Amos would be arriving a few hours after that.

            They’d anticipated resistance, but they hadn’t anticipated a man guarding the cave entrance with a shotgun and a darkly forbidding expression.

            “Hello,” Liza called. “I’m a medic.” She no longer wore Sunnyside Oaks’s scrubs, as they’d been soiled by mud and blood—both Kowalski’s and Belmont’s. Luckily one of the helicopter pilots had had a pair of sweats in his duffel, and she’d changed while they’d been in the air. It was a good thing she was tall. The sweats were baggy, but she’d only had to roll up the sleeves. Far better than walking up to the Eden compound covered in blood. “Do you have need of emergency services?”

            They’d agreed that Liza should be the first to speak, as the community had been brainwashed to distrust the government.

            “No,” the man said. “Take your helicopter and go.”

            But a scream met their ears.