“Yes?”
There was a soft gasp, then silence. “¿Chiquita?”
“Sorry, I’m out of cell phone range here. I was going to call you.”
The voice exploded with rage. “Where are Raul and Lew?” I heard scuffling noises, then a cry from Cody. “You listen to me, chiquita. I’ve got a gun to your little brother’s head, and if you don’t start explaining, I’m going to pull the trigger.”
I fired right back. “I warned you not to try anything. I told you that the pouch would warn me if we were in danger.”
“But—”
“Oh, that. The pouch your men stole, you mean? Did you really think I would be so foolish as to leave my pouch in the truck for anyone to steal? What they stole was something we picked up at the Salvation Army store for a buck. I’m holding the real pouch even as we speak.”
“Let me talk to Raul or Lew.”
“Sorry. They’re on their way to the nearest Utah Highway Patrol station.”
“What?” he screamed. “I warned you about bringing in the police—”
I could feel the power of the pouch behind me, driving the conversation. I cut in, shouting. “I didn’t bring the police in on this. Your stupid guys did. Whose brilliant idea was it to have them kidnap a highway patrol officer?”
I could hear him breathing heavily on the other end.
“I want to talk to my mother. And to Cody.”
“No way. Not now. Maybe not ever. I’m missing four of my men. You think I will overlook that?”
“You listen to me, El Cobra, or whatever your real name is. That highway patrol officer pulled me and Rick over because she thought we were speeding. Then your guys came up and took us all prisoner. How stupid was that? Rick and I managed to get away and grab Lew’s pistol. When we had your two guys tied up, the officer wanted to know why they were after us. We told her we didn’t know. So she knows nothing about you or what you’ve done to my family.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t think she did either. So don’t be surprised if, when she gets back to Green River and reports all this to her supervisor, they issue a warrant for Rick and me and come looking for us.” I took a quick breath. “So if you want us to stand around while you yell at us, have it your way.”
There was no answer.
“Let me talk to my mother and my brother and make sure they’re still okay, then we’ll talk about how to undo the mess you’ve made of things before the police show up.”
“If they do, then your mother dies.”
“If she does, you’ll lose twenty million dollars. So come on. What’ll it be?”
More silence. I heard voices in the background whispering urgently. Then he came back on. “You tell me what you propose, then I’ll decide if you speak to your mother or not.”
I looked at Clay. He nodded vigorously. “Okay,” I said. “It’s nearly six o’clock. Are you still tracking my phone? I’ve left the battery in it the whole time.”
“Yes.”
“Even though we’re out of cell phone range?”
When he answered, it was with open contempt. “You and your boyfriend think you’re so clever. You don’t need cell phone coverage to track the GPS on your phone. I know exactly where you are. You have stopped on the side of the road next to Highway 95.”
Okay, so he wasn’t bluffing. “We’re at Leprechaun Canyon. If we leave now, we can be to Bullfrog in little more than an hour. We’ll come straight to the large parking lot near the boat ramp. We’ll meet you by the restrooms.”
“And why would you choose to come to Bullfrog Marina?”
“Do you really want to play dumb?” I snapped. “I know you’re somewhere on Lake Powell. I’ve even got a pretty good idea of which general area you’re in. If I’m right—or better, if the pouch is right—you’re on a houseboat within fifteen or twenty miles of Bullfrog. So that gives you plenty of time to get to the marina by speedboat before we do.”
I heard Eileen’s exclamation of surprise. Good. It wouldn’t hurt for her to be a little spooked by the pouch as well.
“But I also know about the four guys you sent off to meet us at the junction. Call them off. If they try to stop us . . .” I left the rest hanging.
“Sí,” El Cobra finally said. “They’ll follow you at a distance. We’ll meet at the restrooms at the parking lot. What time?”
I glanced at the time displayed on the phone. “We can be there by seven fifteen.”
“Not ‘we.’ You.”
“Rick’s coming with me. He’s my transportation.”
“Last night you told me he wasn’t going to be involved.”
“Yeah, and this morning you told me you would leave me alone.”
“He doesn’t come. He can drop you off at the parking lot and leave.”
“You don’t listen very well, do you? Do you want me there or not?”
“All right. We’ll play it your way. Seven fifteen. Don’t be late.”
“Wait! What about my mom?”
But he had already hung up.
Chapter 68
We leaned on the hood of the truck, talking quietly.
“This is going to rush us a little,” Clay said, “but I think we can be ready.” He looked at me. “I haven’t told you the latest from Iceberg Canyon.”
“What?”
“The surveillance team on the cliffs has seen your mother several times now. She’s fine. They also saw the speedboat deliver El Cobra and Cody. From what they could see from above, your mom was pretty elated to see Cody.”
That was good. We now had absolute confirmation that we had the right houseboat.
“We’ve transported half a dozen men to the upper end of Iceberg Canyon by helicopter. They’re making their way down now.”
“That won’t do them any good,” I said. “Once they reach the water, there’s no beach to walk along, except for a couple of places.”
“That’s what our observers report too. They’re carrying three small inflatable rubber rafts. Two men will have scuba gear. They’ll move in tonight and stay far enough back that there’s no chance they’ll be seen or heard.”
“And they stay out of sight until I say so, right? Just like today.”
Clay’s eyes dropped and he studied his hands. “Uh . . . we need to talk about that, Danni.”
“No, Clay,” I interrupted. “We play it the same way. You promised.”
“This is different, Danni. Once you’re on that boat—even if Rick is with you—it’s not going to be the same as being out in the open, or trapping someone inside a narrow slot canyon.”
My lips pressed into a grim line. “No.”
“Just listen, Danni,” Rick urged.
When I didn’t answer, Clay went on. “Our spotters have identified five people on board with your family—El Cobra, the woman, and three other men. We also know about the two men who are with your dad and grandfather. That makes seven.”
“But those two guys aren’t on the boat. They’re with Dad and Grandpère.”
He let out his breath in a long, weary sigh and reached in his pocket. “I received a text message this afternoon. We think it’s from your grandfather.” He looked at me carefully. “Have you talked to him or let him know you’re working with us? Did you give him my number?”
I laughed. “None of the above. Are you sure it’s from him?”
“The message had no name or phone number listed with it, but the contents are pretty clear.”
“What does it say?” Rick asked.
He unfolded the note and began to read. “‘Will finish with Canadians by Sunday am. Some evidence EC’”—he looked up—“I assume that means El Cobra—‘will return us to the boat immediately after. Will stay until Monday pm when all come to Salt Lake for Tuesday’s signing.’”
I marveled that not only had Grandpère learned how to text but he was also sending out messages when, as far as we knew, his phone had been taken from him. Not only that, he was s
ending messages to numbers he didn’t know and to people he’d never met. That kind of made a candle that kept bursting into flames look pretty trivial.
“When all this is over,” I said to Clay, “I want you to meet Grandpère.”
“I look forward to that.” Folding up the note, Clay leaned forward. “Anyway, the message makes sense. It’s much safer for El Cobra to have your father and grandfather right there under his thumb. But it changes everything. It complicates things in one way—we have two more men to deal with—but it also gives us a great opportunity. Thanks to you, they now have four fewer men overall.”
“No, five.”
“Five?” Both he and Rick looked confused.
“Yeah, Doc is worth two men. Having him out is a big plus.”
“Right. So if we can free your family on Sunday, then the whole extortion plot is over. And we’ll have the gang in hand so they can’t cause you any more trouble.”
“No.”
“No?”
“What are you planning, Clay? A SWAT team rappelling down the cliffs? Guys roaring in on their rubber rafts? Scuba divers springing onto the deck?” My voice caught and I had to clear it quickly. “My family going down in a hail of gunfire?”
“I think we deserve more credit than that, Danni.”
“I give you all the credit in the world, but it’s too dangerous. The houseboat gives them a clear field of fire. They’ll see you long before you can get to them.”
“You’re not thinking clearly, Danni,” he said gently. “El Cobra lost four men today. He’s raging. You’re not going to catch him off guard again. Your family is already in grave danger.”
I ignored him. “I told you we had to do this differently, Clay. This can’t be some glorious, Hollywood-type hostage rescue. There’s too much at stake.” I leaned forward. “Look, once I’m on board I’ll figure something out. The pouch will help me. Maybe I can take out two or three of their people before Grandpère and Dad arrive.”
“Danni,” Rick said, touching my arm. “Can we talk?”
I whirled around. “So you can make me change my mind? Are you going to stand with Clay on this, Rick? Or are you going to support me?”
“That’s not fair.”
“Neither is life, Rick.”
He took me by the arm. “Let’s talk.” He turned to Clay. “Can we have a few minutes?”
“Of course.” He walked away, taking his phone out of his pocket and starting to dial.
Rick found a place with some sparse shade, and we sat down in the soft sand. “Don’t, Rick,” I said. “I already know how you feel, so just don’t.”
“Oh? And does that come from the pouch too?”
“What?”
“Knowing how I feel?”
“No, I . . .” I shook my head. I was suddenly exhausted beyond belief. And scared and frightened and terrified.
“Tell me, then. What am I feeling right now?”
I blinked a couple of times, taken aback by him going on the attack. And then I got mad. “All right, I will. You think that just because I let you kiss me, you think you can tell me what to do, tell me what’s right and what’s wrong.”
“Let me kiss you?”
“All right, I wanted you to kiss me. But that doesn’t mean you can take advantage of me because of it.”
His look was so incredulous and so hurt that I kicked myself for bringing up the kiss. But I wasn’t about to apologize.
“You didn’t tell me what I was thinking,” he finally said in a low voice. “You told me what you are thinking.”
“All right, then,” I said, unable to keep the sarcastic bite out of my voice. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
I could see him debating about whether to say it. I could see his own temper was starting to rise. But he finally nodded. “I was thinking that what happened today was brilliant. You’re right. The odds against us have changed significantly, thanks to you. But I was also thinking about the last few days. I was thinking how you nearly caused a major accident with that woman in the sports car because she wasn’t driving the speed limit.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he went on quickly.
“And how you nearly triggered a road rage incident because some jerk tried to get in line ahead of us. What if that happens again on the houseboat, Danni? What if you make another mistake?”
“Mistake? Maybe those things were wrong, Rick,” I cried, deeply hurt, “but if I hadn’t done that with the sports car, I would never have thought about communicating with Officer Blake in the same way. It was my so-called ‘mistake’ that helped us escape today.”
That took him aback. “What do you mean? Communicating in what way?”
I remembered he hadn’t been in the police car with me, so I quickly explained what had happened.
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“You didn’t ask,” I said bitterly. “I also made the engine stop, Rick. Where do you think I got that idea from? From what happened on the on-ramp the other morning.”
“Oh,” he said in a small voice.
“Yeah, Rick. So maybe I’m not quite as stupid as you think.”
He looked down, unable to meet my eyes.
“Apology accepted,” I said angrily.
His chin came up, and there was sadness in his eyes. “Let me ask you one question, Danni, and then I’ll shut up. Was it you who stopped the engine? Or the pouch?”
“It was . . . uh . . . what’s the difference? It was my idea.”
“And it was a great idea. But you didn’t say that. You said, ‘I made the engine stop.’”
“So you’re going to hang me because of a slip of the tongue?” I cried hotly.
“Slip of the tongue? Can you not even hear yourself, Danni? ‘I did this,’ and ‘I did that. I’ll figure something out. The pouch will help me. Maybe I can take out two or three more men. All you professionally trained agents should just stand back and let me handle it.’”
I shot to my feet. “That’s not fair.”
“Neither is life, Danni.” He shook his head. “Clay won’t say that to you, but someone has to.”
I started to walk away, so mad I could hardly speak.
He called after me. “I think it’s wonderful that you learned from your mistakes, Danni, I really do. But that doesn’t change the fact that they were mistakes.”
Spinning around, I bowed low. “Thank you for enlightening me, Mr. Ramirez.”
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but sometimes what you do with the pouch is wrong, Danni. The Guardian is remarkable. It’s a gift that was entrusted to you, and it was wrong to use it as you did.”
He got to his feet, forcing himself to speak more calmly. “And thinking that you and the pouch are invincible is wrong, too. Don’t you see that? And you can’t be wrong this time, Danni. We’re all depending on you. Clay, me, your mother, Cody—”
“I get it, Rick.” I was teetering between throwing myself into his arms or picking up a rock and throwing it at him. Finally, I shook my head. “Maybe El Cobra is right. Maybe it’s best if it’s not we who goes tonight.”
He flinched as if I had slapped him. “Maybe so,” he finally said. “Maybe so.” He turned and cupped his hands. “Clay! We’re ready to go.” When the agent waved, Rick started walking swiftly away.
“Rick, I . . .” I broke into a run, closing the distance between us in great strides. I grabbed him by the arm and spun him around. “I’m sorry, Rick. I’m really sorry.”
He gave me a fleeting, momentary smile, but it didn’t make the sadness go away.
“That was stupid of me. I didn’t mean it. Don’t walk away.” I took his hands. “I don’t mean to sound cocky and arrogant, but I am being protected. I am being guided. I am being told what to do, and—”
I stopped as my own words rang in my ears: I am. I am. I am. I felt sick at heart. What was happening to me? But something else in me was crying out that I had to help him understand. “Grandpère once told me
to trust my feelings, Rick. Sometimes they’re the only things that make sense. And I have a bad feeling about the FBI taking over this operation and coming in like they’re storming the castle. I know it doesn’t make sense, but maybe this isn’t the time for logic and reason, Rick. I have to trust my feelings.”
“I understand.”
My shoulders fell. He didn’t understand. Nothing I had said swayed him.
“We’d better go if we’re going to get you to Bullfrog by seven fifteen.”
“You don’t agree, do you?” I said, the dejection so real I could taste it.
“I never said that.”
“Yes, you did.”
His eyes probed mine. “Do you really want to know what I’m feeling right now?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“All right. I know you have to trust your feelings. They’ve been right most of the time.” I lifted one of my eyebrows, but he ignored me. “But right now I have a bad feeling too, Danni. And mine doesn’t come from the pouch. And mine isn’t about the FBI.”
I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t not ask. “What is it, then?”
“I have this feeling that when you and I step onto that boat, you’re going to be so hell-bent on delivering your family that you’ll make another mistake. And this time, maybe everything won’t work out exactly as you have planned.”
Chapter 69
It was Saturday night and even though it was past seven in the evening, Bullfrog was jumping—no pun intended. There was a long line of boats at the ramp waiting to enter the water. The gas station had cars clear out into the street, and the store was packed with people. The bay was dotted with houseboats, motorboats, and jet skis—dollops of white on the deep blue expanse. We drove slowly to the upper parking lots near the boat ramp.
The parking lot by the restrooms was full, but we found a place near the far end of the lot just east of it. As we eased into the lot, Rick shut off the engine. Neither of us moved. We hadn’t said much in the hour since we’d left Leprechaun Canyon.
Now Rick asked. “What do you want to take with us?”