Tags:
Fiction,
General,
Suspense,
Romance,
Suspense fiction,
Christian fiction,
Religious,
Christian,
Government investigators,
Suspense Fiction; American,
Kidnapping,
FICTION / Christian / Romance,
Fiction - Religious,
Christian Fiction; American,
Mystery Fiction; American
âDrink the coffee, weâll be leaving shortly.â He stepped outside to make his calls.
* * *
Luke stopped pacing to lean against his car fender. âJackie, weâre at Sharon and Markâs house now. It looks like Sharon and Benjamin came home, Benjamin changed out of school clothes, they packed, and they left. Thereâs no sign of trouble. And no word from Mark.â
âI could understand one of their cars disappearing, but both?â
Luke sighed. âThis was planned. Well planned.â And with that part of his hope diedâthat this would have a swift ending, that it would turn out okay, that somehow heâd be able to be Carolineâs white knight and solve this. Really bad news was coming. Luke adjusted because he had to.
âI left the packet of photos with your name on it on the counter by the phone at the condo. Start calling in every favor you think either one of us is owed. Get the photos ready to hit the early morning newscasts. I want Benton, Sandy Hill, and Atlanta saturated with news and flyers by dawn. You can start running a tab against my personal credit cards; they should hold out until dawn when I can call and bump up the credit lines. If you have an idea that you think will work, donât ask, just run with it.â
âIâll get it started. Do you want me to handle the media interviews?â
âPlease. Caroline canât handle it, and I donât have the patience for it. Iâll call security at Markâs condo and let them know anyone you want to bring upâcops or television crewsâare to be cleared in. Sharonâs too trusting; someone could have gotten to her. And if they then went after Mark . . .â
âYouâre jumping to worst case,â Jackie said softly.
âWorst case, they are already dead. I can work with anything better than that. The cops havenât been able to find either car. Iâll need helicopters ready to go up at first light with heat detection gear. The woods around here are thick. Find me a good profiler who can look this over.â
âHeadquarters is going to appoint another agent to run the case.â
âI know. Get Henry James in the loop. Heâs the best in the division for missing persons cases. The Atlanta SAC owes me; heâll let Henry take it.â Luke tried to think through threads they could work. âThe last call Caroline had with Benjamin, he dropped the phone. He said someone in a van cut off his mom as she left the clinic parking lot. Get security to pull all the tapes for the hospitalâs and the clinicâs parking lots. Thereâs a chance Sharon was tailed. Mark was going to the bank and to fill up the car with gas. There should be security tapes at both places.â
âLuke, this will get worked as a possible kidnapping.â
âI can only hope itâs a move for money.â If this was someone thinking a personâs life and a sum of money could equate, Luke might get them back. âTell Henry to put taps and recorders on all the family phone lines, including my home phone and Carolineâs. Iâll keep my second phone line free if you need to forward a call.â
He looked at his watch. They needed to check the clinic tonight, which meant waking someone up. âChange of subject: Has there been anything on Frank Hardin?â
âA decent lead by a trucker had him heading west.â
âHe did whatever job he came to do.â
âIt looks that way.â
âAny more bodies show up?â Luke shoved a hand through his hair. âNo, donât answer that. Iâm pushing the edge of morbid tonight. Iâll call at the bottom of the hour. Iâm taking Caroline by the medical clinic and Markâs office. Weâll be back at her place before the first newscasts announce that family is missing. I want Caroline to have a few minutes in familiar surroundings before that hits