The line for the showing moved along, and as Jules headed into the theater, she took a second to note the exits—other than the main door, there were two doors at the back of the tiny thirty-six-seat space leading to the Education Center—before realizing she’d made the sweep entirely from instinct.
Even out for a day’s fun with a four-year-old, she couldn’t leave the job behind.
She saw Tess and Alex don their 3-D glasses and sit down to soak in the delights of
She confirmed the caller ID—it was Reilly. Probably calling to check up on his son.
“Where are you?”
He sounded agitated.
She tensed up as she told him, her eyes instinctively surveying the ground around her.
Reilly bypassed the pleasantries and said, “I need you to get Alex and Tess out of there without alarming them. David’s organizing a safe house.”
An icy finger slid down her spine. “Why, what’s happened?”
“They’re after me. That’s why they came after Michelle and Alex. To use them to get to me. Which means Alex is still in danger. Tess too.”
She listened as he ran through what it was all about—Mexico five years ago, Raoul Navarro. She sensed a mixture of frustration and thinly veiled unease as he said the name, and it chilled her further. In the little time she’d been around Reilly, she’d been impressed by his clear-headedness and his drive, possibly even developing a pointless little crush on him. To hear him rattled like this was unsettling.
He also told her that the goons who took out the Eagles were probably ex-military, that it was Navarro’s MO.
When he finally took a breath, she asked, “Shall I call for backup?”
He hesitated, then said, “No need at this point. I don’t want to freak out Alex any more than he already is. Just take them back to the hotel and pack everything up. I’m heading back to San Diego now.”
“You got it.”
She ended the call, edged across to the cover of a low-slung plane, and did a quick 360-degree sweep of the museum. She didn’t see anything suspicious at first—then she saw the Latino again. Just inside the central pavilion. Only this time, he was standing next to another guy who also had a hands-free cable dangling from his ear. The second guy was holding some kind of handheld device, and both of them were looking intently at the screen. Then one of them looked over in Jules’s direction and gave the other a discreet nod aimed at the theater, and as he did, she saw it. A small dimple under his Windbreaker, one she knew was from a handgun that was slung in an underarm holster.
The back of her neck went all fuzzy with the sense of something bad about to happen.
Jules’s eyes locked on them, but the men stayed put. They looked straight past her and didn’t seem to register her. Her mind leapt ahead, as it had been trained to do, instantly assessing options. Best case, the guys were playing Angry Birds or checking sports scores. Worst case, they were hostiles. Which is what she read in their eyes and in their body language.
Meaning they were there because they were tracking Alex and Tess.
Meaning somehow, they had a GPS lock on them—with the most likely suspect being Tess’s phone.
But if that were the case, they didn’t seem to be looking to make their play now. They seemed to be waiting for Tess and Alex to come out, maybe to move out into the open—or to be in transit, in the car—before they took action.
Jules had no idea how many of them were deployed, but she knew that the last thing anyone needed was a gun battle in a crowded public place on a summer afternoon. And if the recent past was anything to go by, it was clear that this Raoul Navarro had no compunction about the loss of innocent lives and that he was set on getting to Reilly in any way he could, including through women and children.
Her mind scrambled for options, then it hit her—if the men were indeed cartel enforcers tracking Tess, she could use the GPS lock against them. She might be able to move Tess and Alex to safety with zero casualties. Her only doubt was whether to call Reilly back—as an agent he’d want to be kept up to speed, but as a father the last thing he needed was the play-by-plays. Villaverde had already taken her aside the day before and told her that although Reilly was right in the middle of whatever was going on, they needed to be careful that his personal involvement in the case didn’t cause any problems, not least for Reilly himself. Her priority was Alex. Taking down the bad guys could wait until the boy was safe.
Still, she had to call him.
She speed-dialed Reilly and described what she was seeing.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked.
He went silent for a quick second, then said, “Don’t engage them, okay? Do not engage them in any way. Like you said, we don’t know how many of them are there. There’s got to be cops in the plaza or close by. I’ll get you some backup.”
“Sean, I don’t want a shoot-out here. Not with all these people. Not with Alex and Tess in the middle of it.” Instead, she ran through her idea with him.
He exhaled with frustration, then said, “You’d be leaving them unguarded.”
“Yes, but with a bit of luck, they won’t have anyone on them.”
He went silent again, clearly juggling between unattractive options.
“I can do this, Sean,” she insisted. “It’ll work.”
“Okay. But be safe, Jules. No heroics. I mean it.”
She cracked a nervous smile and was suddenly aware of how quickly her heart was beating. “I’ll keep you posted.” Then she hung up.
44
Jules turned casually, walked over to the theater, and slipped inside. She spotted Tess and Alex immediately. They were sitting at the edge of a row, with Tess on the aisle seat and Alex beside her, his face all lit up with wonder.
Jules crouched down beside her.
“There’s a couple of guys outside. I think they might be bad news.”
She looked at Tess, making sure the information sank in calmly, before adding, “We don’t have much time. There’s a chance they’re tracking you through your cell, so I need you to give it to me. I’m going to use it to lead them away from you.”
“But—”
“I spoke to Sean,” she insisted, keeping her tone calm and low. “It’s the safest option. Give me your phone.”
Tess took out her iPhone and passed it to her. Jules guessed that the novelist had been through her share of potentially lethal situations and probably knew that efficiency was often the key to survival.
“Stay here for ten more minutes,” she told Tess. “Then meet me by the exit of the lot where we parked.”
She handed Tess the keys to her car. Jules reckoned it would take Tess and Alex no more than ten minutes to walk to the parking lot they’d left it in. Once the three of them had regrouped they could drive straight onto Park Boulevard and slip away.
“Good luck,” Tess said, before putting her hand on Jules’s forearm. “And thanks.”
Jules nodded, then skulked back toward the doors.
She turned off the iPhone, slipped it into a pocket, then left the theater. She hated leaving Tess and Alex
