Lab, the head of security, Neal Keats. The man towered over the other agents and wore an earpiece, his gaze locked on Casey.
Security, she thought. A standard-issued fed, maybe Secret Service.
'Sergey,' Casey said, 'I've decided to let Dr McCormick into the investigation.'
'And Jackson Cooper,' she said.
Casey nodded. 'And Jackson Cooper.'
Sergey didn't so much as glance at her, but she caught the hardness in the man's gaze, a single-minded determination fighting like hell against a mounting horror.
'I have the plane in the air, with the lab people,' he said. 'Everyone we need is on it. Brightest minds and the best equipment.'
'What's going on?' Casey said.
Sergey's voice was calm now, like a doctor steeling himself before handing over a terminal diagnosis to a patient. 'You need to stand here and listen to me. You need to hear all of it.'
'Tell me now.'
'The bastards found the safe house. Taylor — wait, Jack.'
Sergey had blocked Casey's path. Pressed both hands against Casey's chest and pushed like a man keeping a stone statue from toppling over. Casey was a good foot taller than Sergey and three times as wide and doing everything in his power to shove the agent aside and then race through the blockade of suits crowding the doorway. Darby could only think, You're going to need more bodies.
'Taylor and Sarah aren't there,' Sergey said. 'Did you hear me? Taylor and Sarah aren't there.'
'The implants, you said — '
'The satellites locked on to their signals. We got a blip in Connecticut and then the signals vanished, we don't know why yet.
'Now listen to me, Jack. Listen. The plane's going to touch down in Florida at any minute. I've been on the phone with the Sarasota police. They're at the house now, and they promised not to go inside the house until our people arrive. We're going to get the crime scene fresh. The forensic guy you like, Drake? He's going to go into the house. Alone. He's going in with a video camera. We're going to have it linked up to a secured satellite link and you're going to be able to see and hear everything inside the techs' van. We're setting up the equipment right now. We're — '
'Are you out of your goddamn mind? I'm not staying here — '
'Listen to me, Jack. Listen. They're bringing your wife and daughter here. Here. The Boston office received a phone call from a young girl claiming to be your daughter. Came in a couple of hours ago. I heard it. They patched the recording to my phone. It's her voice, Jack. Sarah's. It didn't sound doctored or spliced together. It was Sarah's voice, Jack, I'm certain of it.'
Something — maybe the relief of knowing his wife and daughter were alive, or maybe just the hope of it — made Casey back off. Sergey's hands dropped and fell to his sides. His olive-skinned forehead shone with perspiration.
Casey, to his credit, forced himself to stay in the room. His attention retreated inward, but the fear and worry and panic were all still there, radiating off him like waves of heat.
'Sarah gave an address,' Sergey said. 'It's local. She said you have to go there alone. Just you, no federal agents or Secret Service.'
Darby glanced back to Keats, thinking she was right about him, about his being Secret Service.
Casey said, 'And do what?'
'Wait for her to call. She said she's going to call. At one.'
Darby checked her watch. Quarter to nine.
'I think Taylor's with her,' Sergey said. 'I heard crying in the background. Sounded like a woman.'
48
Darby spoke up for the first time: 'What's the address?'
Both Sergey and Casey snapped their attention to her, startled, and glared at her as if to say, Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?
'No. 62 Mason,' Sergey said. 'The house — '
'Is where the Rizzo family lived in Brookline,' Darby finished for him.
Sergey nodded.
'Who's there now?'
'Family named Hu,' he said. 'Two daughters, ages six and nine.'
Darby saw the knowledge in the man's eyes and said, 'They're dead.'
'I can't say that for sure, not yet.' A visible sadness swept through his voice and body. 'We pulled the family's records, got their numbers and started making calls. Father hasn't shown up for work and daughters haven't been to school.'
'How long?'
'Three days.'
'Mother?'
'Works from home.' Sergey flicked his weary gaze back to Casey. 'I haven't sent anyone to scope out the house yet. I wanted to get your input first since you know these people better than anyone else.'
Fear rose in Casey's eyes and the man tightened his jaw against it. She sensed most of the people here were afraid — afraid that their lives could possibly be at stake. But they didn't know how to hold the terror. They didn't have Casey's experience, and she sensed they were looking to him not only for direction but also for guidance as to how to act. And Casey knew it. He stood steady on his feet, thinking over the rising swells of fear for his wife and daughter, and looked away from the gazes.
A cell phone rang. Sergey reached into his pocket and took the call. Motioned to Casey to give him a moment.
Casey turned to the desk where she had sat with Coop and ran the big fingers of one hand along the edges.
Darby needed to say what came next. Casey probably already knew it, but the words still had to be spoken out loud.
She went over to the door, shut it and then returned to him. He was still running a hand across the edge of the desk. She could hear Sergey whispering in the corner, murmured voices and ringing phones coming from somewhere beyond the wall.
'Special Agent Casey — '
'Jack,' he said, absently. 'I'm not a federal investigator any more.'
'But you were one once, Jack, so you know you can't go to the house.'
'They won't kill me. Not yet.' His voice sounded flat. Detached. 'They're going to send me a message first.'
'They already did. The phone call from your daughter.'
Casey shook his head. 'That was to get my attention. Now they'll give me a demonstration of their intentions. Why else would they deliberately pick the Rizzo house?'
'They left something there for you to find. Something they want you to see.'
'Right.'
'Have they done something like this before?'
'What's that?'
'Have they contacted an investigator?' she asked. 'Taken a family member?'
'Or, in my case, an entire family.' He shook his head. 'This is a first.'
'The Rizzo house is in a rural neighbourhood. Lots of trees, lots of places for a sniper to hide. You go there,
