Even in the Darkness. Shirlee McCoy

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      Twenty minutes too long. She needed to be in Mae Hong Son now. Anxiety clawed at her stomach, burning a fiery trail up her throat. She swallowed it down and tried to speak past her fear. “I’ve got a hundred baht more for you if you get me there in ten.”

      The driver nodded, turning down another street and picking up speed.

      Hurry. Hurry. The words thundered through Tori’s mind, a dizzying accompaniment to her racing pulse. How many days had passed since she’d given the box to the jeweler Chet Preteep? Five? Six? He’d told her then that it would take a week to make a locket like the one Tori wore, the one Melody had admired so much. A week, and then he’d put the locket in the rosewood trinket box Tori had provided and deliver it to Melody.

      Tori glanced down at her wrist, looking for the date on her watch. But her watch had been taken, as had her locket and other jewelry. Was it already too late? Had the box been delivered? Tori shuddered at the thought of what that might mean for Melody. “What day is it?”

      “Huh?”

      “The day. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.”

      “Yes.”

      “It’s Thursday?”

      “Yes.”

      Five days. Maybe she wasn’t too late. She settled back into the seat, caught the driver eyeing her in the rearview mirror and lowered her head so that her hair fell forward. How bad were the bruises? She didn’t dare try to get a look, could only imagine what the driver had seen. Would he talk to friends and family? Mention the bruised foreigner who had paid him double the fare to take her to the bus station? And if he did, how long would it be before the men who’d kidnapped her found her again?

      Bone-deep cold, scared in a way she hadn’t been in years, Tori tugged her sweater tight around aching ribs and tried desperately to come up with a plan. Her mind raced with images of Melody, beaten and tortured, her eyes filled with fear and pain. Tori had to get to Mae Hong Son before the box was delivered, had to make sure that the men who’d abducted her didn’t get their hands on Melody.

      She leaned her head back against the seat, trying to clear her mind, but it was too filled with terror and worry to focus. One minute she’d been packing, getting ready to return home. The next, she’d been chained to a wall, questions screamed into her face. Why?

      She didn’t have an answer. All she knew was that her longed-for trip to Thailand had turned into a nightmare, and because of that, Melody and her parents were in danger.

      Please, God, keep them safe. Help me get there in time.

      The prayer echoed through Tori’s mind, a desperate plea. One she doubted would be answered. She’d lived life on her own terms for too long to expect help from God now. Tears clogged her throat and swam behind her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Like praying, crying did no good. Clear thinking, determination—those were the things that would get her out of the mess she was in.

      Up ahead, buses lined the road. A swarm of people hovered on the sidewalk waiting to board. Soon Tori would be waiting with them, ready to travel back to Mae Hong Son and the box that shouldn’t have been a threat, but was.

      “Bus terminal.” The driver pulled up in front of the entrance.

      Tori handed him payment and pushed open the door.

      Despite the warmth of the day, she felt cold, fear shivering along her spine. She wouldn’t let it stop her. With a deep, calming breath, she stepped out into the crowd.

      

      “You have her?”

      “Yeah.” Noah Stone spoke into the cell phone as he followed his quarry inside the bus terminal.

      “Guess your informant gave you good information.”

      “It pays to have contacts.” Even if they were slimy as eels and twice as nasty.

      “You at the airport?”

      “’Fraid not.”

      “So she decided not to take the easy route home.” Jack McKenzie’s voice was calm, easy. As always.

      “It’s what we were banking on.”

      “You don’t sound too happy about it.”

      “Using civilians doesn’t sit well with me.”

      “Not a civilian. A courier, paid to pass information for the Wa.”

      “We don’t know that for sure.”

      “And we don’t know anything different. Her record might be clean, but there are plenty of others just like her who’ve gone bad.”

      “Can’t argue with that.” And he wouldn’t try. Not when he’d known so many people who were clean on the surface and dirty deep down where it counted.

      “One way or another, she’s got the box. Once we’ve secured it, we’ll give her a chance to tell her story.”

      “You’re assuming we’ll be able to secure it.”

      “With you here, it’s a safe assumption.”

      “Guess that depends on whether Ms. Riley goes along with our plan.” He watched as Tori stepped to a wall of pay phones and made a call.

      “She will. The information on the box is worth millions. She won’t leave the country without it.”

      “She’s on the move. I’ll keep in touch.” He slipped the phone into his pocket and stepped into line at a ticket counter, his gaze tracking Tori as she stepped into a line half the building away. She stood with her head high, her shoulders straight. Only someone looking closely would notice the bluish welts on her face, or the way her hand shook as she paid for a ticket and shoved it into her pocket.

      She might be in deep with Lao, perhaps deep enough to double-cross him and grab the box, but Noah doubted it. There’d been something in her eyes when he’d freed her—a softness that seemed too genuine to fake. That, and a quiet desperation that surpassed greed or fear for herself. She was terrified, but heading back into the fray. Why?

      Her daughter. It was the obvious answer, one Noah couldn’t discount. If Tori was what she appeared to be—a small-town veterinarian who’d come to Thailand to visit the daughter she’d given up in an open adoption thirteen years before—then her first instinct would be to ensure the safety of the girl.

      If she was what she seemed.

      The DEA had good reason to suspect otherwise. Noah would reserve judgment. He’d follow Tori, find out what had sent her running from safety. Then he’d know more about her motivation and her guilt.

      A white bus rattled to a stop in front of the terminal and Tori hurried outside. Noah followed, holding back as she purchased a straw hat from a vendor. Then he followed her onto the bus. One quick glance found Tori squeezed into a backseat between two Thai women. From her position she’d have a good view out the back window. Maybe she thought she’d catch a glimpse of any pursuers. If so, she had no idea the caliber of СКАЧАТЬ