In silence, we reached the back entrance. It was more difficult to see and monitor, if there was a chance that Ivanov was watching. Did he have the technology Reid and Mason had mastered? I glanced at the woman by my side. Would she know?
Now, as the SUV drove through the early-morning coldness and dark Chicago streets on our way to the airport, I turned to Madeline. We had a few minutes. Removing Madeline’s phone from my suit coat’s inner pocket, I handed it toward her. “I believe you. I’d like to see a picture.”
Madeline reached out and took the phone. “Did they disable the GPS?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” When she looked up from the dark screen, her features were sad and thoughtful. “Has Andros left yet?”
“Not the last I heard.”
Her eyes grew wide. “We’re not going to the same airport, are we?”
“No, and currently, the signal from the bracelet is being disrupted. He doesn’t know where you are or what happened to the signal.”
Her head shook. “He doesn’t like the unknown. He likes total control.”
I huffed. “Too bad. He’s about to lose it.” When Madeline didn’t respond, I asked, “Will the boarding school release Ruby to him?”
Maddie nodded. “Yes.”
“And she’d go?”
“Yes.”
Swiping the phone’s screen, Madeline entered a code and as she waited, the sadness morphed to something happier. I could see it in her eyes and in the lifting of her cheeks.
“She really is beautiful,” Madeline said. “It’s not just a mother’s bias.” She extended her hand, offering me the phone. “I never thought this was possible, but, Patrick, may I introduce our daughter, Ruby Cynthia Miller.”
I considered myself a strong man. I risked millions of dollars in a poker tournament. I’d killed other men and watched as they bled out. I’d re-appropriated excessive amounts of funds, stealing from people and corporations and even royalty without batting an eye.
Yet as Madeline held her phone, the screen began to blur.
My eyes filled with moisture as the smiling brunette came into view. She looked like Madeline as I remembered her, the same hair and cheekbones. I blinked away the wetness as I settled against the seat. Stretching the photo on the screen I enlarged her face. I could have gone my entire life and not known that I had a child, but now, staring at her blue eyes, I knew without a DNA test that they were mine.
I blinked again and looked over at Madeline. “She looks like you.”
“With your eyes.”
“Why?” I asked.
Madeline extended her hand. There it lay, palm up between us. It would be easy to reach out and take it, to intertwine our fingers and pretend we hadn’t lost seventeen years, pretend she hadn’t shut me out of my daughter’s life. I didn’t do it. I never was one to take the easy road.
Sitting straighter, I asked again, “Why did you leave me?”
“May I just say that I didn’t? Please don’t make me relive any of that, not until I’m confident that Ruby is safe from a similar fate.”
My gut twisted with her answer.
She didn’t.
“You didn’t leave me?”
“Not the way you think. I know you deserve answers. Hell, Patrick, you deserve so much more than words, but right now all that matters is Ruby.”
“How secure is the boarding school?” I asked.
“Their security is why we chose it.”
I exhaled, returning her phone to my inner coat pocket. “We. Are you saying you and Andros Ivanov?”
“Yes, Patrick. I’m not going to lie to you. In truth, there is a long list of people...” She shrugged. “—some whose real names I’ll never know or recall—who I should hate. I don’t, not because they don’t deserve it, but because I only had the energy to truly despise one man. It’s Andros. I have also never needed someone as much as I needed him. At one time, I may have even been grateful for his appearance in my life. Sometimes, through the years, those positive emotions have emerged, but even then, they pale in comparison to my immense hatred for the man he is, what he has done, and what he’s capable of doing. Andros is incapable of love. I know that better than most. However, he has cared for Ruby.
“I have always appreciated that. My life has been...” She paused. “I don’t know if Andros saved me or secured my place in hell. I do know he has, up until now, never harmed Ruby. The threat was what kept me in my place. He knew from the first time we met that I’d do anything to keep her safe. I just don’t know why this one poker tournament was so important.”
“Because he wanted you here in Chicago. You said you didn’t tell him about us. You didn’t tell him you were married?”
“No.”
“Somehow he must have known. He knew that you were a distraction for the Sparrows, for me.”
The car slowed as Garrett drove us through the gate of the private airport. I looked down at my watch.
“It’s almost four in the morning. Once the wheels are up, we can be in Ann Arbor by five thirty.”
My phone rang. Pulling it from my coat I read the screen: REID.
“Arriving at the airport,” I said as I secured our connection.
“Leave the bracelet in the car.”
“All right. What’s the plan?”
“Once you take off, Mason’s going to take Ivanov on a wild goose chase around Chicago while you get to Ruby’s school.”
Yes, I’d filled my friends in on all Madeline had said. After all, one of Sparrow’s last directives was communication.
“How long do you think you can delay him?” I asked.
“Not sure. We’ve got eyes on him. Hillman is still here, too.”
I inhaled. “They have to know we’re going to go after Ruby. Why are they waiting?”
“We’ll tell you what we know, when we know it,” Reid said. “You do the same. The GPS on your and Garrett’s phones is secure. We’ll be watching.”
By the time I hung up, the SUV had come to a stop outside one of the Sparrow hangars. The plane was already out and the steps were down. I couldn’t guess at how many times I’d boarded one of Sparrow’s planes or how many times I’d put myself at risk for the man and the outfit. Each time it was done without hesitation. This felt different.
I turned to Madeline. “If you’re lying to me, I don’t care if I love you, I will kill you.”
“If we don’t save Ruby, I don’t want to live.”
The door beside me opened. “Sir,” Garrett said.
“What did that person on the phone say?” Madeline asked.
Instead of answering her, I scooted out of the car, turned and offered her my hand.
As the cool winter air blew about us on the tarmac, I placed my hand in the small of her back; the soft oversized sweatshirt was beneath my palm. “Let’s go, Mrs. Kelly, and get our daughter.”
Madeline
The cabin around me was luxury at its finest. I didn’t care about the white leather seats or the faux gold trim. The surroundings were insignificant as I mindlessly drummed the tips of my fingernails against the leather armrest. Their resulting taps floated away, engulfed by the hums and workings of the airplane as we neared Ann Arbor.