“Not without an interpreter.”
Caden rubbed his eyes. “Okay, what about a contract linguist?”
He could hear the clicking on the keyboard. “Yeah, but not one close by.” More clicking. “It will take someone a while to get there. Even pushing the paperwork through and all that, it’ll be several hours.”
He sighed. “Fine. You get it arranged and we’ll have to pray he’s not out there killing again while we’re waiting.”
“Or . . .” She drew out the word.
“Or what?”
“You could use Ava. I’m sure we could add linguist to her consultant contract pretty easily.”
“Um, no. We’re not using Ava.”
“Use me for what?”
Caden’s head snapped up to see Ava holding two cups of coffee. “Oh, hey.”
“She heard you, didn’t she?” Daria asked.
“Yes.”
Ava raised a brow at him and handed him his coffee. He sighed. “If I tell you what we don’t want to use you for, you’re probably going to insist we do it, aren’t you?”
Amusement flickered in her eyes. “It’s kind of scary how well you’ve gotten to know me.”
“He’d recognize you.”
She shrugged. “I’ll wear a disguise. A wig, a hat, and some sunglasses should do the trick. Who will recognize me and what do I need a disguise for?”
“Ava—”
She simply stared at him and he groaned. His stress level was going to kill him if nothing else did. Into the phone, he said, “Daria, I guess you’d better run that contract linguist thing by Gary.”
She snickered, then cleared her throat. “I’m on it.”
He hung up and turned to Ava, who had her arms crossed and that brow still as far north as it could go. “What are you not wanting to use me for?”
He rubbed his forehead, wishing he had a few ibuprofen he could pop, but told her what Daria had found out and what he was thinking. “I would go with you,” he said, “but I don’t feel like I can leave just yet. Frank is a top-notch agent. He’ll watch out for you and you’ll have backup close by if anything—” He scowled. “But nothing is going to happen, so it’s fine. Right?”
“Of course. So, if Nicolai’s not there, you think the aunt might know where he is and you want to do a kind of recon?”
“Something like that. We’ve got agents and local officers watching, but I don’t want to scare him off by approaching or using direct force if we don’t have to. I don’t want to run the risk of the aunt being an innocent pawn in all of this.”
She shrugged. “I’m happy to help.”
“I’m shocked.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “So, when do we do this?”
“I’ll let you know.” He spotted the doctor at the door, his gaze roaming the waiting room. When the lady at the desk pointed at Sarah, Caden took Ava’s hand and led her to join the group.
Sarah stood, coffee cup in one hand, Gavin’s fingers gripped tight with the other. “Well?”
The doctor sighed. “It’s hard to say what’s going to happen at this point. He’s definitely had a heart attack. It was touch and go for a while there, but we’ve got him stable for now and are transferring him to surgery. He’s got a ninety-five percent blockage in two arteries.”
Sarah gasped. “Can we see him?”
“He’s unconscious. I’d rather you wait until we get him through surgery. He’ll be in ICU for a while after that.”
Sarah bit her lip and nodded. “Who’s the cardiologist?”
“Dr. Dale Haywood. He’s the best.”
Caden felt Ava’s hand slip from his. “I’ll want to double-check that with Heather.” He glanced at Ava and noticed her texting.
She looked up, caught him watching, and waved her phone at him. She’d texted Heather almost before he’d finished forming the sentence.
The woman continued to stupefy him. How had she known? It didn’t matter. Hopefully, Heather would answer within the next few minutes, or his father was going into surgery with someone whose track record they didn’t know.
And while his father was fighting for his life, Caden would be fighting to catch a killer before he struck again.
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
Four hours later, Ava sat with Sarah and Brooke, itching to pull her phone out and watch the video John had sent but didn’t feel like she should, while Caden paced and Gavin examined something on his phone. Every once in a while Caden would walk over and sit next to her and take her hand in his. Then he’d give her fingers a squeeze, rise, and resume his trek from one side of the waiting room to the other.
She didn’t mind waiting with Caden. On the contrary, she was more than happy she could be here for him.
But the thought of her father being alive wouldn’t leave her alone. Where was he? Why hadn’t he tried to get in touch with her? Was he okay? In danger? What was her next step in locating him?
“Ava?”
She jerked from her thoughts and lifted her eyes to find Sarah next to her. Brooke had disappeared, but a small smile curved Sarah’s lips. “She’s in the bathroom.”
Again. “Bless her.”
The smile flipped. “What’s going on with you, Ava?”
“What do you mean?”
“We haven’t had a chance to have a good discussion.” Sarah glanced at her watch. “The doctor said it could be another hour and I’ve been thinking.”
Uh-oh. “About?”
“You’ve never said why someone’s been attacking you. Why your mom and Nathan might be in danger. Even Gavin said Caden’s been vague and noncommittal.”
And yet, her friends continued to help without knowing all the details. She shook her head, more grateful than she could express. But now that her father might still be alive, she had to revert back to her secrets. Her lies.
Didn’t she? What could she say?
As much of the truth as she could. She cleared her throat. “I’ll explain as much as I can if you promise not to ask questions about anything you don’t understand.”
“Oookay. I’ll do my best.”
Ava nodded and rubbed her eyes. “My father used to work for the government years ago.” Sarah’s brows rose, but she stayed silent. “His travel writing was a cover to explain away his many absences—although,” Ava continued, “he did do the travel writing, too, simply because he enjoyed it.” Which was true, because he’d often read them to her before sending them off to his editor—or whoever. “Anyway, before he died, he must have gotten involved with some sketchy people, because they’ve now started coming after me. And the case that Caden’s working on is somehow connected to whatever my father was involved in.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Sketchy people who do what?” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “Can I ask that?”
“Sure. Unfortunately, I don’t know. That’s the problem. But Caden thought I could help them, so that’s why we’ve been spending so much time together.”