Pushing off the floor, she returned to her laptop. Fighting her mounting panic, she switched tracks. Instead of searching for the facility, she would see what she could find out about Maya and Craig Fields’ plans to adopt.
As she perused their social media accounts, she remembered meeting the couple at Birdie and Charlene’s holiday party. Beneath one photo of the couple, Maya had written: “Exciting news coming soon!” They’d posted another selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower. That picture had been posted several hours ago. This time, they’d written: “Been sitting on something wonderful for a while. Can’t wait to share!”
Her pulse soared. She’s talking about Robert!
Dread powered through her, but voices in the hallway snagged her attention.
“Where’s Jacoby?” a woman asked, the stress in her voice slicing through the silence.
“I’m taking you to him.” Sin’s strong, calm voice soothed Evangeline.
Sanchez entered the break room. “Sin filled me in. How can I help?”
Evangeline showed her the social media posts. “I need to know if Maya and Craig Fields are connected to Uncle Charlie and where The Institute is located.”
“Why don’t you take five and let me see what I can dig up?” Sanchez opened her laptop.
Like a caged lioness, Evangeline paced in the hallway.
Sin returned and drew her into his arms. “How are you doing?”
Gazing up at him, she felt herself starting to crumble, but mustered the strength to keep it together. “I’m okay. How’s your leg?”
“It’s fine, along with the rest of me.” He tipped her chin, dropped a light peck on her lips. “We’ll find them. Is Sanchez hacking into their accounts?”
She nodded. “Looks like the Fields’ are in Paris, which means they don’t’ have Robert yet. How’s Jacoby?”
“He’s stable. Dr. Joyce said the damage was much less than the blood loss indicated. Thank you for stopping Monty.” Sin paused. “Thank you for doing what had to be done.”
“The police should have been called, along with the FBI. I’m not sure which side of the law I’m on right now.”
He pulled her in for a comforting hug. “Let’s find Hannah and Robert before we go there.”
“I might have found something,” Sanchez called out.
They hurried in and pulled up chairs alongside her. “I hacked into Maya’s email account and changed her password and security questions. That should buy us some time.” Then, she pointed to an unread email from Uncle Charlie.
“Open it,” Sin instructed.
Subject: Your package is ready for pick up.
Show this barcode to the front desk attendant when you arrive. Final payment is due at time of pick up. Congratulations and good luck.
Evangeline reread the email. “My gut tells me the package is Robert.”
“I agree, but we still don’t know where The Institute is.” Sin rose. “I’m going to grab a laptop from Dakota’s office and see what I can find.”
“I’ll hack into the husband’s email account next,” Sanchez said.
Evangeline’s phone rang. “It’s my mom. She’s probably worried about Hannah.”
Stopping in the doorway, Sin asked, “Can you stall her?”
On a nod, she answered. “Hey, Mom.”
“I’ve been texting and calling Hannah, but she’s not answering. I’m worried.”
“She’s spending time with Birdie.” Evangeline hated lying to her mom, but if she didn’t, her mom would call the police, the FBI and anyone else she could think of. While that would be a smart move under normal circumstances, this situation was anything but. Evangeline had to protect her from the terrifying, dark truth.
“Why didn’t she tell me?” her mom asked.
“Last minute thing,” Evangeline said.
“Can you let me know when she gets home?”
“You’ll be the first person I call,” Evangeline said and hung up.
The doctor poked her head into the room. “Evangeline, I want to examine you. Can I borrow you for a few?”
“I’m fine,” she balked.
“You’ve been under a lot of stress. Let’s use the empty room next door and I’ll check your blood pressure. It’ll take two minutes.”
After unlocking Dakota’s computer, Sin called Z, the man who worked alone in the basement of the Justice building.
“Hello,” Z said.
“I need your help.”
The line went dead.
A moment later, Sin’s phone lit up with a blocked caller ID. “Hello.”
“What do you need?” asked Z.
“The location of a facility called The Institute. It may have to do with adoptions.”
“I’ll call you back.” Again, the line went dead.
While waiting, Sin initialized his own search, using a top-secret database not privy to most. As his query ran, he glanced around Dakota’s barebones office. Aside from the desk and chair, the room was empty. Dakota’s black site was devoid of anything that could identify him.
He opened a desk drawer and extracted three tiny communication earpieces. Four minutes passed. Sin’s patience had run out hours ago, but he forced himself to focus on the task at hand. Once he achieved that, he could move on to the next. Bit by bit, they’d hammer everything out and find Hannah and Robert.
Sin’s phone rang. Z gave him an address and hung up.
Dakota walked in. “Monty’s been handled.”
“How?” Sin asked.
“Cremation.” He eyed the comm devices in Sin’s hand. “Any luck?”
“I’ve got the address for The Institute.” Sin pushed out of the chair. “I’ll be going dark.”
“Jacoby’s in good hands,” Dakota replied. “I’ve got this.”
As the brothers strode down the hallway, Sin said, “It could have turned out differently for Monty.”
“From day one, he was never willing to put in the time or the effort. He was all about instant gratification.” Dakota shook his head. “If Evangeline hadn’t stopped him, it would have turned out differently for us.”
“Hey.”
Sin and Dakota turned as Evangeline and the doctor exited the exam room.
“You okay?” Sin asked.
“The picture of health, aside from my elevated blood pressure and rapid heart rate.”
“Excuse me,” said Dr. Joyce. “I’m going to check on Mr. Jones before I head out.” She eyed each of them. “Take care of yourselves, okay?” And with that, she walked down the hall.
Evangeline eyed Dakota. “What happened to Monty?”
“I took care of it,” he replied.
“Won’t forensics find our fingerprints?” she asked. “What about our skin residue?”
“There’s no body to find.” Dakota offered nothing more.
While Sin could live with what they’d done, he worried that Evangeline could not.
“I’ve got the location of The Institute,” Sin interjected. “It’s thirty-eight minutes away.”