Susan scooted forward on her knees and peered at the image on the monitor. A man was walking over the bridge, approaching the gate.

“Is that Jack?” Bear asked Richard.

“Can’t tell yet,” Richard answered.

“It’s Archie,” Susan said.

He was wearing different clothes, but it was Archie—she was positive. She knew his hunched shoulders and the way he kept his elbows bent, hands in his pockets, when he walked. He stopped at the gate and waited as it swung open. Then he stepped through it and got something out of his pocket and held it up.

“What’s he doing?” Richard asked.

“Looking for a signal,” Bear said.

He seemed to find one, because he bent his head over his phone for a minute.

“He’s sending a text,” Bear said.

“Should we pick him up?” Richard asked.

“Give him a minute,” Bear said. “See what he does.”

Archie got his car keys out of his pocket and held them loosely in his hand.

“He’s walking to his car,” Richard said. “The valets parked along the road last night.”

“It’s the Taurus,” Bear said. “It’s a quarter mile back.”

Susan heard the sound of tires on gravel. Someone had just pulled up behind the van. Sanchez, probably. It was about time.

Susan’s phone buzzed. Her bag was behind her so she was the only one who heard it.

She reached around and pulled her phone out and looked at it.

One new text from Archie Sheridan.

She opened it.

It read, Don’t talk to Sanchez.

Susan’s mouth felt dry.

There was a knock on the back of the van.

Bear reached back to unlock the door. “There’s your ride,” he said to Susan as he threw the door open.

Susan blinked into the sudden brightness. A short Latino man stared back at her. He had rough-hewn skin and thick dark hair, and features that looked like they’d been whittled by someone who didn’t really know how to whittle but had decided to take a stab at it anyway. He smiled at her and lifted his eyebrows. “Susan,” he said. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Um, hi?” she said.

Sanchez held out a hand. “Let’s go,” he said. “We can talk in the car.”

How was she supposed to get out of this one? Susan glanced down at her phone and, in one quick motion, deleted the text.

Then she took Sanchez’s hand and stepped out of the van.

Chapter 20

CHAPTER

20

Sanchez had taken Susan to the FBI’s Portland Field Office. Archie had arranged to meet them there. In the meantime, he could only hope that Susan had gotten his text.