Raeburn stood rigidly, shaking his head. Then gestured at Croft with a tilt of his head. “Go with him. Keep him from making this an even bigger clusterfuck.”

“Yes, sir,” Croft said respectfully.

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2:00 P.M.

“Where are we going?” Liza asked, proud that she didn’t sound afraid even though she was. But she’d faced worse and knew that Tom was searching for her. She only hoped the FBI was no longer looking for the ambulance.

DJ had forced her from the vehicle, abandoning it behind what appeared to be a grocery store that had been closed for some time. He’d shoved her into a white Ford Explorer that had been parked, waiting for them.

He’d stolen this SUV the night before, or so he’d bragged to Pastor. He’d left it here, knowing he’d need something sturdier to get Pastor up the mountain roads.

He was probably telling the truth about going up into the mountains. They’d bypassed the interstates for a back road and were headed north.

“Eden,” Pastor rasped from the back seat. DJ had moved Pastor from the ambulance to the back of the stolen Explorer with care. Whether it was genuine care or not, Liza couldn’t be sure.

“We are,” DJ said amiably. “And since the Feds cut Pastor’s recovery short, you will be his nurse. I won’t abide by him getting poor-quality care. He’s too important to all of us.”

In the back seat, Pastor beamed. That was, apparently, the right thing to say.

Liza didn’t believe DJ, even if Pastor did. There was an oily quality to DJ’s words. He did not have Pastor’s charisma, for sure. It felt like he was pacifying Pastor. But why?

For the money, she realized. It almost always came down to money. Waylon had figured out Pastor’s cipher system for the banking codes, but DJ didn’t know it. If he had, she didn’t think he’d have stuck around. He’d have stolen the money for himself.

She also didn’t believe that DJ intended to have her care for Pastor. He’d likely kill her when he no longer needed a hostage. She wasn’t going to make it easy for him, though.

She’d been thinking through the various scenarios and how she could best buy the time Tom needed to find her. Mercy and Gideon believed DJ had lied to Pastor to stay in his good graces so he could get the money. If that was true, pitting the two men against each other might be the best strategy. It might get her killed, but she figured that was in DJ’s eventual playbook regardless of what she did.

“Then, as his nurse, I recommend you take him back. From what I’ve heard about Eden, it doesn’t have a lot of conveniences. Not to mention medical resources.”

DJ eyed her as they sped north on a rural route. “What do you know about Eden?”

Where to start? She sifted through all the information Margo Kitson had provided. “I know that it wasn’t supposed to be permanent.”