“For the record, you promised me a whole lot if I gave up my other three.”

“Worked, didn’t it?” She aimed her firearm at him. “Drive. I have someplace to be.”

We stopped at a gas station with an accompanying McDonald’s long enough to switch the SUV for a Toyota and fill it up with gas. I begged for a bathroom break, and Marissa insisted Aria go with us. Made me wonder if Eli might set her free. Inside, I looked for anything to write on or with, a way to let Denton know our location. Verbally alerting anyone invited Marissa to open fire.

Nothing.

In the restroom, Marissa watched Aria wash her hands. “Hurry up.”

Aria stuck her hands under the air dryer. My sister kept her hand positioned inside her shoulder bag. No doubt her forefinger rested on the trigger.

An employee entered the restroom, and Marissa kept her focus on Aria. I caught the young woman’s attention and mouthed help. The girl rolled her eyes and entered a stall. Hope shattered. How would Denton and Mike find us?

If at all.

Or alive.

Marissa ordered us back to the car. Except Eli was nowhere in sight. She visually swept the area and cursed. “Coward. He always runs when he’s mad. But I’m not in the mood for his games.” She slid into the driver’s seat of the Toyota and pressed the engine to life.

Eli had abandoned us with the keys in the ignition.

82

DENTON

Radar surveillance and security cameras confirmed the helicopter had landed on the roof of a northwest Miami parking garage, obscuring the view of two fleeing cars: an SUV and a Lexus sedan. The camera footage showed Melissa, Shelby, and Aria had been on board the chopper, but we didn’t know which car or cars they’d entered before escaping the scene. The two bodyguards had disappeared . . . finding them could provide the info we needed.

Hours later, roadblocks were in place, but both vehicles had been found in opposite directions. One was abandoned near Coral Springs and the other south near Sweetwater. No cameras were in either area. An intentional and preplanned effort. We had no option but to rely on the public taking notice of a BOLO, which listed Shelby Pearce and Aria Stover as kidnap victims. We added Marissa Stover and possibly Eli Chandler and Feng Liu as armed-and-dangerous suspects.

The BOLO expanded to surrounding states, including public and private airports.

I paced the Miami FBI office. “Where’s Feng Liu?”

“In the wind.”

“True. My guess he’s in on this, and he and Marissa could have plans to leave the country together. Shelby and Aria serve as hostages, but what happens when their usefulness disappears? And where does Eli Chandler fit?”

“Denton, we know the answers. Marissa doesn’t leave survivors. Why are they traveling by car? Marissa could have left the country by now and is over international waters.”