Page 131 of Sheltering You

“We know what we’re doing.” Grant looked past Derrick at Michael. “We need to work together.”

Derrick wanted that, of course. He needed to pace, though, feeling too antsy to stand still. With everyone gathered, there wasn’t enough room.

They’d turned off most of the lights in the house right after Jasmine had shown him the email, so the large space felt dim and creepy. Qasim and his men might not have landed yet, but they could be watching from a boat. No sense leading them right to their target.

Michael quickly explained to his family about how Jasmine had been forced to marry, how she’d run away, how her husband wanted his kid.

How Derrick and Jasmine had gone to DC to try to help an old friend of hers.

“Because I’m a fool,” Jasmine said from the far side of the room.

Everyone turned her direction.

“Dari never cared about finding Rabie and Basma. It was all to find me.”

Yeah. That was what the email had said. According to Rabie, though Dari had said he’d retrieve him eventually, promising to buy him gifts and take him fun places, he’d never asked about where he and Basma were going. And he hadn’t asked him to get in touch with him after they relocated. All his questions had been about Derrick and Jasmine.

Basma had told Rabie the truth about Dari and his cruelty during the train ride to her cousin’s house, at which point, Rabie had confessed everything. He’d admitted his electronic game had been rigged, that he’d been communicating with Dari through it. He hadn’t had access to the game at the hotel in DC, and he hadn’t known where he was at Gavin’s cabin, which explained why Qasim’s men hadn’t caught up with them sooner.

But when he could, Rabie had answered all of Dari’s questions and passed along their whereabouts. That was how the thugs had caught up with them at the gas station.

And what else had Rabie learned? Derrick’s first name, and that his contact, Michael, was also his brother, which Derrick and Jasmine had said they weren’t going to tell him but had accidentally let slip.

And that Derrick owned a jet.

That wouldn’t have been enough. Not nearly enough.

But the kid was clever.

Jasmine’s cell phone had been in her suitcase. The night she’d gone to the pharmacy, Rabie had found it and powered it up. After Derrick had thrown the backpack out the window—including the game Rabie had used to communicate—he’d been furious.

So he’d texted Dari from her phone and shared all her contacts—all the Wrights’ full names and phone numbers—with all those Maine area codes.

If that was all he had, it would probably be enough to track them down—but it might not.

As if following Derrick’s line of thought, Sam asked, “How could they find us here, though? At camp?”

“Dariush is connected.” Michael’s gaze flicked to Sophie, seated on the floor.

All the color leached from her pale skin. “It’s not…it can’t be the Dariush from Germany?”

“It is.” Michael’s tone was grim. “It’s him.”

Derrick focused on Bryan’s future bride. “What are you talking about? You know him?”

“He was one of the guys who…”

“Dariush Ghazi, a.k.a. Dariush Shahin.” Michael took a breath and blew it out. “We’ve been searching for him, but he’s slippery. And he knows people.” He met Grant’s eyes. “We have to assume he’s already pinged her phone.”

“Even if he didn’t, we told Rabie where we’d be.” Derrick thought back to the conversation they’d had in the car after leaving Uncle Gavin’s cabin. “We told him the island was on Lake Huron. But Rabie knew about the house on the island, even about the party. He knows…everything. If Qasim checks real estate records, he’ll be able to find this place.”

Qasim was out there, getting closer every minute.

“What about the police? What did they say?” Mom’s eyes flicked from Derrick to Grant to Michael. She scooted closer to Dad, and he wrapped his arm around her and held her close.

Summer was seated cross-legged at the edge of the group. “Local police don’t have any boats running tonight. Got a call in to the Coast Guard, but I haven’t heard back. The guy I talked to didn’t give me a lot of hope. The storm’s stronger farther south. He didn’t think there were any vessels this far north, certainly none equipped for battle.”

What Derrick feared…