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She sighed. The same conversation had played out three times in the past twenty-four hours. She was scheduled to go into San Diego to the headquarters of one of her clients to do some onsite work. Nothing unusual, she did it every few weeks, but it happened to fall on the final day of the month—the deadline to find her father.
“Stay here and finish decoding the file,” he said.
“I’ve told you. There’s nothing for me to do until the program is done running.” After several attempts, she’d found the best software to crack the file, which had been doing its job for six days. She’d explained to Cole that was normal in the computer world, but it didn’t seem to sink in.
“You can’t leave the house today,” he said, his tone firm as if his word was law. “It’s not safe.”
“Nothing’s happened.” She was as frustrated as he was with the situation. “We’ve been trapped in the house for days. You’ve been prowling around and checking the security cameras you installed. Have you seen anything to indicate that we’re being watched or that an attack is imminent?” There hadn’t even been any threats since that first letter.
“No, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t. It’s easy to spy on people in the twenty-first century. Reschedule your trip to the office. Trust that I know what I’m talking about.” He bounced Eddy on his knee as they talked. After her initial reluctance, she’d let Cole share responsibility for Eddy. Slowly, he’d taken on more and more baby duty, giving her time to work on the encrypted file and catch up on her contracted work. She had noted that Eddy was all smiles when his daddy was in the room and went to him as easily as he did to her. Amazing how fast that had happened.
Her emotions about that were complicated. Every child should know his father and have an attachment to him. But she and Eddy had finally gotten to a place where they were doing just fine on their own. In those first few months, she’d had plenty of sleepless nights and times when she’d wished there had been another adult to share both the feedings and the miles she’d walked around her place, trying to comfort the baby. If that imaginary person had always been Cole, was that any surprise? But he hadn’t been there then—and he wouldn’t be here for much longer. She just hoped that as easy as it had been to get used to his presence, it would be just as easy to get used to his absence when he was gone.
“I can’t. Really. This is important to me.” Working as a freelancer had been great for her in a lot of ways. She could set her own hours, pick projects that interested her, and live wherever she wanted. In this case, it was her dad’s house in Coronado, which he’d rarely used, claiming it was much too large for him, and was happy to turn it over to her. She’d been grateful since there was no way she could afford the high rents on the island and it kept her closer to her dad, even if they didn’t see each other very often. But being a freelancer had its pitfalls, too. She couldn’t lose a client or afford to get a reputation for failing to come through. “Why don’t you come with me if you’re that worried?”
“Of course I’d come. No way are you going anywhere by yourself,” he said. Did that mean he was bending on this?
“Okay then. We’ll need to leave by eight.” Stating that was a risk, but she took it.
His blue eyes darkened, and she waited for him to object. Finally, he sighed. “Might as well go. Security is an issue today whether we’re home or not. What’s your usual routine when you go to this company?”
She thought about that for a second. “I leave here at eight, drop Eddy off at a sitter, and drive into the city.”
“I need more details,” he demanded. “What route do you take?”
With a huff, she explained exactly what highways and streets she traveled on. “Then I go through the drive-thru at a Starbucks a block from the office for a mocha. I park at a garage across the street, enter through the main lobby, and take the elevator to the fifth floor.”
“How many floors are there in the building?” he asked.
“Six, I think,” she said, trying to picture the buttons in the elevator. “I can’t guarantee that’s what I always do, but that’s the general routine I follow.”
“Most people like routines,” he said. “It makes them feel safe. In this case, a routine is dangerous. If they’ve been watching you for any length of time, they’ll know all those details and will be expecting them. We’ll leave a half hour earlier if you can be ready.”
She was already dressed for the office, so she nodded when she really wanted to cheer her victory. She’d won this round with Cole. He didn’t like it—she could see that all over his face—but he was allowing it. “I’ll pack a bag for Eddy and meet you in the garage.” She got up from the table before he could change his mind about going.
True to his word, they did nothing as she normally would. Since he could care for Eddy, they didn’t stop at the sitter. He took a roundabout way into the city, watching the mirrors constantly for someone following them. She’d have to live without her mocha because he didn’t stop at any of the Starbucks they drove past. She pointed out the garage where she always parked, and he intentionally went past it to another. They entered the building through the one next to it and took the stairs up two levels before getting on the elevator. It all felt like something out of a spy novel, but if it meant she could go to work, she wasn’t going to complain.
She had a meeting scheduled for the afternoon, but during the morning she usually used an office with a window facing the street. Cole immediately pulled the blinds shut and closed the office door.
“Satisfied?” she asked, taking a seat behind the desk. “It’s perfectly safe.”
“I’m not taking any chances today,” he responded as he spread a blanket on the floor for Eddy to play on. “Just get your work done so we can go home.”
She didn’t bother to answer but pulled two laptops from her bag. She opened the one and checked in on the decryption program to make sure it was still running. The program was worming its way deeper into the encrypted file. It couldn’t be much longer. On the second laptop, she connected to the company’s server and got to work.
Three hours later as it approached lunchtime, she wondered if Cole’s security measures had been a waste of time. Everything was normal, boring in fact. Blessedly, Eddy had been content to play with Cole and nap. She doubted that would last throughout the afternoon, but Cole had become adept at sensing the baby’s changes in mood and placating him.
At ten minutes before noon, a knock sounded on the door and Cole went on alert. He scooped up Eddy and held the baby close against his chest on the left side while his other hand dropped to his waist on the right. Did he have a weapon under the edge of his shirt?
“Who is it?” Kelsey asked.
“It’s Heather.” Kelsey recognized the voice as belonging to an administrative assistant with the company. “Can I come in?”
Kelsey nodded to Cole, letting him know that she recognized Heather’s voice. He cautiously opened the door. Heather’s eyes grew large when she saw Eddy and Cole. “Oh, I assumed you were alone.”
“Babysitting issues,” Kelsey explained. “Is something wrong?”
Heather drew in a shaky breath, her gaze still jumping between Kelsey and Cole. “Actually, yes. There was an incident in the lobby. A woman coming into the building was grabbed and thrown into a van. The police have asked everyone to gather in the common area on each floor. They’ve got a photo they want to show to everyone to try to identify who she was,” Heather said. “They’re on the floor below us and are making their way up.”
