“Yeah?” It could only be one of two people on the other side. Bryce or Agent McCaffrey.
“You fill her in yet?” McCaffrey stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
Tracey looked up after politely blowing her nose; a questioning look crinkled her forehead.
“We were just getting there.”
“Here’s the phone you can use to contact us. We won’t be far away.”
“But far enough no one’s going to notice.” Josh took the phone and slid it into his back pocket.
“Anyone following you will see the obvious cars. They’ll lose you after a couple of miles, but George and I will be there.”
“Josh?” Tracey said his name with all the confusion she should be experiencing. After all, he’d just demanded the FBI and police leave him alone, get out of his house and off the case.
“It’s okay, Tracey. All part of the plan. We need the kidnappers to think I’m in this on my own. No help from anyone. Hopefully that’ll limit what they ask me to do.”
When he left the house he’d have a line of cars following and hoped it didn’t look like a convoy. A bad feeling smothered any comfort he had that law enforcement would be close by.
“So everything you just said—”
“Was the truth. Every word.” He shot her a look asking her to keep that info to herself.
He knew that stubborn look, the compressed lips, the crossed arms. It would soon be followed by a long exhale after holding her breath. Sometimes he wanted to squeeze the air from her lungs because she held on to it so long. Each time he knew she wasn’t just controlling her breathing. She was also controlling her tongue because she disagreed with what he was saying or doing.
Mainly about the kids.
Lately, it had been about how often he worked late or how he had avoided necessary conversations. Like the one congratulating her on finishing her thesis. Yeah, he’d avoided that because it would open the door to her resignation. What they needed to talk about was serious. She’d most likely accepted a position somewhere—other than Waco. If he could, he’d also like to avoid a conversation about what happened two weeks ago when they’d kissed.
This time, he could see that she didn’t believe the lines he was spouting to the FBI. He just hoped that Special Agent McCaffrey couldn’t read her like a book, too. Then he might suspect Josh had his own agenda.
“I don’t think they’ll wait very long to make contact after I leave.” The agent unbuttoned his jacket and stuck his hands in his pockets. “My belief is that they knew about Jackson’s diabetes and believe it will scare you into following their orders faster. If they didn’t, they’ve seen the pump by now and are scared something might happen to him. Either way, I don’t think they’re really out to hurt the kids.”
Agent McCaffrey stood straight—without emotion—in his official suit and tie. Just how official—they’d find out if he kept their deal to let Josh work the case from the inside.
“But you can’t be sure of that,” Tracey said. “How can anyone predict what will happen.”
Tracey was right about part of Josh’s inner core. He was a Texas Ranger through and through. He’d try it the legal way. But if that didn’t work, they’d see a part of him he rarely drew upon.
“George said you held up at the hospital exceptionally well, Miss Cassidy.”
McCaffrey had a complimentary approach, where George looked like a laid-back lanky cowboy leaning on a fence post. Josh had met George several times on cases. He trusted him. George had given his word that McCaffrey would be on board. But Tracey didn’t know any of that history. She had no reason to trust any of them.
“Don’t I get a phone for you to keep track of my location?” Tracey asked.
“Actually, yes.” McCaffrey handed her an identical cheap phone to what they’d given him. “By accepting this, you’re allowing us to monitor it.”
The man just didn’t have the most winning personality. Josh saw the indignation building within Tracey and couldn’t stop her.
“Were you really going to wait for my permission? That seems rather silly to ask. Just do it.” Her words seemed more like a dare. She was ready to go toe to toe with someone.
“Tracey. That’s not the way things are.” Standing up for the FBI wasn’t his best choice at this precise moment. Tracey looked like she needed to vent.
“Have you ruled me out as a suspect?” she asked.
Why was she holding her breath this time? Did she have something to hide? Josh opened his mouth to reason with her, but McCaffrey waved him off.
“I have a lot of experience with kidnappings, Tracey. I imagine you’re familiar with the statistics that most children are abducted by someone in their immediate family or life. My people ran our standard background check on you first thing. We would have been reckless not to.” He leaned against the doorjamb not seeming rushed for time or bothered by her hostility. “A reference phone call cleared you.”
Tracey stiffened. She drew her arms close across her chest, hugging herself, rubbing her biceps like she was cold. Her hand slipped higher, one finger covering her lips, then her eyes darted toward the window. She was hiding something and McCaffrey had just threatened to expose whatever it was.
“Tracey, what’s going on?”
“We’re good, Josh.” The agent looked at Tracey.
She nodded her head. “I don’t know why I said anything. I was never going to keep you from tracking this phone.” Tracey sank to the footstool. “I already told you I’d cooperate and do anything for Jackson and Sage.”
The special agent in charge crossed the room and patted Tracey’s shoulder. He’d done the same thing to Josh earlier, but it didn’t seem to ease Tracey. There was nothing insincere in his gesture. But it seemed a more calculated action, as though McCaffrey knew it was effective. Not because it was real comfort.
Josh wanted to throw the agent out of his kids’ room and be done with the FBI. “Do you need anything else?” he asked instead.
“I can’t help you if you keep me out of the loop, Josh.” McCaffrey quirked an eyebrow at Josh’s lack of a reaction. “You’ve got to work with my people to get the children back. We stick with the plan.”
“That’s all nice and reasonable, but we both know that there’s nothing logical about a kidnapping. You can never predict what’s going to happen.”
“The quicker you pick up that phone and let us know what they want the better.”
“The quicker you clear out of here, the faster they’ll contact us.” Josh’s hands were tied. He had to work with the FBI, use their resources, find the kidnappers. Or at least act like he was being cooperative. He sighed in relief when the agent left and softly closed the door behind him.
What the hell was wrong with him?
His twins had been kidnapped. It was natural to want to bash some heads together. But for a split second there, he’d wanted to just do whatever Tenoreno’s men wanted and hold his kids again.
Tracey was visibly shaken by whatever McCaffrey’s team had uncovered. His background check five years ago when he’d hired her hadn’t uncovered it. And in the time that she’d been around his family, she’d never shared it. He had his own five years of character reference. No one else’s mattered.
“I don’t know what that was about.” He jerked his thumb toward the closed door. Should he ask? “Right now I don’t care.”
“I swear I was never... It’s just something I keep