Night Watch (Kendra Michaels #4)(95)

“Because she phoned me two hours ago, and now she won’t pick up my calls.”

“And why are you so concerned about it that you caused an uproar at the FBI?”

“It was a good-bye call, dammit. She was telling me good-bye.”

Lynch froze. Don’t panic. “Is that what she said?”

“No, she asked me about my damn seminar. She told me how much I’d meant to her over the years. She was loving and awkward, and it was a good-bye.”

“You could be mistaken.”

“I know my daughter. Good-bye. She thought there could be a reason that she might not get another chance to say it. Now why the hell did she make that call? Why is she in so much trouble, and you don’t even know about it? Or do you know and don’t give a damn?”

“I give a damn. What else did she tell you?”

“Just that you were in London. And something about how Waldridge had been so important to both of us. She tried to keep it light, but there was no way. She’s never been any good at pretending.” She paused. “And she said that she loved me.” She cleared her throat. “That’s what it was mostly about. She didn’t want to leave me without a good-bye. Now, dammit, tell me what’s happening.”

“I don’t know.” But she was frantic, and he had to tell her something. “Waldridge is being held somewhere, and we haven’t found out where. She was concerned.”

“She’s still concerned,” Dianne said. “It’s tearing her apart. And I’m not sure that she hasn’t found out where he is.”

That’s what Lynch feared, and it was bringing up a nightmare scenario. “It’s a possibility.”

“Screw possibilities.” Her voice was shaking. “It was good-bye. And why in hell are you still over there?”

“Because she didn’t call me to say good-bye. She left me completely in the dark. I don’t know what’s happening. I’ll call you back as soon as I do.” He hung up.

He took a deep breath. He’d like to think that Kendra’s mother was reacting emotionally but without reason. But he was scared to death that wasn’t true. Dianne was not only brilliant, she had strength and good common sense. And the bond between her and Kendra was so close that she would recognize and identify what Kendra was attempting to do in any given situation.

Good-bye.

“Shit.” He reached for his phone and called Kendra.

No answer.

He hadn’t thought there would be. She’d evidently wanted to be off radar after she’d talked to her mother.

He dialed Jessie Mercado.

No answer.

He dialed her again.

She picked up the phone on the sixth ring. “You’ve heard from Kendra’s mom, too? I just got off the phone with Griffin. That’s why I didn’t pick up right away. He’d evidently taken a lot of abuse from her and wanted to know what the hell Kendra was doing.” She paused. “It took a little while to tell him. I had to let him know everything, so he’d realize that he’d have to pull out all the stops to work with us. He didn’t like my answer.”

“I probably won’t either.”

“No, you won’t. You were first on Kendra’s list of those I couldn’t talk to about it.”

“Kendra’s mother was almost hysterical. Why did Kendra call her?”

“I didn’t know Kendra intended to phone her, but I can see it. Kendra knew exactly what she was getting into. Maybe she wanted to prepare her.”

“Prepare her for what?”

“Kendra staked herself out so that Dyle’s men would find it easy to take her. She had me place a transmitter under her skin, so we’d be able to track her location.”

Lynch began to curse. “I might just strangle you. Why did you let her do it?”

“I couldn’t stop her. Do you think I didn’t try? She was afraid Waldridge would die. She kept saying that we had to move faster.”

“And you couldn’t call me and let me try?”

“Not if I wanted her to not walk away from me and do it by herself. Waldridge means a lot to her.”

“I know. What’s happening? How much time do I have to get hold of her and persuade her to—”

“It’s already gone down, Lynch.”

He froze. “What are you saying?”

“An hour ago, her car was involved in an accident near her condo. When the police got to the scene, Kendra was gone and so were the passengers of the truck. A witness said that the woman in the Toyota was removed from the scene by two masked men who took her away in the truck.”

“My God, Jessie.”

“I know,” Jessie said harshly. “Do you think I don’t know that I should have been able to stop this somehow? I risked having her find out that I was keeping an eye on the studio. But she would have realized that I was following her car. She was on the alert and watching. She was ready for it.”

“And she got it,” he said grimly. “I’ll catch the first flight out of Heathrow and be there asap. You’ve brought Griffin on board? When did you get the first GPS transmission after the accident?”

“We had a steady reading for thirty minutes after she was taken. They were heading east. Out of the city.”