Missing in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law #5)(34)

“Oh no.”

What in the world was Helena thinking? The woman ran screaming bloody murder from harmless spiders, but she was walking into a pond that contained alligators and God only knew what else. And how the hell was Helena supposed to find out what Ross was up to if she was playing Jacques Cousteau?

Aggravated beyond belief, Maryse rose up and crept around the edge of the tree line, closer to where Ross and his men were stationed. If she could just get a little closer, she may be able to read his lips. It was something she’d always been fairly good at but never copped to. It got her a lot of information that other people thought she couldn’t overhear.

She was about thirty feet away before she could make out things out clearly.

“Did you talk to Assistant Director Richards?” he asked the other agent.

The agent nodded, but Maryse couldn’t tell what the reply was as the agent’s back was to her.

“Does he think Agent Bordeaux’s disappearance has anything to do with the Riley case?” Ross asked.

The agent shook his head.

“She was carrying her ID. Whoever took her has got to know she’s a federal agent.”

The other agent shook his head again.

“Let me know as soon as you hear something. I need to get this wrapped up before the local law enforcement messes up my investigation. Speaking of which, I need you to run a check on a couple of locals—”

Ross abruptly stopped talking and looked toward the pond. Maryse panned over with her binoculars, expecting to see the diver emerging from the pond, but it was much, much worse.

A section of the pond was whitecapping, as if something large thrashed about below the surface. A second later, Helena bolted out of the water, screaming like someone was killing her.

“Alligators! They’re everywhere.” She streaked past Ross, running at breakneck speed.

Directly toward Maryse.





[page]Chapter Eight


About halfway to the tree line where Maryse was hidden, Helena tripped over a rotted tree trunk and went sprawling into a clump of dead brush. The brush broke under her weight and went flying into the air in a hundred different pieces.

Crap. Helena had gone solid.

Maryse prayed that Ross hadn’t noticed the exploding brush, but her prayer was a second too late. Ross’s head jerked in her direction, and he yelled to the other agent as he started running in her direction, gun drawn.

Do something!

But she couldn’t move. If she ran, Ross would fire at her. If she stayed still, maybe he’d stop at the brush and wouldn’t see her at all. She dropped down as low as she could get, taking refuge as much as she could behind a cypress tree, and peered around it.

Ross stopped where Helena fell and leaned over to inspect the ground, then straightened and scanned the surrounding area. Helena popped up out of the nearby marsh grass and took off running again. Maryse could see the grass collapsing with her every footstep and knew she was still solid. Unfortunately, Ross saw the footprints as well and headed right after her.

Are you watching, God? Negative ten points, at least!

Helena was about twenty feet away from Maryse’s hiding place when she screamed again, and stopped so abruptly that she almost toppled over.

“Snake!” she screamed and spun around, tackling Agent Ross like an NFL linebacker.

Ross discharged his weapon as he fell, causing the other agents to run toward him. Maryse popped up from the ground, ready to sprint for the far reaches of the swamp while everyone was distracted. But as soon as she whirled around, she heard a footstep behind her.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” a man’s voice sounded behind her.

She turned around and found herself looking directly into the barrel of a nine millimeter.

“This way,” he said, and waved the gun back toward the pond.

Stupid!

She’d completely forgotten about the other agent. He must have circled around while Ross came straight at her. As she stepped out from behind the tree, she saw Ross showing the smashed weeds to the other agents and waving his hand toward the pond. She scanned the area, but Helena was nowhere in sight. With the panic she was in, she might have run all the way to Canada.

If only Maryse was that lucky.

As they approached the group of agents, a boat engine roared to life and took off down the bayou like a gunshot. Everyone spun around, including the FBI diver, who was halfway up the bank. Maryse held in a groan. There was no mistaking the very rotund driver, clad in a diver’s suit.

Agent Ross spun around and fixed his gaze on her. “Who are you working with?”

“I…I’m not working with anyone.”

“You expect me to believe my boat drove off by itself?”

“I don’t care what you believe. I’m not here with anyone else.”

Not anyone alive, at least.

Ross’s face flushed with anger and he lifted the binoculars from her chest. “Someone sent you to spy on me,” he said, shaking the binoculars, “and I want to know who.”

“No one sent me. No one is working with me. I’m a botanist. All my work is based on the plant life in these swamps.”

Ross let go of the binoculars and they thumped against her chest. “Not anymore it’s not. I suggest you find a nice rosebush in someone’s front lawn to study. No one is allowed to go poking around this area of the swamp until I say so.”