Lost(64)

Billy said, “I can meet you in one hour in South Beach. On the sidewalk across from the Clevelander Hotel, near the beach.”

“Put Josie on the phone. I have to know that she’s safe,” Hanna said.

“You won’t take my word for it?”

“Put her on the phone.” Hanna purposely kept her tone even and spoke very slowly so there would be no misunderstanding. After a long silence, Hanna heard a whimper on the other end of the phone. “Josie? Is that you, sweetheart?”

“Mama?” Then there was a bout of sobbing.

“Are you okay, Josie?” Hanna waited while someone spoke to her daughter away from the phone.

Josie came back on, sniffled, and said, “Help me, Mama. The man with the blue beard says he’ll use his knife on my throat if you don’t meet him.” She started to say something else but the phone was snatched from her.

Hanna gasped, trying not to picture what Billy might do to her daughter.

Billy came back on the line and said, “I look forward to seeing you in an hour.”

“Bring Josie.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t deny a mother the chance to watch her daughter’s throat slit if things don’t go exactly as planned. If the diamonds aren’t in my hand in one hour, you’ll never see your precious daughter again.”

He said goodbye, never dropping his friendly tone.

Hanna hung up and looked at her brother. “We have one hour to meet them over on South Beach.”

She couldn’t read the look in Albert’s eyes.





CHAPTER 95





HANNA ALMOST LEFT her brother in Little Havana.

She said, “I need to know you won’t do anything crazy, Albert.”

“Define crazy.”

She growled in frustration.

South Beach was only a few miles from downtown Miami, but it felt like a different world. The crowds of pedestrians along Ocean Drive seemed much younger than the people along Brickell or Bayshore Drive.

The Clevelander Hotel sat on the corner of Tenth and Ocean Drive in the Miami Art Deco District. Hanna had heard of the old five-story hotel, but she’d just read an article in the Miami paper that said the only thing the Clevelander was known for now was loud music by the pool and a TV sports show called Highly Questionable that was taped in the hotel every afternoon.

Albert drove past the hotel so they could both get a look at the area, but there were too many people to see much, so Hanna told him to drop her near the Clevelander.

“Albert, I’m not kidding, I want you to stay in the car. I’m not going to risk Josie.”

Albert said, “And I’m not going to risk both of you. If something goes wrong, I have to be close enough to act.”

Hanna knew it was useless to argue with her hardheaded brother, and she appreciated how much he worried about her. She started to slip out of the car, then paused, leaned across the console, and kissed Albert on the cheek. “You’re a good brother and a good man. Josie and I both love you.”

She was out of the car before Albert could say anything. She didn’t want to make it sound like she was saying goodbye, but, just in case, she was.

The backpack rested over her left shoulder. She could feel the diamonds sewn into the strap.

Hanna darted through a break in traffic on Ocean Drive. A red Ferrari swerved to avoid her. Groups of young partyers just starting out their night laughed and shouted as they passed her. She wondered if it was this loud all the time. If you were looking west, away from the ocean, this could be a sunnier, wider Amsterdam.

She twisted her head, scanning in every direction, but she didn’t see Billy or any of his henchmen. There were still a number of people sitting on the beach as the sun set over the city behind them.

She cut down a path and saw, through a gap between the bushes and the sand, Billy sitting at a picnic table. Hanna couldn’t help looking over her shoulder to make sure Albert hadn’t followed her. She caught a glimpse of him across the street, still sitting in the rental car.

He was watching her every step.

She approached the picnic table and Billy. As she got closer, her heart soared at the sight of her daughter, Josie, sitting next to Billy. Josie’s hands were folded on the table and her eyes were cast down. But she appeared unharmed.

The smile Billy gave her made her angry. When they’d first met, Hanna had liked his easygoing style. Now she realized it just masked a sociopath. When this was all over and she had Josie safely in her arms, she might let Albert kill this Russian son of a bitch.





CHAPTER 96





I KNEW ALVIN Teague would be able to conduct a quiet surveillance of Hanna Greete and her brother. I had my own issues to deal with.

Marie had a ton of questions, so I filled her in on everything. She looked at the road and said, “I might have been a complication at a meeting like that.”

As soon as I’d crossed the MacArthur Causeway to Miami Beach, following the general path of the tracker I’d put in the red backpack, my phone rang—my office. No way that was good news. I decided I couldn’t avoid my supervisor any longer. Hopefully, if I walked him through this carefully, he wouldn’t get too nervous. I answered the phone with a friendly “Hey, boss.”

The voice on the other end did not belong to the FBI supervisor in charge of the international crimes task force. That was clear.