Once Lost. Блейк Пирс

He’d sent her a cryptic message, then cut her off. She used to be able to communicate with Hatcher by video chat, text, and even phone calls. But those days were over.

      Right now, she had no way at all of reaching him.

      But he could still reach her.

      The second sentence of his new message was especially chilling.

      “You can’t say you weren’t warned.”

      Riley flashed back to what he had written the last time she had communicated with him.

      “You will live to regret it. Your family might not.”

      Riley gasped and said aloud …

      “My family!”

      She fumbled with her cell phone as she punched in her home number. She heard it ring, then keep on ringing. Then the outgoing message came on, her own voice.

      It was all Riley could do to keep from screaming.

      Why wasn’t anyone answering? The schools were on spring break. Her kids were supposed to be home. And where was Riley’s live-in housekeeper, Gabriela?

      Just before the outgoing message ended, she heard the voice of Jilly, the thirteen-year-old that Riley was in the process of trying to adopt. Jilly sounded breathless.

      “Hey, sorry, Mom. Gabriela went to the grocery store. April and Liam and I were out in the backyard kicking a soccer ball around. We’re expecting Gabriela to get back any minute.”

      Riley realized she’d been holding her breath. She made a conscious effort to start breathing again.

      “Is everything all right?” she asked.

      “Sure,” Jilly said with a shrug in her voice. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

      Riley struggled to calm herself down.

      “Jilly, could you go and look out the front window for me?”

      “OK,” Jilly said.

      Riley heard a few footsteps.

      “I’m looking,” Jilly said.

      “Is the van with the FBI agents still out there?”

      “Yeah. And so is the one in the alley. I just saw it when I was in the backyard. If that Shane Hatcher guy comes around, those guys are sure to catch him. Is something wrong? You’re kind of scaring me.”

      Riley forced a laugh.

      “No, nothing’s wrong. I’m just – being a mom, I guess.”

      “OK. I’ll see you later.”

      The call ended, but Riley’s worry was still surging inside her.

      She went down the hall and straight to Brent Meredith’s office.

      She stammered, “Sir, I – I need to take the rest of the day off.”

      Meredith looked up from his work.

      “May I ask why, Agent Paige?” he asked.

      Riley opened her mouth, but no words came out. If she explained that she’d just gotten a threat from Shane Hatcher, wouldn’t he insist on seeing the message? How could she show it to him without admitting that she’d just given the file to Jenn Roston?

      Meredith looked concerned now. He seemed aware that something was wrong that Riley couldn’t talk about.

      “Go,” he said. “I hope everything is all right.”

      Riley’s heart flooded with gratitude at Meredith’s understanding and discretion.

      “Thank you, sir,” she said.

      Then she hurried out of the building and got in her car and drove home.

*

      As she neared her townhouse in a quiet Fredericksburg neighborhood, she was relieved to see that the FBI van was indeed still there. Riley knew there was another van stationed in the alley. Although the vehicles were unmarked, they were hardly inconspicuous. But there was nothing to be done about that.

      Riley parked her car in her driveway, walked over to the van, and looked inside the open passenger window.

      Two young agents were sitting in the front seats – Craig Huang and Bud Wigton. Riley’s spirits lifted a little. She thought highly of both agents, and she’d worked with Huang several times recently. Huang had been a little too gung-ho for Riley’s liking when he first came to the BAU, but he was rapidly maturing into an excellent agent. She didn’t know Wigton as well, but he had an excellent reputation.

      “Anything going on?” Riley asked them through the window.

      “Not a thing,” Huang said.

      Huang sounded bored, but Riley felt relieved. No news was definitely good news as far as she was concerned. But was it too good to last?

      “Mind if I have a look inside?” Riley asked.

      “Be our guest,” Huang said.

      The side door to the windowless van slid open, and Riley stepped inside to find another agent, Grace Lochner, stationed inside. Riley knew that Grace also had a sterling reputation at the BAU.

      Lochner was seated in front of a battery of video screens. She turned toward Riley with a smile.

      “What have you got going here?” Riley asked.

      Seeming eager to show off the technology at her disposal, Lochner pointed to a couple of screens that showed overhead views of the neighborhood.

      She said, “Here we’ve got real-time satellite images showing all the comings and goings within a half mile of here. Nobody can get near here without us noticing.”

      Laughing a little, Lochner added, “I’m glad you live in a quiet neighborhood. It gives us less traffic to keep track of.”

      She pointed out several more screens showing street-level activity.

      She said, “We’ve hidden cameras around the neighborhood to see what’s going on closer up. We can check license plates of any vehicle that comes near here.”

      A voice crackled over an intercom.

      “Have you guys got a visitor?”

      Lochner answered, “Agent Paige just stopped by to say hello.”

      The voice said, “Hello, Agent Paige. This is Agent Cole, in the vehicle around back of your house. I’ve got Agents Cypher and Hahn with me too.”

      Riley smiled. Those were all familiar names of well-respected agents.

      Riley said, “I’m glad to have you on the job.”

      “Our pleasure,” Agent Cole said.

      Riley was impressed by the communication between the two vans. She could see the van behind her house in a couple of Lochner’s screens. Obviously, nothing could happen to either team without the other team knowing about it immediately.

      Riley was also pleased by the display of weaponry stocked inside the van. The team had enough firepower to fight off a small army if necessary.

      But she couldn’t help but wonder – was it enough to fight off Shane Hatcher? She left the van and walked on toward her house, telling herself not to worry. She couldn’t imagine even Shane Hatcher thwarting all this security.

      Still, she couldn’t help remembering the text message she had just received.

      You can’t say you weren’t warned.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      When Riley stepped inside her house, the place seemed eerily empty.

      “I’m home,” she called out.

      But nobody replied.

      Where is everybody? Her alarm started to turn into panic.

      Was it possible that Shane Hatcher had slipped through all that security after all?

      Riley struggled not to imagine what might