When Ryan relived the telling of his story, he could hardly believe he was speaking about his own actions. Had he stopped to consider any one of these decisions before carrying them out, he couldn’t have succeeded. But using blind faith and unremitting determination had helped him prevail. Why stop now?
“You are one crazy son-of-a-gun, Mr. Marshall,” Morris said, listening quietly to Ryan’s narrative of the past few days. “For having no law enforcement experience, no backup, and no real plan…I’d say you and your wife did quite well for yourselves. You’re a very lucky man.”
“Do you have any idea who’s behind this, Lieutenant?” Ryan asked when Morris seemed to have run out of questions.
“Well, according to Angelina, Sela Coscarelli was kidnapped by her former boss and boyfriend, Alastair Holloway. He’s some big-time oil baron worth billions and is somehow connected to your cousin’s partner, the late Dr. Niles Penburton, who was killed at Stanford two days ago. It seems Penburton was in cahoots with Holloway to steal your cousin’s research. But the whole elaborate plan, from Quantum to Livermore to Fort Knox, seems to have been masterminded and financed by Holloway. The men doing his bidding are merely mercenaries. We’ll know for sure when Holloway’s picked up.”
He paused momentarily and cleared his throat. Ryan handed him an unopened bottle of water.
“Thanks,” Morris said, taking a long drink to quench his thirst. “Anyway, the two men ahead of us formerly worked together for the CIA,” he continued. “They’re the real pros here tonight. They decided not to alert the local police, or pick up Holloway, until after tonight’s operation had commenced. They don’t want to chance tipping him off. He’s so well connected that if he flees the country it would take us months, if not years, to track him down. We believe he’s waiting for news of tonight’s operation at his estate in Hilton Head. He’ll be picked up first thing this morning.”
“Whew,” Ryan said, blowing softly through pursed lips, a grim look on his face. “It’s hard to imagine the advanced planning they did. So you think this Holloway actually set out to implicate me from the very start, using my hatred toward Jarrod as motivation? And he vandalized my tower crane to provoke me…fully expecting my response? Unbelievable,” he said with a sigh.
“That’s what it looks like, Mr. Marshall. But what Holloway didn’t figure was just how clever your cousin is. Hiding a secret component integral to operating his machine was a stroke of genius…and it changed everything.”
“It won’t be the first time someone underestimated Jarrod,” Ryan said wryly. “I’ve never known anyone to come out on the winning end challenging his intellect. He’ll let you know it, too. He can really piss a guy off. But right now, I’m damned proud of him.”
Morris nodded his head, agreeing with Ryan’s sentiment. “We’re pretty sure the man who kidnapped your son from Conrad’s house that night was actually there to murder you both. Fortunately, before it happened, they discovered they still needed Conrad alive and the plans abruptly changed. Jer’s abduction was mere coincidence, probably because the man inadvertently stumbled on to the private detective who was tailing him from New Mexico. It seems Sela was the real leverage to compel Conrad’s cooperation. It’s all speculative, of course…but that’s as good as we can piece together so far.”
“Incredible…”
“But all the inside information-from making you the fall guy, to breaking into Quantum, to kidnapping Sela-could only have come from Penburton. We’re certain about that. Holloway then canceled his ticket to cover his tracks. We’ve had a hell-ov-a-time piecing everything together.”
“I’m just amazed,” Ryan said, flummoxed by Morris’s accounting of what law enforcement had uncovered. How could anyone ever conceive of something so elaborate and believe they could actually pull it off?
At that moment, Morris recognized they were fast approaching the Kenworth hauling the skip loader. It was parked on the side of the road. Before he overtook them he slowed but passed without stopping, observing there were two men in the cab of the truck. He needed to make a hasty decision: Should he continue to the Army base or divert his attention to this unit? This unit was obviously waiting for the first group to complete their objective and would later arrive to haul out something, most likely gold, with this equipment.
The road ahead took a slight bend as he drove past the Kenworth. They were out of sight. Morris pulled to the side of the road and parked.
“Why are we stopping?” Ryan protested.
“Mr. Marshall, I remind you…I said we’d do this my way. Let’s see what these guys are up to…”
Jeremiah Marshall couldn’t have been in better hands. Even though the pain from the horrendous burn was excruciating, he enjoyed being pampered by three women in the aftermath of their shared ordeal. He curiously watched the striking woman he knew only as Angel indelicately throw a small rug over Farley, covering what remained of his splattered head. She stepped carefully next to the blood pooling in a large perimeter beneath his slain body to accurately make the toss, an odd mixture of disgust and satisfaction on her face.
Sarah never left his side, and as they awaited arrival of the police and paramedics, they listened to Sela’s call to Alfonse, who they knew would be eager for news of the rescue.
“Dad, it’s Sela…we’re all safe. Jer’s been injured but he’s going to be fine,” she said, waiting for a response from her father.
There was no immediate reply while Alfonse Coscarelli struggled to make sense of what he’d just heard. It was past midnight, and he awoke from a fitful sleep feeling confused. Is this a dream? Is it really Sela? What’s going on?
“Dad…it’s Sela…are you alright?” she asked, growing concerned.
“Oh, my gracious, yes…I’m fine, sweetheart. It’s just the phone startled me. I’m a little groggy. What’s happened?” he asked, sounding more like himself.
“We’re someplace in Kentucky. Jer’s been hurt but he’ll survive… paramedics are on the way. Sarah and I just wanted you to know we’ve been rescued. It’s over, Dad. We’re all together; we’re going to be alright.”
“Oh praise God; great news,” Alfonse said breathing a sigh of relief. The revelation that his family was out of harm’s way was slowly settling in, a reassuring calm transforming his troubled demeanor. “What’s happened to Jer?”
“We can discuss this later, Dad. It’s a long, story but he’ll survive. I just wanted you to know we’re all safe and that I love you.
“Okay, sweetheart, call me back as soon as you know something more about Jer. Tell him I love him, too. Call me back…” he urgently reiterated.
“I will, Pop…we all love you,” Sela said again, hanging up the phone just as the paramedics came through the door.
“Hurry, over here,” Sarah ordered as the medics immediately went to work on Jer’s hideous burn. Then she silently prayed: Keep Ryan and Jarrod safe. Deliver them from evil.
Lieutenant David Morris faced an unwelcome dilemma. He shut off the ignition to the Lincoln Navigator some distance beyond two of the men about to raid Fort Knox. The discussions between Agent Henry and Emerson Palmer had never considered the possibility of the men they trailed splitting their forces. They also weren’t expecting him and Marshall to show up at Fort Knox. But now it appeared he had an unprecedented opportunity to waylay the perpetrators’ strategy and drastically alter their mission. He guessed his biggest problem would be handling Ryan Marshall, who was expecting to proceed to Fort Knox without delay.
Morris’s concern was short-lived. Ryan was furious the second the car’s ignition shut down.
“Get out of the car,” Ryan said, pointing Farley’s 9-mm Glock at Morris. There was no mistaking his deadly earnest tone.
“What the hell are you doing?” Morris asked. His jaw dropped, taken aback by Ryan’s reaction.