Page 67 of Guarding Truth

No. No. No. Uncle Caleb would come to her rescue. She needed to warn him. But without any connection to the outside world, how could she get him a message?

The camera moved, and she sat down on the bed and forced herself to cry. It wasn’t too hard. All she had to do was think of Uncle Caleb, devastated by showing up somewhere only to find that Ivy wasn’t there.

And then the bad guys would kill him.

She swiped at her face as the camera panned over her. Time to get back to work.

She sat back at the desk and started typing. The door was flung open, and a different masked man returned.

Not a man.

A woman. She was smaller, and Ivy smelled perfume.

She stopped typing. “I need more time. I can’t finish in an hour?—”

The slap came hard and fast. Ivy grabbed the chair to keep from falling over. Her cheek was on fire, and tears fell from her watery eyes.

“You now have thirty minutes to complete this task. No more stalling.”

Ivy held a hand to her cheek and stared at her abductor.

But the woman had made a mistake. Ivy could see out the open door. And she caught a glimpse of where they were keeping her.

She had to send a message to her uncle. He needed to know that Rushmore had set some kind of trap for him. The only way she could get a message to the outside world, someplace her uncle would find it, would be to launch their program. Uncle Caleb had taught her a special code when she was younger. If she could add a hidden message to the program, the bad guys might not understand it. Hadn’t they lost their programmer?

It was worth a shot, but it meant the bad guys got what they wanted. But they might kill Uncle Caleb if she didn’t finish the program. So either way, she had to work for them.

But how long until Uncle Caleb and Juliette found her?

Because the clock on the wall now showed thirty minutes.

SIXTEEN

FRIDAY, 4:20 P.M.

Juliette knew in the depths of her soul how Caleb intended to flush out these hackers from their hiding spot.

Because it was exactly what she’d do if given the opportunity to sacrifice herself to bring Ivy home.

She stood outside the office door in the hallway, hearing the click-click-click of Caleb’s keyboard. All she wanted to do was ease Caleb’s pain, promise him that they’d get Ivy back.

But she’d already failed him. Again.

Her hands throbbed from the tight fists clenched at her sides. How could she face Caleb, knowing her mistakes had cost him everything? Because she should never have agreed to let Ivy work for the FBI. Why hadn’t she taken the girl and Caleb and run?

Part of her just wanted this to be over so they could try being…together. He made her feel whole, secure.

Loved.

But even if they had run, Caleb’s program would have drawn him back. This wouldn’t be finished until the bad guys were behind bars.

But she was the reason Ivy was missing. Without knocking, she pushed the door open. “I’m not letting you sacrifice yourself to get Ivy back. We’re in this together.”

His face paled. “What makes you think I’d do that?”

She couldn’t stop the eye roll. “I know you. It’s the most logical choice. Give the bad guys what they want, which is the ability to take down the bank’s systems. And you’re the perfect guy for the job. They’ve tried to get rid of you, their competition. But if they saw you as an asset, they might trade Ivy.”

He turned the laptop screen. “I’ve already sent the message.”