Annie hesitated, then smiled. “He’ll be glad to see you. We were both afraid to hope what Mano had said was really true.”
Her brother slung his arm around her, and they walked toward the house. Mano swallowed the snack in two bites and followed. He had to hear this, even if he might not like what Tomi was about to reveal. Annie reached the outside door and stopped. She was staring at the door, which hung on only one hinge. A large hole had been busted through by the doorknob.
Mano shouldered past her and stepped inside. “Edega?” he called. The chair at the table had a broken leg and lay upside down, but the rest of the office didn’t seem to be disturbed. The door to the house stood open.
“Father?” Annie ran past him. Her head whipped from side to side as she tried to spot her father.
“Go with her,” Mano told Tomi. Tomi nodded and followed. Mano began to search behind filing cabinets and under tables, but there was no sign of Edega Tagama.
Tomi came back out a few minutes later. “The house has been ransacked. I bet they were looking for the bankbook. Or for me. No sign of Pop, though.”
Annie clutched her hands together. “Maybe he wasn’t here when they broke in.”
“Why is the chair knocked over?” Tomi’s gaze shifted uneasily.
Annie’s dark eyes focused on her brother’s face. “You’d better tell us what’s going on, Tomi. This is related to you somehow, isn’t it?”
Tomi looked away. He lifted the chair from the floor and put it back in place.
“Answer me!” Annie moved to block his path.
He rubbed his eyes. “Probably.”
“You’ve got to tell us what’s going on.” Annie pushed her hair out of her face. “Do you know where our father is?”
Mano watched Tomi. He avoided Annie’s gaze and busied himself with tidying up the garage. To Mano, he seemed a man plagued with guilt.
Annie’s cell phone rang, and they all jumped. Her gaze locked with Mano’s, and he read her panic. “Just answer it,” he said softly. “Stay calm and if someone has him, try to arrange to get him back.”
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
“You can do it.”
She exchanged gazes with her brother. “You answer it, Tomi.”
He shook his head. “No one knows I’m here. I can’t tip them off. You’ve always been strong, Annie. You can handle it.”
The insistent chirp came again. She glanced at the phone, and relief flooded her face. “It’s Fawn,” she whispered. She flipped open the phone. “Hi, Fawn. Yes, I’m fine.” She listened a few more moments. “Okay. I’ll see you when you get back then.” She hung up and turned to Mano. “Now what?” she asked Mano.
“Now we call the police.”
“No!” Tomi’s eyes were hollow. “You can’t do that.”
“This is out of your hands, Tomi. Your father’s life is at stake.”
“I know,” Tomi muttered. He sank onto a chair and put his head in his hands. “I’ve been so stupid. You’re both going to hate me.”
Annie knelt by his chair and pulled one of his hands down. “I could never hate you, Tomi. You’re my brother. I still can’t believe you’re alive.”
“Maybe not for long.” He raised his head and stared at her, then glanced up at Mano. “Even you can’t help me with this one, buddy.”
Things were beginning to click for Mano. “It’s about that girl, isn’t it? The Iranian girl—what was her name?”
“Afsoon.” He gave a slight smile. “Her name means spell or bewitchment. It seems pretty appropriate right now.”
“Wasn’t her father some kind of diplomat?”
“Yeah. He was part of the Iranian consulate.” He gave a rueful smile. “I was such a chump. First time in my life I ever felt like that about a girl. Once she had me hooked, she told me she’d been ordered to get close to me to find out when the navy was moving in to rescue the two prisoners. If she failed to deliver, she was going to be killed. I swallowed it.”
“You told her when we were coming. That’s why there was so much enemy fire. Were you really hit, or was it all part of the plan?”
“I gave her a different time, but she figured it out from something I said.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe I was so stupid. I remember being hit by a bullet and you dragging me to the water. I woke up in their custody. They wanted more information from me. When I refused, they told me they’d planted that bankbook with the two million dollars, and they’d expose me as a spy if I didn’t give them what they wanted.”
“I remember trying to tow you to the boat. You were unconscious. I don’t remember letting you go, but I must have.”
“You were acting strange that day. Kind of forgetful. Were you okay?”