“He was her brother,” Alexander shot back.
“Have you found out what caused the explosion?” Olivia asked, trying to break the tension. She knew discussing Landon was a hot-button issue with her husband. The guilt he felt for not doing more in the days following his disappearance still ate away at Alexander, regardless of how well he tried to hide it.
“The local bomb squad is working with the FBI in analyzing the device,” Agent Moretti explained, finally breaking his eyes away from Alexander and addressing Olivia.
“Device?” Alexander asked.
“Yes. They’re still trying to piece it together, but it looks like what caused this was a rudimentary explosive designed to have a small blast radius. They’re still going through all the debris, but based on the parts found at the blast seat, they’re guessing C4 with a cell phone trigger.” Agent Moretti paused, glancing out the windows, then back at the room again, taking a deep breath. “There’s more.” His expression turned grave. “They were able to pinpoint the epicenter of the blast to where Ms. Kilpatrick was standing. They believe she was carrying the explosive in her backpack.”
Olivia shook her head, glancing at Alexander as he seethed. “Why would she do something like that?” she inquired.
Moretti sighed, his expression weary. “We’re looking into that as we speak. I have quite a few questions I’d like to ask the two of you, since you knew her, but all that needs to wait.”
“Wait? Why?” Alexander shot up from his chair, his voice rising. “That woman confessed to taking our little girl, then went and blew herself up! I’m pretty sure that takes precedent over anything else right now.”
Ignoring his outburst, Agent Moretti remained calm, all eyes in the room on him. He pulled a smartphone out of his pocket and placed it on the table. “It’s our belief she didn’t blow herself up, that she was working with a partner. This message was left on the tip line around the same time as the explosion.”
“Message?” Olivia grabbed Alexander’s hand, pulling him down into the chair.
“Unfortunately, in high-profile cases like these, we don’t have the manpower to answer each call individually. The tip line gets flooded with a combination of well-meaning citizens and complete idiots searching for their fifteen minutes of fame. It’s our experience that if someone has to sit on hold for a prolonged period of time, they’ll hang up, so we set up a messaging system for people to leave information.” He tapped the screen of the phone. An unfamiliar voice with an accent filled the room.
“It’s funny, isn’t it? You pretend to live such noble lives, but you’re no better than anyone else.”
There was a pause. Olivia could hear her voice echoing in the background, amplified by speakers. She remembered those words. No more than a few hours ago, she had spoken them during her plea to the public to help find her daughter. Whoever made this phone call was at the press conference.
“Is that—”
Agent Moretti raised his hand.
“I’ve taken something. Yes, you may think I’m a bad man for putting this little girl in harm’s way or for trying to make it look like your precious little bodyguard did it, but you’re not without blame. You brought this upon yourself. You are in possession of something that doesn’t belong to you, and unless it is returned, you will never see your daughter again.”
The buzz in the background sounded through the phone once more. This time, it was Alexander’s voice ringing through, strong and powerful. Olivia inched forward in her seat, staring at the phone. She knew what was going to happen. Rayne was about to interrupt Alexander, then the explosion would rock the plaza.
“Tonight, Olivia will bring me ten million dollars in cash in one of the company’s armored SUVs. She will come alone, or the girl dies. If I so much as sense any law enforcement tail, the girl dies. I will call Olivia with more information this evening, at which point she will have approximately one hour to drive to the specified location. Olivia will then exit the vehicle and bring me the keys. Once I’ve left with the armored vehicle, she will wait exactly fifteen minutes to call for someone to pick her up. Then I will release the girl to you. If any of these steps are not followed, the girl dies…just like your friend, Rayne, is about to.”
Almost instantly, a thunderous explosion could be heard before the message cut off, silence filling the room.
Olivia couldn’t move from her chair, a heavy weight keeping her glued to it. Who was this person? What was his connection to Rayne? What did he think they had taken from him?
“No,” Alexander’s authoritative voice declared, breaking the silence. “Absolutely not. We’ll find him another way.” He placed his hand possessively on Olivia’s leg, squeezing it as if she’d disappear if he let go. “You said this message was left on the tip line. Don’t you keep a log of where the calls originate?”
“We do,” Agent Moretti assured him. “Unfortunately, as I’m sure you could probably predict, this was from a prepaid cell phone. I have agents combing the area to see if he dumped it after the explosion. They’re also canvassing local convenience stores to see if anyone suspicious came in and bought a prepaid phone. However, I’m not putting a lot of faith in uncovering anything that way.”
“I don’t care how many convenience stores you need to go to in order to track this guy down. Olivia is not going to a ransom drop!”
“For once, Mr. Burnham,” Moretti responded, his calm voice at complete odds with Alexander’s anger, “I’m in complete agreement with you.”
“She… Wait… What?” He jerked his head back, stammering. Several other agents appeared just as surprised with this turn of events.
“Sir, with all due respect,” one of the junior agents piped up. He didn’t look like he was old enough to be in college, let alone have graduated from Quantico. “We don’t have any other solid leads. This is our—”
“I didn’t say we weren’t going to do the drop, Agent Gibson,” Moretti responded, then looked at Olivia. “We’ll simply find a way to do it without putting Mrs. Burnham’s life at risk.”
The room erupted in chatter, all the agents throwing out ideas to make the plan work. They were all talking about Olivia as if she weren’t even in the room, as if she didn’t have a say in what happened to her own daughter. She had enough of their game, of having every course of action decided for her.
“I’ll do it,” she declared loudly, cutting through their voices. The room grew eerily silent as everyone looked at her.