“No, you will not,” Alexander insisted, his teeth clenching, his jaw tight. He glared at her, giving her a demanding look, but she brushed him off. He could be the one in charge and giving orders at work, but when it came to their family, they were equals. She had a say, too.
“I don’t need you telling me what I can and can’t do, Alex.” She stood up, leaning into him. “This isn’t just some game. There’s a life at stake here! Our daughter’s!”
“And there’s another life at stake here, too! Yours!” He raised himself from his chair, towering over her. “It’s too risky to send you in,” he continued. “Not to mention, the way he’s got this planned, there won’t be time for a proper sweep prior to the drop. Hell, we won’t even know the location until an hour beforehand. It’s too dangerous.”
“It’s too dangerous not to do this!” she exclaimed. Holding her head high, she addressed the room of trained agents. “Melanie is my daughter. That man on the phone…” She gestured to the center of the table where Agent Moretti’s phone still sat. “He’s capable of God knows what, and if you think I’m just going to sit back and let you make a risky situation even more so, you’re out of your minds. Sure, I don’t have a badge. I didn’t graduate from…” She waved her hand in the air, continuing, “wherever the FBI graduates from. I never served in the military or went through any special ops training. But I have something no one else in the room has…a mother’s instinct. That’s something that can’t be learned. So you can sit here and discuss a plan all you want, but I’m making that drop. I’m not going to give that bastard any reason to harm my baby, and if something happens to me, so be it.” She sat back down in her chair, crossing her arms in annoyance.
The room was still as the agents analyzed the situation, probably trying to come up with a way to talk her out of it. None of that mattered. She’d made her decision, and nothing they could say was going to stop her.
“Mrs. Burnham, I don’t think—”
“Agent Moretti,” Agent Long interrupted, giving Olivia a quick, reassuring glance before returning her attention to Moretti, “I agree with Mrs. Burnham. I can appreciate the risk involved, but I agree she needs to do the drop. He seems to harbor unfettered animosity toward the family. I believe he won’t even think twice about carrying through with any of his threats if we don’t follow his order that Mrs. Burnham do the drop. That’s what he requested and that’s what we should give him.”
“Yes, but…” Alexander started, pinching the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut.
Olivia looked at him, able to see the weight of the world on his shoulders. She hated putting him in this position. She hated thinking of him waiting once she received information about the drop. She could picture him pacing back and forth, every second stretching as he waited to hear from her. She had just been in those shoes, nervously waiting to find out if Alexander was okay after the explosion. It was only a matter of minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Her heart ached for him, but this was something she had to do…for Melanie.
“We will do everything we can to make sure nothing happens to Mrs. Burnham,” Agent Long insisted.
“But he said no police presence,” Alexander argued.
“Once we receive the location, we’ll strategically place a few unmarked cars with plainclothes agents in the vicinity, just in case something were to go wrong. We’ll blend in so as not to raise suspicion.”
“I want to be there,” Alexander demanded, firmly grasping Olivia’s hand. “If my wife is putting her life on the line, I need to be nearby. Not to mention…” He shot his eyes toward Moretti. “You assured me nothing would go wrong at the press conference and look what happened. There’s no way in hell I’m going to just sit by and let my wife do this and not be there.”
Agent Moretti shook his head. “You’re too recognizable.”
“He goes,” Olivia pushed, observing the worry on Alexander’s face. His eyes were heavy with exhaustion, his face seeming to have aged beyond his years. He was still as handsome as ever, but she could tell all the not knowing and “what if” scenarios swirling around his head were getting to him. The least she could do was give him this.
Turning back to the assembled agents, she added, “If I’m going, so is Alex. If he were in my shoes, I’d want the same. You said you’ll have plainclothes agents in unmarked cars. If this guy’s been following the case, as I’m sure he has, he’ll be able to pick any of you out of a lineup. I’m sure you’ll want to be there, correct, Agent Moretti?” He simply nodded. “Then Alexander gets to be there, too. He’s the only one in this room I trust with my life.”
Chapter Nineteen
December 19
4:30 PM
ALEXANDER DIDN’T KNOW HOW long they would have to sit in the living room of his house, surrounded by FBI agents and call tracking equipment, waiting for the phone to ring. He wondered whether this was all part of this guy’s plot to sabotage the ongoing investigation. It felt like everything else had stopped as they waited. He knew that wasn’t the case since he was there when Agent Moretti barked orders to FBI agents and local law enforcement officers, telling them to pull everything on Rayne, search her home, and question her co-workers. Still, it seemed like the FBI was putting all their resources into being able to apprehend this guy or, at the very least, get Melanie back at the ransom drop.
Minutes dragged by, dozens of sets of eyes watching Alexander’s every move. Friends and family had congregated in their house as a show of support. It sounded ungrateful, but he wished they weren’t there. He didn’t want an audience for whatever was about to take place.
“I’ll be right back,” Olivia announced, getting up from the couch.
“Where are you going?” Alexander looked at her.
“To use the little girl’s room,” she answered, her voice empty. She didn’t even look at him. She simply walked away.
Ever since leaving the FBI office downtown, Olivia had seemed distant. Alexander could normally tell exactly what she was thinking, but not this time. What she was about to do was either incredibly brave or monumentally stupid. The entire house was on edge. According to Agent Moretti, the FBI was working tirelessly to comb through Rayne’s personal life to see if they could find anything that may indicate who had taken Melanie. They had just completed their search of the building she lived in, not finding so much as a grocery store receipt. Alexander wondered how the FBI reacted to the “doorman” of her building.
His legs bouncing, Alexander scanned the large living room, the scene like a macabre Rockwell painting. Tyler sat on the loveseat with his pregnant wife, Mackenzie, their little boy, Charlie, playing with a bunch of toy cars at their feet. Carol was on the floor with him, trying to keep his innocent mind off the reason they were here, redirecting him every time he asked if Melanie could come and play. They had just celebrated his second birthday, and he was too young to fully understand what was happening. Alexander had to swallow back the lump in his throat every time his nephew asked when Melanie was going to be home.