Buried Agendas by Donnell Ann Bell

Author:Donnell Ann Bell
Language: ara, eng, fra
Format: epub
Publisher: BelleBooks, Inc.
Published: 2014-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-four

WHEN EVENING descended, Diana popped the trunk, took one last look at the surveillance equipment, and quelled her disappointment.

Today had been a bust. After touring the plant and discovering the ten p.m. rendezvous, she’d returned to the mailroom, intent on getting hold of Buddy’s pass card. But Buddy had proven more conscientious than she’d expected. He never took the device from his belt.

Short of wrapping her arms around her Goth co-worker, she had no way to retrieve the entry key, and no way to access her way into the labs. This led her back to square one, or Room 111 of the Drifter’s Inn, to be more precise. For a second night, she’d be reduced to scouring Jordan’s perimeter, and the road that led into the plant, in hopes of discovering something unusual going on.

Face scrubbed, and free of her disguise, she’d braided her hair and dressed in black to blend in with her surroundings. But the events of the past few days had finally caught up with her.

She’d never meant to see Brad, much less involve him in what she was doing. Now that she had, she acknowledged she couldn’t have gotten this far without him. What she didn’t want to admit was that after eight years, her feelings for him hadn’t diminished. After their first confrontation, she’d hoped to learn otherwise—that he was simply a handsome guy she’d made larger than life because of the way she’d been forced to give him up.

But in the six days she’d been here, she’d found just the opposite.

Susan Lewis is the luckiest woman on earth, Diana thought, slamming the lid of the trunk.

In the next instant, though, she learned that tires barreling along gravel were a sure cure for melancholy. She whirled as a police cruiser tore into the parking lot, red and blue lights flashing.

She jumped behind the Escort as the vehicle’s high beams penetrated the darkness. Then blinded, she shielded her eyes from the light and the kicked-up dust. The cruiser blocked in her rental car, and a uniformed man stepped out of the unit.

“Diana Reid?”

She sucked in a breath at the use of her real name.

“Deputy Sheriff Vigil, Meade County Sheriff’s Office.” Another uniformed deputy emerged from the driver side. “This is Deputy O’Dowell. Would you mind coming with us?”

“Yes—yes, I would.” She stared back at the men, her heart stammering as badly as her words.

“I’m afraid the sheriff insists, ma’am.”

Her whole body went cold then hot. She couldn’t breathe—couldn’t balance her jumbled thoughts. Why were they here? What did they want? Who had turned her in?

Deputy Vigil reached for her arm.

Diana stepped back.

“Please, ma’am.”

“My backpack,” she said between gasps. “It’s in my car.”

O’Dowell rounded her vehicle and retrieved it.

This time when the deputy took hold of her arm, she didn’t resist. As the vehicle rolled in the direction of Diamond, she glanced back at the Drifter’s Inn, numb with worry.

BRAD SAT IN GRAY’S office, passing the time by reshaping paperclips.

Gray perused files, once in a while making small talk.

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