Colder Than Sin (Cold Justice - Crossfire: FBI Romantic Suspense Book 2) by Toni Anderson

Author:Toni Anderson [Anderson, Toni]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Suspense
ISBN: 9781988812137
Publisher: Toni Anderson
Published: 2019-10-21T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

“Where did the image originate?” Eban was in the legat’s office in the US embassy in Jakarta. Legat Reid Armstrong sat next to him. Max Hawthorne, the other negotiator from CNU, paced behind them, wired after pulling another all-nighter at the scene of the hotel massacre. The scent of smoke lingered, despite the fact Hawthorne had showered down the hall a few minutes ago.

The photograph they’d received of Quentin had shown him looking tired and beaten, but essentially whole. The one of Haley Cramer revealed a beautiful woman who’d looked subdued and terrified—and no wonder.

Alex Parker was on a video-link cradling a sleeping newborn. “There’s no identifying information in the metadata. Someone wiped it clean before sending it.”

Which suggested a degree of sophistication that made Eban uneasy. These guys were pros.

“The email came from an anonymous account set up in Indonesia a few days ago,” Alex continued. “No other messages to or from the account. IPS address of the computer where it was created was a busy internet cafe in Jakarta—no surveillance cameras. I checked. I think the most interesting thing is the fact they sent it to the same local detective who’s been negotiating the release of the two Westerners abducted from the South China Sea. It kind of tips their hand despite their efforts to conceal their identities.”

The FBI rarely dealt with the kidnappers directly in these kind of cases. The language barrier was one issue. Time was another. In this instance, they’d worked through a local police detective Hawthorne had been coaching. The detective had been doing a damn fine job, even though they hadn’t made much forward progress.

“Any update on the other woman, Darby O’Roarke?” Alex asked.

The guy sure had gotten up to speed fast. Darby’s abduction hadn’t even hit the media channels yet.

Eban shook his head. “Nothing.” He was more and more convinced she was dead.

Alex rocked the baby as it—she, if the pink sleep suit was any indication—started to stir. “What do we know about the Alexanders’ kidnappers?”

Eban let Hawthorne take over as he’d been working the case most recently.

“Our main suspect is a guy named Darmawan Hurek.” Hawthorne spelled it for the cyber security guy on the other side of the world. “A major in the Indonesian Army who went AWOL five years ago after getting caught stealing military equipment and selling it on the black market. A bunch of his men deserted with him.”

Alex nodded, tapping keys with one hand. “Why do you think he’s involved?”

“We didn’t until about three weeks ago when a man was arrested for murder in northern Sumatra. He claimed he knew where the Alexanders were being held and that Hurek was behind the kidnappings.”

“Did he give you proof when you questioned him?” asked Alex.

“Never got the opportunity. He was sentenced to death and executed immediately. By the time I arrived, he’d already been cremated.” Hawthorne looked pissed.

They’d all been furious.

“Send me his name,” Parker instructed. “Let’s see if we can find out where he’d traveled or who he’d been communicating with in the months before he died.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.