Silent Run

Titel: Silent Run Kostenlos Bücher Online Lesen
Autoren: Barbara Freethy

Vom Netzwerk:

said, feeling somewhat stupid at the observation.
    She pulled her hand away from her mouth. âBad habit. Do you have any?"
    âNone that I intend to share,â he said lightly.
    She offered him a small smile, breaking the tension between them. âIâve been thinking about what you said before, that you canât understand how Sarah could have taken her child with her when she ran away from your brother, but it makes sense to me if Sarah is Jessica. There is no way on this earth that Jessica would leave a child of hers behind. She wouldnât abandon her daughter, no matter what the stakes. She grew up without a mother; she wouldnât want that for her child."
    âWhat about growing up without a father? Isnât that just as bad?"
    âThat depends on the father."
    âJake is a good guy. The best. He loves his kid beyond belief.â He paused. âThereâs nothing you can say that could justify what Sarah did."
    âI didnât say that she was right. I just said I understand why she did it.â She gave him a thoughtful look. âWhat was your family like? Did you have the perfect childhood?"
    âNot even close. My father was a shithead. My mother was gone. And Jake was the only one who kept me sane. He knows what itâs like to grow up in a bad family. He wouldnât want his baby to grow up without him either. Sarah doesnât have a monopoly on that kind of fear. And Sarah didnât give Jake a chance to help her. He would have walked through fire for her."
    âReally? Iâve never met a man who would do that for a woman."
    For some reason her cynical statement unsettled him. He had the insane desire to want to prove to her that he was just such a man. But Catherine was already talking again.
    âJessica wouldnât have expected your brother to help her,â Catherine continued.
    âShe should have. She was with him for almost two years. If she couldnât figure out what kind of a man he was by then, I donât know what else he could have done. But letâs move on. Jake told me that they found numerous fake IDs and birth certificates in Sarahâs apartment in LA. She had to have gotten those from someone. Do you have any idea who could have done that kind of work for her?"
    Catherine didnât answer right away, and he felt a stirring of excitement in his gut. She knew something.
    âIf you know, you have to tell me,â he said.
    âThere was a boy when we were growing up,â she said slowly. âHis name was Andy Hart -- he could come up with any ID you wanted. He was a computer-hacker genius and had a lot of other not-so-legal talents, even when he was just a teenager."
    âAndy Hart,â Dylan repeated. âAny idea where heâd be now?"
    âProbably somewhere in Southern California, but I have no idea. Thatâs where he was when I knew him, but it was a dozen years ago."
    âWe need to find him."
    âHow?"
    âWell, barring a very convenient psychic vision on your part, Iâm guessing the Internet. My laptop is in the car. Mind if I work here?"
    âWould it matter if I did? And if you continue to mock my visions, I wonât tell you what I saw about you."
    He didnât like the odd light in her eyes. âYou didnât see anything about me."
    âDidnât I?"
    Catherineâs gaze didnât waver as she stared back at him, and he felt an odd sense of uneasiness. Still, he ignored it. This wasnât about him; it was about Jake and Caitlyn. Their future was the only one he was interested in at the moment. At least, that was what he told himself as he dashed outside to retrieve his computer.
    * * *
    Jake walked back and forth on the sidewalk next to his car, scanning the area for Sarah or the guy who had jumped them. Another fire truck had just arrived, and the firemen were working hard to contain the fire. Had the fire been set deliberately to lure them out of the building? Or had it also served another purpose, a way to destroy anything and everything in Sarahâs apartment?
    There hadnât been anything there, he told himself -- nothing except those fake IDs, and those couldnât be valuable. Had they missed something? Was it not just that someone wanted Sarah dead but rather that they wanted something from her?
    No, that didnât make sense. If she had something they wanted, they wouldnât have tried to kill her; they would have tried to