“An unattended bag was discovered by one of our dogs. We’re waiting for the bomb squad as a precaution.”
Madison frowned. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Flights were going to be delayed as law enforcement investigated the bag. People would panic. Somehow Barrick was behind this.
Her phone rang again. “What have you got, Patterson?”
“She’s in the terminal.”
“You need to narrow it down. We’re looking at dozens of gates and we’re running out of time. I also need officers in the international terminal looking for both of them.”
“I’m on it. We’ve got officers stationed at the end of the terminal and have sent out photos of her. Wait a minute . . . I’ve got a ping on her phone.”
“Okay, where?”
“There’s a restroom about thirty feet behind you. Looks like it’s coming from there or at least nearby.”
“I’m on it.”
Madison ran through the crowded terminal toward the bathrooms, wondering how they’d missed her. But there were dozens of places she could have hidden if she hadn’t evacuated.
The women’s bathroom was quiet as she slipped in and checked the stalls one by one.
Nothing.
She checked the counters and the trash. Something caught her eye.
“Patterson, we’ve got a problem. I found Bianca’s phone in the trash, but she’s long gone.”
He sighed. “All right. I’ll do some more searching.”
Madison ended the call and hurried out of the restroom, Bianca’s phone in her hand. Irritation ate at her. Jonas was outside, waiting for her. “She’s gone.”
Jonas frowned. “She can’t go far, and it’s pretty clear she’s left this terminal.”
She wished the airport wasn’t so big. It made it too easy to miss something. “We’re looking at a hundred and fifty thousand people passing through here, and the evacuation is already causing chaos,” she said.
“Exactly what they wanted.”
“So she knows—or at least she believes we’re after her.”
Her phone rang and she dug it out of her pocket, standing in the almost empty terminal.
“She’s got another flight booked,” Patterson said. “United Airlines to Newark, leaving out of terminal E in less than an hour.”
“Have backup meet us there, but make sure every TSA agent, airline employee, and law enforcement officer in this airport is still looking for her.” She turned to Jonas. “We found her. Terminal E. She’s got a flight out of here.”
Jonas shook his head. “I don’t think she’ll be there.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s too obvious. She knows we’ll find that out.”
Madison nodded. “She’s going to leave the airport.”
Thirty-One
They found her waiting for a rideshare outside Terminal B.
Jonas pulled out his weapon as Bianca looked to run, but there was nowhere left to go. “Put your hands in the air. It’s over.”
They contacted airport security, then escorted Bianca to a secure office inside the Airport-IAH division of the Houston police department, wondering what had brought her to this point. How could Barrick have been so convincing that she wasn’t able to see through his lies?
Soon Madison and Jonas were sitting across from Bianca as she stared at the table, avoiding Jonas’s gaze. “How’d you find me?”
“Barrick has proven himself to be the master of misdirection. Something spooked you, and he helped you run. It made sense that you’d try to ditch your next flight.”
“You were on the plane with me, weren’t you?”
Madison nodded.
“It’s ironic. Truth is, I never saw you. I just . . . I don’t know. I panicked. There was this guy at the gate who kept looking at me. I was convinced he knew who I was. I didn’t know what to do.”
Madison rested her elbows on the table. “We need to know what the plan is, Bianca. We need to know where Damon is.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. He’s innocent and this . . . this is his only chance to live a normal life.”
“Running for the rest of his life? That’s hardly normal,” Jonas said. “But what if everything he’s ever told you is a lie? What if he was simply using you to gain access to your money?”
“That’s not possible. We were planning to go away together, because that plane crash . . . it was like a second chance for both of us.”
“Was being the key word. Because you won’t be traveling to meet him, I can assure you of that. Your best option right now—your only option—is to cooperate.”
“The only thing he’s guilty of in all of this is getting a forged passport. But what was he supposed to do? He was stripped of everything that was his. He had no choice. If he wants to stay