“Ella’s been doing everything in her power to get out from under the debt, but she’s not even keeping up with the interest rate.” Adele toys with the handle of the coffee mug but doesn’t drink any of the hot liquid.

As soon as she told us that Ella was missing and I worked out the reason behind Ella’s connection to the Bianchi crime family, Daryl jumped in his car, picked up both Adele and Kelsey, and brought them to my house. With Daryl here, I figure they’re about as protected as they can be for the moment. Plus, seeing Kelsey and knowing that she’s safe allows me to focus all my anxiety on Ella.

“Every time she starts to get ahead and it looks like she’ll start being able to pay down some of the principle, Kelsey seems to get sick and the extra money goes towards whatever the insurance won’t cover.”

“What changed?” Daryl asks, his tone gentle, like he knows the older woman has taken about all she can handle and that if he pushes just a little too hard, she’ll snap like a twig in the middle of a winter deep freeze. “Why do you think they grabbed her now?”

Adele shakes her head. “I don’t know.” She nods in my direction. “Jason is new, so maybe it’s because of him.”

The blood drains from my face. The idea that I could be the reason for Ella’s sudden disappearance hadn’t even occurred to me until right now. If it’s my fault… I can’t bring myself to finish the thought.

“But,” Adele muses, “I don’t think that’s it. Abe Bianchi has been obsessed with Ella lately, steadily getting more assertive. Ella always blew him off. She thought he was too silly to be much of a threat and that if she kept making the payments on time, that she had nothing to worry about. I kept telling her she wasn’t taking the situation seriously enough, but she wouldn’t listen.”

At the sound of a car pulling into my driveway, Daryl jumps to his feet and hurries out my front door. I watch him go, but can’t work up the enthusiasm needed to care who or what has just arrived. Worrying about Ella and what she’s going through takes everything I’ve got.

The worst part is that even though I’m scared to death, because Kelsey is here, sitting in the living room happily watching a Deep Space Nine DVD with her big cat draped across her lap, I must act like everything’s okay so that she doesn’t freak out.

Right now, she thinks she’s just visiting her mom’s new friend. As far as I can tell she’s happy and relaxed.

Daryl returns to the kitchen. He holds the door open for a pretty young woman with long black hair, brown cat eyes, and a perfectly curved mouth. The badge and gun she wears against her hip identify her as another FBI agent.

“This is Ember Lopez. She’s a member of my team and has been helping create profiles of the Bianchi organization.” Daryl’s eyes meet mine, reading my unspoken question. “I trust her one hundred percent.”

My shoulders relax. Daryl’s word has always been good enough for me.

His gaze shifts to Adele. “Mrs. Beyers, Ember has agreed to take you and Kelsey with her. She’ll get you out of Chicago and somewhere safe.”

Adele nods and pushes herself away from the table. “I’ll get Kelsey ready,” she says, her strong, steady voice seeming at odds with her pale features and trembling hands.

I wait until she leaves the room before turning back to Ember. “Where are you taking them?”

She shakes her head. Sympathy shines in her eyes. “I can’t tell you that.”

“But—” It’s bad enough that I’m sending my little girl with someone I don’t even know, but to not be told where they’re going… That I can’t handle. “I need to know.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” Ember says, her tone mild. “But one, I don’t know where we’re going. It depends on traffic, whether I’m being tailed, and a few other factors. And two, if you don’t know where we are, you can’t reveal our location to anyone.”

In case members of the Bianchi organization get their hands on me and try to torture the information out of me. There’s a sobering thought.

Still. “I’ll feel better if I know where you are.”

Daryl speaks up before Ember has a chance to open her mouth. “Jason,” he says in a warning tone. “The only way you’re going to know where they are is if you go with them.”

Mutinous, I glare at him. Ever since unraveling what happened to Ella, he and I have been going over and over this issue. We’ve picked and beaten at it until it’s dead.

“I’ve already told you, I’m not going anywhere until we find Ella. I don’t care what you think about the situation.”

Daryl heaves a sigh. He knows he can’t make me go, not unless he picks me up and locks me in Ember’s trunk, and that’s a fight he hasn’t wanted to tackle. “Fine, then you have to let Ember do her job. Those are your only options.”

I’m not happy, but I yield on the matter. It’s not like I don’t see the logic behind the plan, it’s just that I don’t like it.

Adele leads Kelsey into the room. Kelsey’s blue and white backpack dangles from Adele’s fingers. The big cat, Mal, is sprawled over Kelsey’s shoulders, his warm, furry body arched across the back of her neck. It reminds me of the old fox stoles women wore back in the twenties.

“We’re ready to go,” Adele says in a soft voice. If it wasn’t for the need to keep Kelsey safe, there’s no doubt in my mind that Adele would also refuse to go somewhere safer. She’s as worried about Ella as I am.

Unable to resist, I scoop Kelsey up in my arms, balancing her on my hip while I hug her tightly to me. Mal stays wrapped around her neck, his new position putting him at eye level with me. His stare is calm but inconclusive, like he still hasn’t made up his mind about me. I can’t help wondering if he ever will.

I turn so Kelsey can see Ember. “Kels, this is Ember. You, Adele, and she are going to go on a car trip together. Okay?”

Kelsey nods. “And Mal? He likes car rides.”

“And Mal,” I assure her.

Kelsey looks around the room, her eyes landing on my best friend. “And Daryl?”

I’m not sure exactly what happened when Daryl picked her up from school, but whatever it was, it must have made quite an impression on my little girl. She acts like she’s developing a crush on him. The idea is almost enough to make me chuckle. If she is, it’ll be interesting to see how Daryl, who’s never been comfortable around kids, will handle the situation.

“Daryl is staying here with me,” I explain. Kelsey’s face falls, breaking my heart. I scramble for something, anything, that will make her smile again. “Tell you what. When you get back, how about you, Daryl, and I settle in with some potato chips and ice cream? We can stay up all night watching—” I glance at the cat and inspiration strikes, “—Firefly.”

Kelsey grins and hugs my neck, which would be sweeter if it didn’t result in me getting a face full of cat hair. Still, it more than makes up for the way Daryl is glaring death daggers at me. He loves action movies but goes out of his way to avoid anything sci-fi.

“Serenity too?” Kelsey asks, naming the movie that came after the short-lived television series.

“Can’t have a Firefly marathon without it, can you?”

Kelsey is still squealing with delight and happily telling Ember about her favorite scenes as I watch her get bundled into Ember’s nondescript car. Ember’s eyes meet mine through the windshield and she gives me a reassuring wave before backing down the driveway and pointing the car north.

“Where the Hell is Ella?” I hiss through my teeth at Daryl, who is standing beside me. I don’t take my eyes off Ember’s car.

“I’ve got my entire team on it,” Daryl says. “They report that every known member of the Bianchi organization seems to be hunkering down. They seem to be preparing for something but my team doesn’t know what and they don’t know where it will take place.”

“But Ella’s involved.”

Daryl doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t have to.

Just as I turn to go into the house, my cell phone chimes, alerting me to a new text message. I dig it out of my pocket and stare at the screen.

It takes a minute for the words to penetrate my brain.

My fingers tighten on the phone as I hurriedly type a reply.

Daryl looks over my shoulder and reads the screen. “Ella?”

“It has to be,” I tell him. “I don’t recognize the number, but who else could it be?”

I stare blankly at the screen. “The only part of this I understand is ‘Tell Daryl’. The rest is gobbley-gook.”

Daryl has his own phone out and is entering the information Ella sent into the search.

“Fucking perfect,” he swears, his eyes glued to the screen. “Just when I think things have gotten as bad as they can get, something else goes fucking wrong.”

My stomach clenches. My first thought is that the Bianchi family caught Ember, that they got hold of Kelsey. I’m too scared to even put the thought into words, to ask Daryl if I’m right. Ella in danger is more than I can take. Learning that Kelsey is in the same situation would kill me.

“That number indicates a U.S. Navy shipment of top secret weapons. Dollars to doughnuts one of the Bianchi family wants to get their hands on it.”

“And they’re using Ella to do it?”

Daryl’s expression is grim. “Looks that way.” He nods at my phone. “Can you trace the IP address of those texts?”

“With my laptop, sure.” I can’t believe I didn’t think of that sooner. “Depending on what she’s using, I might even be able to get a GPS location on her.”

“Good,” Daryl says. “Grab your computer and meet me in my car. I’ve got to activate my team. We have to stop the shipment.”