Page 35 of Once a Hero

Half a billion dollars could go a very long way to funding Molyneux’s nefarious projects.

No way was Beatrice going to let her have it.

Chapter Fifteen

Bad news: Jake wanted to see Beatrice again.

Her often faraway gaze intrigued and perplexed Jake, as though she had a secret garden no one could enter. What was in that garden? What was she cultivating?

Jake wanted to know what Beatrice was hiding and what she was searching for. He prayed that she wasn’t on the other side of the law. The fact that he suspected she had stolen the three-amber brooch didn’t sit well in his conscience.

And then there were certain features of hers that reminded him of Molyneux.

Could it be that he had been so enthralled by the terrorist that she was all he could see in every woman he met?

Still, it was clear that he and Beatrice were heading toward Molyneux. What business did Beatrice have with the terrorist?

Jake had to see Beatrice again.

To find out what, exactly?

Ah. Maybe his mind was wandering due to the long wait. Earl was still in surgery. Helen hadn’t called. Jake had five hours to kill.

At the motel, he showered. He found a Gideon Bible in a drawer and sat down on the bed to read it. He placed a dry towel on top of the pillow behind him because his hair was still damp.

“Lord, we need all the help we can get,” he prayed. “Make Earl well ASAP. Give the surgeons Your healing touch.”

He tried to pray for Beatrice but he wasn’t sure what to ask God for. “Maybe just Your perfect will would be enough.”

Was Beatrice a Christian? Whose side was she on?

Jake brushed off his earlier suspicion that Beatrice was in any way related to Molyneux. He had been undercover in her organization for three years, and never once had Molyneux mentioned that she had a daughter or even a niece.

Then again, she also never talked about her ex-husband who had apparently run off with the nanny, Philomena, whose story ended in San Francisco.

He wondered what killed her. Who did it?

That information wasn’t yet forthcoming.

He called the rental car company to let them know what happened to the SUV. The police report helped his case. The rental car company told him they’d take care of towing it back to San Francisco.

Any extra charges beyond what the insurance paid would be covered by to Hu Knows, Inc., our of Savannah, Georgia, since Jake and Earl had been on official company business when they were ambushed.

He lay down on the bed, facing the popcorn ceiling. The room smelled musty. He could hear the water still running in the commode but he was too lazy to get up to jiggle the handle.

His damp hair soaked into the towel on the pillow as he nearly dozed off.

Everything could wait but sleep couldn’t.

Chapter Sixteen

“The autopsy revealed that Philomena died of a cardiac arrest,” Helen Hu said via secure video on the laptop screen. It was evening in Greece, and behind her were large windows and drapes on both sides.

“Was there poison in the coffee?”

Helen nodded. “Just as we suspected, but they’re doing more tests to find out who did it.”

“Interesting.” While listening to his boss, Jake popped in a new, hopefully untraceable, SIM card into his burner phone. It was his practice to carry spare burner phones and spare SIM cards. Just in case.

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