Page 39 of Special Agent Anastacia

“Hanna?”

“Agent Marchenko’s cousin. As far as we know, at the moment she’s with your daughter. Hanna came recently from Ukraine. She’s a good kid about the same age as Carly. They’re on the run together, at least that’s what we’re praying. I know they’d escaped from Vlad earlier today.” Nash went on to tell Sam what happened in the parking lot of the hospital.

“You’re sure it was them?”

Not willing to instill any doubts, Nash nodded. “Yes. Hanna knew my name, and she answered to hers. They were afraid he’d find them, and as I told you… they were hiding. Now we’re hoping that the prick who’s responsible for all this tormentdidn’t track them down. The police have an APB out on your wife’s car and on all three of the missing.”

Before Sam could question Nash further, Ana erupted from the living room, her behavior back to full-on agent mode. “Dave just called. They found Hattie’s car.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

While Ana followed Nash to his truck, she felt a bit more like her old self. Thankful for the steel planted firmly back in her spine, she repeated what Dave just told her.

“Seems they located the car in the hospital’s underground parking lot. He said they found quite a bit of blood smeared around the drivers seat, probably from Vlad’s shoulder wound. No sign of the girls or of the bastard though.”

Perplexed, Nash said, “I don’t get it? Wouldn’t they have investigated that whole area earlier?”

“According to Dave, after the sighting you had of the girls, the local cops did a thorough search of the hospital grounds. They found nothing. I’m thinking Vlad didn’t either. Could be he returned once the heat was off to check again. Then decided to ditch the vehicle.”

“No matter, we’ll get the prick sooner or later.”

“Yep. “Ana appreciated Nash’s haste to get there because the antsy crap going on in her body was hard to restrain. If only theycould find some trace of the girls, some hint of where they could be. Had they managed to ditch the son of a bitch or was he even now torturing them for having escaped earlier?

Soon, they skidded into the lot and found a frustrated Dave waiting for them. “The forensic team is going over the vehicle now, then they’ll take it into the department for a more thorough inspection. I wanted to know if they discovered any clues we could use in the search.”

“Anything so far?”

Dave shook his head. “No. But I know why he decided to dump his ride. He ran out of gas. The gauge reads empty. Guess he didn’t want to show up on any video feeds while filling the tank.”

Ana gazed around the near empty lot. “Any reports of another car missing?”

“Not from this location. But morning is close, and I have no doubt some poor sucker on his way to work is going to step outside and find his vehicle gone. Mrs. Perkins came in early to relieve Pat and will man the phones and forward any calls.” Dave seemed to do a survey of the two standing in front of him. His teasing grin made Ana take notice.

“What?”

“Might be time for you two to head back to the cabin. Not wanting to be rude but some personal refreshing is in order. If you know what I mean.” He waved his hand in their direction and both Ana and Nash looked down at themselves and then shuffled backward.

Nash chuckled. “Harsh but true. Okay. We’ll head back to the cabin and clean up. Meet you at the jail.”

“Good. Take your time. I’ll call if anything turns up.”

Driving back to her place, Ana put into words what Dave had said. “I guess we do need to shower and change our clothes. It’s been crazy these last couple of days.”

“I have my bag with clean clothes in the back.” Nash took his eyes from the road to look her way. “I’ve been thinking… it’s weird how relaxed I am with you. It’s like we’ve been close forever. And yet we really don’t know much about each other at all. Tell me about yourself. What made you want to be an FBI agent?”

Ana settled into her seat, getting comfy. “Let’s see. Mom was mostly a stay-at-home kinda gal who did various jobs but never seemed to settle into a career. My dad was with the police department, and he loved his work. And me… well my father schooled me on how important laws are and how crucial for them to be enforced. He often talked about how folks needed protection and somehow I knew I’d be good in that role.” Aware that she’d never revealed that information to another, she felt shaky and decided he needed to share his story too. “Your turn. Why firefighting?”

Nash turned away from her to look out the window on his left, appearing as if he were shy. “You might find this hard to believe but I started off wanting to be a minister. Took the training and worked in a church for a couple of years.”

Shocked by his answer, she questioned him. “Why’d you quit?”

“Lousy pay. Rotten hours. No patience left for all the problems facing those who came looking for answers no one could give them. I mean… I had answers, it’s just that most didn’t want to hear the truth. They didn’t want to work hard and pay their dues… if you know what I mean. So many of them thought they were entitled and didn’t understand why life and God wouldn’t just cough up their needs… follow their set of rules.” He glanced her way. “Sorry for rambling.”

“God, no. Don’t apologize. I’m interested. What happened?”

“Guess I started questioning everything too, and the more I did that, the less answers I had for those coming to me for help.”

“Okay. But why firefighting?”

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