A tear slipped onto her cheek and spilled over. The desire to wrap her in his arms almost overwhelmed him, but if he stopped now, he would never finish.

  “I would like to say I wasn’t sure it was you, but I was sure. I knew. I just feared it was a trick and she wanted me to blow my cover. She’d been upset by the agency pulling us apart after she refused to marry me.”

  Ericka looked at her hands. He wanted her to look at him. He needed her to understand. Even though he wasn’t sure he did.

  He leaned back in the chair and looked at the ceiling, then he drew in a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves before he started again.

  This was harder than he’d expected.

  “Please finish.”

  He nodded as he straightened the chair to face her. “Your mother had to get away from Harry and she only knew of one way, to reenter the agency. The fact was from afar she looked a lot like—”

  “Maria Petrov…”

  He sighed. “Yes. Maria Petrov. She came here to the asylum and studied Maria for months. She took over Maria’s personality. When they deemed her ready, they sent her out on the White Lily as Maria.”

  Ericka didn’t move.

  Her stillness worried him, but he had to go on.

  “Josef and Maria were considered divorced. Technically, Maria was said to have disappeared. Ilsa didn’t know where she was, Josef didn’t know where she was. Truthfully, she never left here. Then there was a fire and…”

  “She died?”

  “Yes, as well as many others. That’s why the place closed. But your mother had already taken a spot on the ship. She’d told Josef’s men that she was supposed to run the vessel. Intel stopped not long after she reached the ship. We don’t know exactly what happened. The White Lily was apprehended and had stopped runs until recently.”

  “The ship that Andre and Eliott Rubert were on.”

  “Yes. It has come out of retirement. Our understanding based on what one of the people on board told us was that the captain was a woman. However, they never saw anyone meeting the description of Maria Petrov or your mother.”

  “Why hasn’t someone attempted to find the White Lily and bring them in?”

  He scratched a spot between his brows. “Sasha reached out to some contacts, and it seems that Alpha Team of the Police Assistance Unit has just been assigned the case of finding the White Lily. There is only one problem, our intel says that it has disappeared. Vanished.”

  “Well, of course it has. You tell me my mother was brainwashed into thinking she was a criminal to get out of an abusive relationship and now she’s vanished. Story of my life.”

  He rose and walked around the desk. He opened his arms, but she stood and held her palms facing him.

  “No, please, don’t. I just, I need to get back to my team.”

  She turned to walk away, when she reached the door, he said, “You can’t tell her.”

  “What?” She rounded to face him.

  “You can’t tell your mother who she is. She won’t believe you. She really believes that she is Maria Petrov. You need to bring her in. She has to be deprogramed. And have lots of therapy. Since the White Lily came out of retirement she’s done some terrible things as Petrov. She will need a way to live with those things.”

  Ericka swallowed and nodded, but she didn’t speak. This she turned and fast walked out of the building. He followed her to the open door, but she never looked back as she climbed into Sasha’s car. Sasha looked at him and he nodded that it was okay.

  Ericka needed time to process all that he’d said. In fact, he needed time to process it. If Sasha hadn’t had a reliable source, he wouldn’t have believed any of it.

  Now he needed to find the White Lily and Morgan before the PAU did. He needed to know why they came out of retirement now. Where had Morgan been all this time? He needed to know all these things before Morgan reconnected with her daughter. The answers might be more than either of them could take.

  ****

  Maria watched as the Black Dahlia rose on its end and went into the water. Down, down, down it sank the hull vanishing from view.

  That ship had been her home while the White Lily was reconstructed. A freak fire had gutted the vessel. Once it was repaired, Maria had found herself with no desire to leave the Black Dahlia. Now that choice had been taken from her.

  The dinghy bobbed on the water. Moonlight created a path before them, but they weren’t sure it was the way they were supposed to take.

  Paulo pulled a compass from his pocket. After a few moments, he took the oars and began to row. The other filled dinghies followed suit. Maria allowed him to row for a while before she spoke.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Land. I glanced at the map and determined our location before we left the ship. In my best estimation heading this direction will take us the closest to land the quickest.”

  They had been close to Black Island Sound before the ship had started taking on water. Word had come in only moments before they abandoned the ship that they were supposed to meet up with the Maroon Peacock at Block Island. There they would exchange passengers for money. Once out in open waters they would meet up with the White Lily, transfer the cargo again, and the prisoners would ride back the way they’d come.

  Now that wouldn’t happen. She couldn’t take cargo without a ship.

  Maria flashed another look at the sinking vessel.

  The prisoner exchange system had been worked out by Josef years ago. The more times the people were moved, the less likely they personally were to get caught. She had taken over the White Lily and eventually the Black Dahlia years ago without Josef noticing. Sloan had announced his intent to rid the world of Josef for so long she knew that it would happen, but she hadn’t realized how long it would take.

  She’d waited patiently, although she couldn’t remember where or for how long.

  All these years waiting in the background, now, now she was in charge. And look what happened. On her last major run as leader the entire operation was blown up.

  Paulo struggled with the oars as his arms tired. Another man on the dinghy with them took up the task.

  Paulo moved to her side.

  Now she could ask more questions.

  “I need to know where we are going, exactly.”

  “Fort Pond Bay.”

  She cocked her brow.

  “I don’t know anything about the area other than we can reach the mainland from there. We need to go ashore and scatter at least for a little while, don’t you think?”

  She didn’t like the idea of agreeing, but he was correct. Attention had been brought to their organization. Lots of attention. Before they could move ahead, they needed to regroup. They needed another ship. They needed clients that would trust them again. Even though the Maroon Peacock seemed on board, things could change in an instant.

  She needed to find the White Lily.

  “Then you agree? We will rendezvous at the mainland, disperse, and reconnect if and when it is advantageous?”

  “I agree.”

  The waves calmed as they rowed. The three of them in the dinghy took time about rowing until their muscles wouldn’t do anymore. Paulo or the other gentleman on the tiny ship had brought along water and snacks. They would throw these items to the other dinghies as they drew alongside them. The plan was also passed along as well.

  A failure.

  Her last time.

  The one that would get her out where she could have a normal life finally.

  She’d failed.

  Now she would go to the mainland and try to start a new life or maybe rediscover her old one. Of late she’d been having some weird dreams. Dreams where she took a young child to a hospital. It was a child she was sure she’d never seen before, but she kept popping into her mind.

  Maria would have explored that further, but lights appeared in the distance.

  Someone yelled, “Land ho!”

  After rowing through the night and several hours in the blistering sun, she could understand the enthusiasm. They were glad to get off the tiny lifeboats. She would be happy for that as well. There was only one problem. When she got off the boat, she had no idea where to go.

  Chapter Four

  Hot air blew on Ericka’s cheeks as she attempted to open her heavy eyelids. She felt almost drugged as she came around. When she woke up, she was sitting on the fountain bench outside the PAU building. People skirted around her as they walked past.

  Did she smell?

  Did she look funny?

  Maybe she looked scary.

  She studied her hands, they looked normal. Her shoes were the black loafers she wore when working. She felt her head and her hair was all there and there was nothing planted on her head. Her shoes were tied.

  “What are you guys staring at?”

  A little boy sitting next to her said, “What are you doing?”

  Ericka wasn’t sure what she was doing.

  “Were you looking at the other people and imagining what their life is like? I like to do that sometimes.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Let me help you, in case you don’t know how. That man over there in the suit. He’s a lawyer. He lives in a big fancy house. He has one girl and one boy and a dog, has to have a dog. And of course, he’s married to the most beautiful woman.”

  Ericka started to tell him that he was all wrong. She knew that man from the building. He came by often to apply for a job. He had no wife, no kids, and no dog because he was allergic.

  “What about you? Who do you see?”

  She wasn’t really in the mood to play along, but if it helped her to find out why everyone was staring it might be worth it.

  She picked a random person; someone she’d never seen before. “Her.”

  “You mean that one that is wearing the paisley dress?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, what do you see?”

  “I see a woman who hides behind a smile. She wears long sleeves in the warm weather to hide bruises. She’s selling flowers in the courtyard to make enough money to get out of an abusive relationship.”

  “Oh.”

  Ericka would have slapped her mouth if it would have helped. The kid didn’t need to hear all this negativity.

  She saw more than what she’d said. The lady looked like she’d had enough. Like she was down on her luck, and she couldn’t take another moment in her current situation.

  A man stopped and grabbed the little boy. “I told you not to run off again.”

  “I was talking to my new friend.”

  The man looked at her. “Sorry if he bothered you.”

  “Oh, no bother. I was hoping he’d tell me why everyone keeps staring at me.”

  He pointed behind and above her.

  She turned to look. A cardboard sign was over her head. It read, “Return to the PAU.”

  She rolled her eyes, sighed, and reached up to grab the sign. She shoved it under her arm as she stood and began to walk toward the building. Sasha must have thought it was funny. They’d drugged her so she couldn’t find her way back to the sanitorium, but that was all right. She remembered exactly how to get there from the way there.

  Well, maybe.

  When she entered the lobby was mostly empty. A glance at the clock revealed it was ten a.m. She groaned. Two days she was late for work, well one she didn’t show at all. Either way this wasn’t going to exactly look good on her record, that was a guarantee.

  “So, you have returned.”

  “Didn’t you see me on the monitor?”

  “Huh?”

  She didn’t even try. Why should she? If the security guard of the building had seen her then he would have come and gotten her. Ericka was certain of it. Instead, she sat there for who knew how long.

  The elevator groaned and creaked beneath her slight weight. She shifted to a different part of the elevator, and the sounds of protest stopped. When the elevator opened on the fourteenth floor, she stepped out. There was no one there to greet her. The entire front entrance area was devoid of humans.

  Walking along the hallway, she paid special attention as to whether she heard people in their offices. The rooms were mostly soundproof, but surely, she could or would hear something if people were busily at work.

  The day before when she’d left and went home with Greg to enjoy a pizza, they hadn’t been sure if there would be an office to return to. Now she still wasn’t sure.

  She turned and looked back toward the entrance. Perhaps making a jaunt up to the fifteenth floor was in order. Director Manis or at least Monica would surely have some answers.

  A door behind her opened. She turned quickly. Tito was there. A smile teased his lips.

  “Well, look who decided to return.”

  “Yeah.” Heat flushed her cheeks, and she moved a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Why the sudden embarrassment she wasn’t sure.

  “If you’re looking for your team, they were sent to the docks yesterday to gather the manifest for the White Lily and they never returned.”

  The White Lily? That had been the ship that her father had mentioned. Why would it be docking here if it was the ship that brought the people in? And the ship that had just disappeared.

  “Are you all right? You look a little pale.”

  “I’m fine, I-I just need to sit down a for a minute.”

  Tito opened the door to the Beta Team office and led her inside. Micah looked up, as did Burle, but no one else. Blake was nowhere in sight.

  “He’s with Alpha Team.”

  Ericka cocked her brow.

  “New rules. Everyone has to be with a partner.”

  “And since, I was gone…”

  “Blake became a partner.”

  Ericka knew her team hated that. She would have to make that up to them somehow.

  ****

  Greg massaged his eyes sockets as his eyes blurred. Done, he tried to read the tiny print again.

  All night long the four of them had poured over every piece of paper that had once littered the floor of the dock office. They organized and sorted by ship, date, and cargo. After eight long hours, they were only about half done.

  Blake stood and stretched his arms over his head. “I think I’m going to run and get breakfast. Can I pick up anything for anyone?”

  Quinn and Maggie both hesitated to answer, but they had to be hungry. Or if nothing else at least want coffee. Perhaps they were worried that he wouldn’t want them to agree to anything kind from Blake, but people had to eat, and he was famished.

  “Sure, I’ll take something. Where are you going?”

  Greg’s acceptance started it off. By the time it was finished Blake had an order that would feed an army. He repeated it back and then left with Greg’s keys.

  When the door closed, Quinn asked, “You sure about letting him drive the car?”

  Greg sighed. “Yes, I’m sure. It’ll be fine. He’s lived here and driven in the city as long as I have maybe longer. Let’s just concentrate on what we’re doing.”

  Quinn didn’t answer but kept sorting.

  An alarm went off on Greg’s phone and he groaned.

  “What was that?”

  “The Ericka alarm.”

  “Ah.” Maggie had asked and replied.

  “Maybe she returned to the office?” Quinn sounded pessimistically hopeful.

  “Maybe.” Greg didn’t know what to do. They weren’t going to be at the office to check. They needed to find the last known location and the places that the White Lily was headed. When the manager said that the Coast Guard had gone to check the last known location Greg had his doubts.

  Why do that when a satellite could be pointed at the last spot and the area checked? Did the manager not trust the satellites?

  Greg wondered about them himself. What if someone that had tried to purchase someone from the ship, even a country, had attempted to move the satellite to a different location so that the White Lily wouldn’t be seen? It seemed illogical and logical at the same time.

  “I found it!” Quinn held up a sheet of paper. On his feet he raced to the nearest desk and turned on a lamp above it. He looked over the sheet and frowned.

  “It says White Lily on the letterhead, but this doesn’t have one thing about where the White Lily was going. In fact, it doesn’t even have the port on it of where the people were supposed to go before the ship was raided.”

  If that was the case, then how had the manager sent someone to check on it?

  “Greg?”

  “I know.”

  Maggie was already dialing port authorities. When the door opened and Blake entered, they had already been joined by multiple groups of law enforcement. The picture of the manager was shown around.

  “This office has been closed for months.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It was closed for renovations. Computer issues or something like that.”

  “I see.” Greg looked around at the outdated computers. What had really happened here? Was everyone they walked in on the day before fakes or just the manager?

  “You got scammed.”

  “We got scammed.”

  “They rigged everything to go off as soon as you arrived. They knew you were coming. By letting you look they escaped, and you spent a day and a half looking for a sheet of paper that wouldn’t tell you anything.”

  “Looks that way.”

  “And what have you found about the White Lily?” Maggie jutted out her hip and pursed her lips. She was livid, Greg could tell.

  He didn’t blame her, she thought they were doing something to help and instead they had just wasted all that time.

  The local law enforcement officer cocked a brow at Maggie’s sarcasm. “Look, lady, I’m sorry you went through that, but there is a rogue group of kids running around causing havoc right now. Just last week we busted a group swiping ice cream from a sidewalk vendor. This week it seems to be kids pretending to run a dock office. We don’t know how they are being alerted; all we know is that Southside has something to do with it.”

  Greg had heard very little about the Southside gang. He’d been busy with just his cases. If they were going to interfere with his cases, maybe now he needed to look into them.