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“I’ll tell you later. We only have a little bit of cash. No credit cards or ID.”
“How did you get Lund’s phone number?”
“He made me memorize it after he picked me up from Brice’s house that night,” Suki said. “While we were sitting in his car for hours. I tried to memorize the number for your burner phone too, but for some reason, his is the one that stuck. It’s so good to hear your voice, Dad. Uncle Steve said the twins are there?”
“Yes!” they both shouted simultaneously. They could hear her well enough. Lucas hugged Brillante, and both boys looked so happy—more than they had since they’d left for their vacation in Mexico over a year ago. Roth felt tears in his eyes. He was going to start sobbing.
“What’s the name of the urgent care and the hospital? I can pay for any bills. Your mom’s with you? Right now? Can I talk to her?”
“She’s sleeping. We were on a boat ride all night, and she’s really sick. Her body was protected while she was down there. But now . . . it’s . . . it’s really weird. I’ll have to explain it later. But she misses you.”
Roth rubbed his forehead, still dazed. He heard another voice from Suki’s end of the connection. “Um . . . Jane Louise wants to say hi.”
“Okay,” Roth said, his voice quavering. Then she passed over the phone, and he heard Jane Louise’s voice. It was a little different, but he still recognized it.
“Can you call my mee-maw?” she asked. “Can you tell her I’m okay?”
Tears streamed down Roth’s cheeks. “Yes, sweetie. Yes. What’s her name?”
“Her name is Barbara. Barbara McKinty. Everyone calls her BJ. But I call her Mee-Maw.”
Roth swallowed his tears. “You bet. I’m so . . . I’m so relieved, Jane Louise. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you before.”
“I know. Tia Sarina said you did everything you could to save me. Here’s Suki. She took care of me too.”
Roth felt better than he could remember feeling. He felt . . . grateful, so grateful he was almost sick from it, but he was desperate to talk to Sarina. To hear her voice.
“I need to give the nurse her phone back. We’re at NCH Baker Downtown Hospital on Seventh Street, and the urgent care is Station Medic 1, that’s on Eighth Avenue. I need to find us a safe place. I’ll call Lund’s phone again.”
“Okay. That’s good. Find a safe place. But here, write down my burner phone number so you can reach me too. Can you grab a pen or something? I’ll pay for your mom’s treatment with a private credit card. One that Calakmul can’t trace. Just . . . be safe.”
“I will. Okay, I’ve got a pen. Give me the number.” He did and listened for her to repeat it back to him correctly. “Got it. I love you, Dad. I love you, bros!”
“Love you, Suki!” Lucas chimed in.
“Yeah, me too,” Brillante said, a little more bashful.
Roth ended the call and held the phone in his hands like it was a bar of gold.
Monica put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a warm smile. “They escaped?”
Roth nodded, and then the tears came out in a gush. His shoulders trembled, his chest rattled, and he sobbed and sobbed like he hadn’t in months. Sarina was alive. Jane Louise was alive. Suki had somehow managed to get them out of Jacob’s lair. How, he had no idea. But the relief and hope were overwhelming. Lucas leaned against him, patting his arm comfortingly.
Steve crouched and took his phone. “We’re going to get her back.”
“We have FBI offices in Florida. We can pick her up in an hour,” Monica said, rising.
“No way,” Jordan interrupted. “You know—”
Steve sighed. “Let me handle this. We communicate using any of your channels, and we may as well hand them over to Calakmul again. I’m going to get them. Myself.”
“Steve, you can’t be everywhere at once,” Monica objected.
“It’s less than a three-hour flight to Florida from here,” Lund said.
Roth felt the tide of tears rushing out again. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve. His family was safe. They would be back together again. They were still in considerable danger—not just from Calakmul’s people but from the virus they were spreading—but they’d eluded trouble for this long. There was good reason to believe that they might get back together to face what was coming as a family. And now they knew where to find the Jaguar Temple.
Roth patted Lucas’s head and then tried to stand, but his knees were still wobbly. The boys helped him back up. Looking at the others in the room—Dr. Estrada, Illari, Jordan—he felt more emotion welling in his chest. All these people had come together to help. That was a beautiful thing, and he had to believe that if they continued to work together, they could stop Calakmul. Hadn’t his family managed to continually elude the man?
