Fatal Exchange by Lisa Harris Page B

beginning. Even if someone was behind this, he was still responsible for his actions.
    And what were the odds of finding Eduardo in the next couple of hours? As wrong as Philip had been in his approach, he’d been right about one thing. Even if the money was transferred, there wasn’t going to be a happily ever after in this situation. Rafael wasn’t going to be able to just walk away from this.
    Which is what whoever was behind this was counting on. She felt a chill race up her spine. The moment Rafael had steppedinto this room and grabbed Tess, he’d sealed his fate, but he didn’t care. This wasn’t about the money or his escaping. It was about getting Eduardo’s captors what they were demanding so he and his mother could be set free.
    Her fingers fumbled on the keypad.
    Find them.
    She wanted him to promise he would, but knew he couldn’t. How many unsolved cases still sat on her sister’s desk, including their brother’s? They might never discover who had orchestrated this.
    She refused to give in to the fears lurking in the back of her mind, but nothing seemed certain anymore. She looked at the gun Rafael held. If this was bigger than Rafael, if someone really was somehow manipulating him, and they knew what was going on in this classroom, then this situation was no longer in the control of an inexperienced eighteen-year-old, but of drug dealers. Who would have no qualms in ending Rafael’s life—or anyone else’s.
    Mason’s text interrupted her turbulent thoughts.
    Need to inform captain.
    Tess’s quiet sobbing in the desk beside her jerked Emily back to reality. Her niece had been held at gunpoint, watched a fellow student shot . . . Even with all of Mason’s promises, for the moment, there was no escape. Nowhere to run to.
    Tess needed her. Emily slipped the phone into her pocket, then went and knelt down beside Tess. They had to find a way out of this, because time was running out.

    As soon as Mason sent the last text, he hurried back into the school. Key players from negotiation had taken over the office with its rows of file cabinets, trophies, and a familiar blue-and-white bobcat mascot hanging on the wall, transformingthe room into their command station. Computers, surveillance equipment, live video footage of the hallway outside the classroom. The captain and Charlie sat in the middle of it, poring over a set of blueprints.
    The captain rubbed the back of his head. “We need eyes in that classroom—”
    “Maybe we have them.” Mason addressed the captain, but he had the attention of the entire room. “I just received a text message from Emily.”
    “From Emily?” Charlie took a step forward. “How?”
    “She’s using her phone. She believes Rafael’s being manipulated.”
    While he knew Emily believed this to be true, he knew they also couldn’t dismiss the possibility that Rafael could be, for whatever reason, manipulating her .
    Lieutenant Green took a step forward. “So this whole ransom scenario being played out right now wasn’t the brainchild of Rafael. He was set up?”
    Mason wished he could be certain. “Emily can’t communicate directly with Rafael, but apparently he found a way to give her some clues and he’s letting her text. She believes someone else has eyes and ears in the room.”
    Charlie shook his head. “How is that possible?”
    Mason shrugged a shoulder. They needed answers, not more questions. “I don’t know, but clearly the technology is readily available. We use earbuds and cameras in surveillance all the time.”
    “Maybe, but just like Mason’s theory that Mrs. Cerda is being used as leverage, this doesn’t follow the cartel’s typical pattern.” The captain dropped the blueprints onto the table. “Why take school kids hostage? This story is being played on every mainstream and internet media outlet. The local drug lords don’t usually play that way.”
    “They might for two million dollars.” Mason tried to work through his own train of