FACETS (JAKE SCARNE THRILLERS Book 6) by Lawrence de Maria Page A

naturally gravitated toward one another, and eventually roomed together. Once we realized how much we had in common, we told each other everything. My father would have had a stroke, if he knew. But, then, he tried to warn me away from Alana because of her past. Needless to say, that only made her more intriguing to me. We were both, after all, innocents corrupted by forces beyond our control.”
    Maura Dallas looked at the photo and smiled grimly.
    “You would never know by looking at this how many miles were on each of us, would you? After we graduated, I came back to the States and Alana returned to Mendoza in Argentina. We always kept in touch, through college and then law school. When my brother was killed, she came out to San Francisco, and was my rock. My father was a wreck, but even he knew she was something different. He even apologized for trying to keep us apart in France. But after that I became more and more involved in my family’s business and Alana settled in Miami. Neither of us were the kind of girlfriends who exchange recipes or compare contestants on Dancing With the Stars over the phone, but we’d touch base a couple of times a year. I never saw her after my brother’s funeral. I guess we were each other’s only real friend. Knowing that was enough. Do you understand what I mean?”
    Scarne thought of Dudley Mack.
    “Yes.”
    “We never spoke about our respective business, but I was in a position to hear things, and I knew Alana was into some very heavy stuff with that Ballantrae situation. Who was I to judge? Glass houses and all that. But the last time I spoke to her, she sounded like she was on the verge of getting out from whatever she was in.” Maura Dallas paused. “And she told me about you. I think she hoped you were going to be part of her escape. But it didn’t work out that way, did it?”
    Scarne was silent.
    “Then she disappeared,” Dallas continued, “and I heard more things from our contacts with other families, particularly the Ukrainians. I won’t ask you if they are true, or what really happened. But in our last conversation, Alana said you were the only man she ever loved. You had saved her life at great risk to your own. You were tough and could be trusted. I filed it away, never thinking I might need someone like you. Someone outside the family. But now I do. I can’t dismiss the possibility that someone has betrayed me.”
    “By taking your child? If this is an inside job, why wouldn’t they just come after you directly?”
    “Because I’m a woman. Because they might think I will collapse and be forced to hand over the reins. I don’t know. I didn’t say it was likely. But I cannot afford to ignore any possibilities.”
    “Who in your organization stand to gain from a change in leadership?”
    “No one I can think of. There are uncles, but they are old and fat, and happy to receive the dividends my legitimate businesses kick off. My sources in law enforcement tell me that the F.B.I. doesn’t even bother keeping tabs on them. All their wiretaps provided were descriptions of prostate problems and hip replacements. Some of their children, my cousins, are in the family business, legitimate or otherwise. We all get along, but I suppose one of them may be jealous. You may feel obliged to check all of them out, but, trust me, Vincent will beat you to it. And they have their own children, who grew up with Alana. It doesn’t make any sense.”   
    Scarne stood up and walked to the window. He looked down at the skaters in the famous Rockefeller Center ice rink, which would be closing soon for the season. He’d never even been tempted to ice skate. He thought of Alana Loeb, and the last time he saw her in the Florida Keys. He thought of her skiing at Chamonix. She would probably have also been a wonderful ice skater. Maura Dallas named her daughter after her. A daughter who was kidnapped. A daughter who might be dead by now. Probably was. But maybe not.
    Maura