Fortune and Glory (Stephanie Plum 27)

“Anything.”

I started humming “Happy Birthday.” It was the only song in my head.

“That’s a good choice,” Potts said. “I hum that song a lot.”

We hummed “Happy Birthday” together all the way to exit 17 and for a couple of minutes on Route 50.

“Speed limit,” Potts said. “It will slow us down if we get stopped by the police or hit a cow or something.”

“There’s a fork in the road.”

“Stay to the right on Route 50. Route 50 just turned into Philadelphia.”

“That’s the third clue. Philadelphia. I thought Jimmy made this treasure hunt impossibly difficult, but he made it ridiculously easy. Benny’s clue number four is pink.”

We traveled Route 50 through the town of Egg Harbor, looking for something pink. We left the town and drove through a residential area. Philadelphia Avenue continued on past churches, over a creek, and past a lake.

From time to time I checked my rear mirror for a Rangeman car. I knew Ranger would have someone following me when they saw that I l

eft Trenton. And he was probably coordinating with Morelli, and I suspected that Morelli was also following me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

I pulled to the side of the road. “We must have missed it,” I said. “We’ve been on Philadelphia for a long time and there isn’t anything out here.”

Potts went back to his phone and tapped in a satellite map of Philadelphia Avenue.

“I see it,” he said. “There are some pink buildings about a mile up the road.”

I put the Buick in gear and in a couple of minutes we came to a driveway leading into Bowman Storage. Two acres of single-story, pink concrete block storage units with roll-up garage doors.

“This is it,” Potts whispered.

I no longer wanted the treasure. I wanted my mom. I wanted her safe and unharmed. If she wasn’t already here, I knew they would be bringing her here soon. I wanted to ride around and look for the black Escalade or the blue pickup, but I was driving a big, stupid powder blue and white Buick Roadmaster. It wasn’t quiet and it never went unnoticed.

“I’m afraid to go any further in this car,” I said to Potts. “We’ll be instantly recognized if Shine and his men are roaming around.”

I scanned the area. There weren’t many places to hide a Buick. A small office with its own parking was attached to the first row of garage-size lockers. The office looked closed and unoccupied. Two large dumpsters had been placed off to the side of the office.

I drove behind the dumpsters and parked. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best I could do. The Buick would only be visible to someone depositing trash. We walked past one row of storage units and didn’t see any cars. A tan Honda sedan was parked in front of the first unit on the second row. I looked past the Honda and spotted the black Escalade and a white Taurus at the other end of the building. The door was down on the unit. Two men stood beside the Escalade.

“There’s a car coming,” Potts said.

We ducked down and wedged ourselves halfway under the Honda. A black Mercedes sedan rolled past us and parked by the other cars. Shine got out of the Mercedes. The door to the storage unit rolled up and Shine went in.

My sick stomach was back, and my heart thumped in my chest. I wondered if this happened to Indy. Probably not. He had a lot of Oh crap moments, but I couldn’t remember him looking nauseous. Probably because no one ever kidnapped his mother.

“I’m going to circle around this building so I can get close without the two men seeing me,” I said to Potts.

“Then what?” he asked.

“I don’t know. One step at a time.”

I honestly didn’t know what I would do. I had no idea what was going on inside the concrete bunker, and I didn’t want to make things worse for my mom if she was in there. If I made a move to rescue her and failed it would be horrible for both of us.

I turned to go, and the garage door opened at the end of the row. Potts and I crouched behind the Honda and watched everyone come out of the storage unit.

Shine stormed out first. He was waving his arms, and even from this distance, I could see that his face was red.