AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She widened her eyes. “Mr. Brown, is there a problem?”
“I’d say so. Where are they holding Ethan?”
Her mouth dropped open, but fear flashed across her face. He could smell it coming off her.
“I-if I knew that, I’d tell the police. I know it’s my fault for not watching him more closely. I’m torn up about it. I can’t even face Claire.”
“Yeah, I can imagine it would be hard for you to face Claire after what you’ve done. How much did Senator Correll pay you, or is he promising something else? Marriage?” He laughed. “Get in line, sister. Correll’s a man whore. He spreads around whatever he’s got to all the ladies. He must own stock in Viagra.”
Lori gasped. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He grabbed her arm, pinching it through the slick material of her jacket. “Let’s take a walk.”
“Wait.” She dug her heels into the frozen ground. “I don’t want to leave the house.”
“I’ll bet you don’t.” He dragged her away from the cabin. “Especially not with me.”
“I don’t know what you think is going on. I didn’t have anything...”
He shoved the muzzle of his gun in her side. “Cut the crap.”
She froze, except for one eyelid that twitched and fluttered. “You wouldn’t.”
“Kill you?”
“You can’t kill me.”
“Why? Because you can’t tell me where Ethan is if you’re dead?”
She parted her dry lips, but didn’t answer.
He didn’t like roughing up or scaring women. Given his past, it was the hardest part of the job for him when required. But sometimes it was required, and for a woman complicit in the kidnapping of a child—Claire’s child—it was more than required.
“Who said anything about killing you, Lori?” He prodded her with his gun farther from the cabin and curled his lip. “Do you know who I am? What I do?”
A line of sweat broke out on her upper lip, despite the cold.
“We reserve death for those who are no longer of any use to us.” He cinched his fingers around her wrist. “I have something altogether different planned for you.”
“I don’t—I don’t know anything. I don’t know where they have him.”
He loosened his grip. “But he must still be in the area if Correll plans to release him after the White House blows tomorrow.”
Lori tripped. “White House? What are you talking about?”
“I guess Correll saves his truly intimate conversations for like-minded ladies such as Julie Patrick.”
Lori’s face twisted, giving everything away.
“He’s here in the area, isn’t he?”
Dropping her chin to her chest, she whispered, “Yes. Spencer told me when Claire handed over what was rightfully his from his marriage he’d release Ethan to me. I—I don’t know anything about the White House.”
“We’ll take that into consideration. Now, you’re going to call the people who have Ethan and tell them you need to see him.”
Her head came up as if on a string. “How am I going to manage that? I have no reason to see Ethan until he’s released.”
Mike narrowed his eyes. “His medicine. He has asthma and he’s going to need his medicine. If anything happens to him before Correll gets his...money, the whole plan is ruined. Now get back on the phone and put it on speaker.”
She took the phone from his fingers as if his touch would burn her and placed the call.
A man answered on the first ring. “What’s the problem?”
“The boy—he doesn’t have his asthma medication. I need to get it to him.”
“Are you crazy?”
She lashed back. “Are you? If anything happens to him before the boss gets what he wants, we’re all dead.”
“Are they lookin’ at you? Are the cops lookin’ at you?”
“No, not at all. Nobody suspects me.” She raised her eyes to meet Mike’s.
The man on the other end of the line sniffed. “I’m giving you these GPS numbers. You just have to put ’em in a GPS and you’ll get here, but you better delete ’em after...and wait until dark.”
