Chapter 5
A few agonizing hours later, Kristine’s phone rang, and she pounced on it. The kidnapper explained that he wanted her to go to Central Park. There was a bridge as part of the jogging trail through the woods, and nearby behind a rocky outcropping, she’d find amurse.
“What’s a murse?”
The kidnapper sighed. “It’s a man-purse. Like a messenger bag, but thicker. It’s made of heavy leather. Very manly. And this one is fireproof.”
“Okaaay—”
“Hey, don’t get fresh. It’s spring and might rain. I don’t want the papers you’re going to steal for us to get wet.”
So, “us” means there’s more than one of them. “From that building on Madison Avenue?”
“Yeah. You’re not as dumb as I thought.”
Kristine was tempted to give him a piece of her mind. But when dealing with her mother’s kidnapper, who probably thought he was smarter than everyone, it might be smart to play dumb.
“Okay. Tell me what you want me to do.”
Kristine received her orders. She’d have to show up at work when she wasn’t expected or needed, and that was a little suspicious right off the bat. But she couldn’t think of another way to do this. She had to get the proximity card.
Some older buildings in the suburbs left keys to the outer doors in the trusted hands of the local fire department. Or there was a locked box on the wall outside, and the fire department had a key to all the boxes in that area. In the city, anyone who wanted to get in could and would break into one of those boxes, so there was a special access card. Protected by none other than the captain himself.
Now Kristine had to hope the proximity card was in the kitchen drawer in the firehouse as it usually was and not in the captain’s pocket. He had been known to accidentally go home with it on occasion.
Strolling in at 9 p.m., she waved to a couple of surprised firefighters having a card game. They had been playing for money, but paused. One of them asked, “Scotty, what are you doing here?”
“Hi, Alex. Hey, Murphy. I was out for a walk and had a hankering for coffee, but then realized I’d left my wallet at home.” She chuckled at her lame-ass excuse and hoped they’d buy it.
The one called Murphy eyed her with suspicion. “You wanted coffee, and you came here? You could have walked a couple more blocks to get your wallet. Sounds like an excuse to me. Does it sound like an excuse to you, Alex?”
“It sure does… Maybe she misses us.”
“Or did you lose all your money playing against this asshole?” He tipped his head toward Alex. “And you’re here to win it back.”
The other guy laughed. “Get your coffee and sit down. We’ll deal you in.”
“Thanks, but I’d rather hold onto my paycheck.”
Alex bellyached, “Aw, c’mon. I haven’t got quite enough for my Gold Coast mansion yet.”
“Are you sure about that?” Murphy asked.
The banter wasn’t unusual, so Kristine felt she hadn’t tripped any alarm bells among the guys. That was good. As soon as they went back to their game, she surreptitiously glanced over at the drawer that held the card she needed.
The tones rang out. The guys rose and stuffed their money into their front pockets, leaving the cards where they were.
“I guess your summer house is gonna have to wait a little longer,” Murphy said as he exited the kitchen.
“Don’t touch our cards, Scotty!” Alex called over his shoulder.
“I won’t.” She pretended to sip the coffee and casually listened to the announcement. A possible gas leak on Eleventh near the ports. Good, she’d be able to avoid her cronies on her way to Madison Avenue. As soon as she heard the trucks rolling out, she grabbed the card from the drawer and stuffed it in the flat fanny pack she had hidden under her sweatshirt. She didn’t want to risk losing it by tossing it into the kidnapper’s murse.
As a dragon, she couldn’t exactly fit into her sweatpants. She did what Jayce had suggested earlier and left a pair of sweats on her roof…right next to the ones he’d left there. When she’d spotted them earlier, she’d smiled. Realizing he might be coming back despite her tossing him out on his ear made her feel wonderful. She had been abandoned by the most important men in her life and was beginning to wonder if she could trust any man to stick by her when the going got tough.
Kristine had to hurry. The sooner she got this over with and returned the card, the better off she’d be. If someone noticed it was missing, they’d probably assume the captain had it. Unless it was the captain looking…
She really couldn’t get too caught up in the “what ifs” or she’d panic and blow the whole thing.
