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The screen opened, and Vance’s face appeared. Seconds later, the second window opened with Lauren’s face in it, reducing Vance to a small image in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. The effect was one of bringing Lauren that much clearer and that much closer.
Again, Lauren was wearing a bright sweater that was clearly meant to make her appear hale and hardy. The attempt failed miserably. If anything, she looked more drawn, her eyes more haunted than they had yesterday. In his heart, Vance knew that Lauren was not only wearing down, she was giving up.
It took all his willpower not to tell her that help was on its way and that she’d soon be home with her family.
Instead, he just greeted her as he had before. “Hi, honey.” He knew his voice sounded shaky. But as Aidan had told him, the kidnappers would not only expect but welcome his fear. They’d feel that much closer to victory.
“Hi, Daddy.” Lauren was fighting for control, for her life.
“Tell me how you are. Are you eating? Sleeping? No one has hurt you, have they?”
“I’m fine.” She gave him the same staccato answers that she had yesterday. “I’ve eaten and I’ve slept. My privacy has been respected and I’m unharmed.” She ran through her food intake, her activities, and her continued good health.
Abruptly, she broke off, her gaze darting to her left. Then, her shoulders began to shake and tears poured down her cheeks. “Daddy, I have to give you a message: Stop asking others for help, including your most trusted associates at Nano. The people who have me said they’d kill me on the spot if you refuse to comply.” She buried her face in her hands. “Please, Daddy, don’t let them kill me.”
Oh dear God.
Everything inside Vance turned to ice.
“Lauren, honey, don’t cry. I don’t know what they’re talking about. Of course I won’t tell anyone at Nano. No one even has any idea you’re missing, much less kidnapped.” His eyes darted aro
und the screen, knowing the kidnappers were right there beside her. “Whoever’s listening, please don’t hurt my daughter. I’m following your instructions. I’d never risk her life. I’ve told no one at NanoUSA that my child has been kidnapped. No one. I swear it. Please…” Now Vance was the one who broke down and started to cry. “I’ll get you the rest of the drawings you want. Before the deadline. I promise. I love you, Lauren…”
The screen went blank.
25
Zermatt jet
1 March
Thursday, 3472 nm to OSI
10:11 a.m. EST
“Shit.”
Thirty thousand feet in the air, his private jet en route to Osijek, Aidan had been on his laptop, watching and listening to the video feed that was being relayed from Vance’s computer through Terri’s server and out to the Zermatt team members. When the screen went black, he slammed his fist against the arm of his cream-colored leather seat.
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” He didn’t wait for Simone to initiate an emergency videoconference. He did it himself. Rapidly scanning through his contacts, he clicked on Marc, Simone, and Terri. Their names went green, at which time he clicked on the connect button at the bottom of the screen. He watched as his team members appeared.
“What was that about?” Marc asked, his tone grim.
“I don’t know,” Aidan said. “But that message clearly came from the Chinese, not the Albanians. The sophisticated phraseology, the careful choice of words… This came from the top.”
“Gentlemen, Susan is right outside this bedroom door.” Simone’s voice was hushed and she looked shaken, a rarity for her. “And Vance is going to be storming into the hotel room in about ten minutes demanding answers, so I better have some to offer. Do you think the Chinese know about me? That I’m the insider at Nano who’s assisting Vance? Do you think I was somehow careless and that someone saw me go into Blockman’s office?”
“No on all counts.” Aidan gave an adamant shake of his head. “They carefully chose the phrase trusted associate. You’re hardly that. You’re a consultant, working at Nano for a week. I think they have reason to believe that an insider—other than their mole—is now in the mix. The questions are what made them believe that and which of Vance’s associates is the suspect?”
“I’ve got a good guess as to the first part of your question,” Terri said. “The photos. I didn’t think of it before, but the technology and the skill set required to send them was sophisticated—maybe too sophisticated for Vance’s capabilities. If the Chinese tried to figure out where and how the pictures were taken, they would get nowhere. Ryan told me that the ring camera would strip out all Exif data, which normally indicates the type of camera, the exposure details, even GPS coordinates showing where the picture was taken.”
“Good points.” Aidan picked up on the particular note of urgency in Terri’s voice—a note that meant she had something substantial of her own to report. But whatever it was, it would have to wait. Right now their focus had to be on the immediate crisis.
“Let’s shelve the brainstorming,” he said pointedly. “We need to give Simone the ammunition she needs to handle Vance and Susan. She’s about to have to sign off. Whatever else we discuss, I can pass along when she gets in touch with me afterwards.”
“I’d focus on the reality of the message itself, not the words,” Marc said to Simone. Formerly with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, he was a pro at assessing and managing people. “The fact that the kidnappers are warning Vance means they’ve chosen to scare the shit out of him, not to kill Lauren. If the opposite were the case, she’d be dead and the message would be moot. All that’s a good sign. They want to up the pressure in order to eliminate interference and to get what they want. And what they want is a technology, not a corpse, just as you surmised from the beginning, Aidan.”
“That makes sense.” Simone was calming down. “I’ll make sure to stress that point to Vance. But I’ll also be honest with him about the transference of the photos being the possible red flag that led the Chinese to suspect another Nano employee is involved. I must be honest with him. He’ll know if he’s being played.”
