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Jake pushed Daniel against a tree, holding him tight and pressing himself against his struggling body. “I’d love to kill you and leave you for the dogs,” Jake said. “But I guess killing you would be too easy. Besides, I’m a changed man.”
He reached down and clicked one half of the handcuffs around Daniel’s wrist, then – leaning heavily on him – he wrapped Daniel’s arms backwards around the tree trunk, and fastened his wrists together with the handcuffs.
“Untie me!” Daniel said, kicking his legs out and trying to get Jake in the balls.
Jake stepped back and raised his fist, as if he planned to punch Daniel into oblivion. But something inside him clicked, so he lowered his fist and glared at Daniel, who was now yelling – almost screaming – for someone to help.
A mischievous wave of energy swept through Astrid, and she realized they needed Daniel off their backs if they wanted to rescue Emma without any more hassle from him. She reached into her purse and pulled out a spare pair of pantyhose, then – dodging Daniel’s kicking legs – she hooked the pantyhose in his mouth – fastening the fabric tight as he struggled – gagging him. “That should keep him quiet for a while.”
Jake smiled proudly at her. “You know he won’t forget this. He’s the type to hold a grudge.”
“I don’t care. He’s an asshole. And he’s hindering our rescue mission.”
Jake nodded. “Good girl. Come on, let’s get outta here.”
“We can’t just leave him here like this,” Clara said. “I don’t care what kind of lowlife he is.”
“Yeah, I guess that would be cruel,” Jake said. “I’ll call his deputy to come out and untie him.”
“But his deputy’s miles away in New York,” Clara said.
“I know. Pity he’ll be here hours, huh? But it’ll give us plenty of time to get away. And time for him to think about how come he ended up like this.”
Clara shook her head. “If the Dean finds out I had anything to do with this…”
“I’m sure you can convince one or two of your students to give you a good alibi,” Astrid said, winking playfully.
Clara laughed. “My brother’s a bad influence on you.”
“I know. It’s wonderful, isn’t it!”
Jake leaned forward and kissed Clara on the cheek. “I guess we’d better get out of here.”
“Okay. Thanks for dropping by.”
“You wanna come with us?”
She glanced at Daniel, who was still struggling and trying to shout, but he was muffled by Astrid’s hosiery – and bound by his own handcuffs. “No. I’ll wait a little longer for my own adventure.” She hugged Astrid. “Try to keep Jake out of trouble for me, please.”
Astrid laughed. “Too late.”
Clara hugged her twin. “All right, if you can’t stay out of trouble, then at least try to stay safe.”
“We’ll try. Hey, sis… can I borrow your car?”
Chapter Twenty
Jake left his Ferrari at the campus and borrowed Clara’s much more discrete Nissan four-by-four, then he drove Astrid to a motel on the outskirts of town, hoping Daniel wouldn’t find them before they found Emma.
The motel was shabby – consisting of one-room cabins, linked together in a long row, and sparsely decorated with a double bed, a writing desk, and a cramped bathroom – which was surprisingly clean and modern. The front door led directly to the sprawling dimly-lit parking lot – and the spiders weren’t included in the price.
Jake left Astrid to call her parents and stepped out to call his friend at the telecoms company – who he always paid handsomely for tapping phones and tracing numbers. He’d known him since his NYPD days, but this guy was totally corrupt, and happy to work with Jake as a private investigator – and now technically a fugitive, according to Daniel.
He stood in the chilly twilight and smoked a cigarette, while giving his contact all the details. Then he went back into the dingy room, to find Astrid lying on the bed with her shoes off. Last night they’d hardly slept, and all this excitement was probably tiring her out. He was so proud of how well she was holding it together, when only the other day she could barely walk through Times Square without freaking out.
He clicked the door shut, locking it – just in case.
She opened her eyes sleepily. “Hi.”
