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Owen?
“I’m so dumb,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “I bonked my cheek on my car door like a dunce. But that’s not why I missed my lunch with Reed today. What happened is . . .”
I yank out my earbuds, letting the rest of Hannah’s sentence fill the space between Reed and me, while frantically gesturing out of frame for Reed to listen. In my periphery, Reed looks up from his laptop as Hannah continues speaking.
She says, “. . . I ran into an old friend after my therapy appointment and then totally lost track of time when we got to talking. Is my darling boyfriend, Reed, furious with me for being such a flake and forgetting to call him sooner?”
My brain is rapidly processing every batshit crazy thing Hannah’s said and combining it with her batshit crazy location and that concerning welt on her face. The redness on her chin and around her mouth. “Uh, yeah, Reed was pretty furious at first,” I say. “But after a while, when you hadn’t called or texted in hours, his anger turned to worry, so I’m sure he’ll forgive you out of sheer relief that you’re okay.”
Hannah’s eyes flicker to that same target beyond the phone again, so I quickly glance at my best friend across the aisle. Reed’s dark eyes are transfixed on mine. He’s on high alert. Breathing hard, the same as me. Clearly, something horrific is going down with Hannah. My worst nightmare. And Reed knows it as well as I do.
“I’ll call Reed to explain everything now,” Hannah says. “That is, if you’d be so kind as to give me his latest number. I’m sure it won’t surprise you to learn I’ve once again forgotten to save Reed’s latest monthly number in my phone.” She forces a chuckle. “I promise to save it next month when he changes it again and never bother you again.”
I chuckle with her. “We both know you won’t save it. But don’t worry, you’re never a bother. I’ve got to earn the big bucks Reed pays me somehow. But, hey, if you want to talk to your boyfriend, there’s no need to hang up and call his phone. He’s sitting right here. We just now boarded his jet for Chicago. We’re checking out a possible new band tomorrow night.”
Intense relief floods Hannah’s face. “Oh, how fun. I wish I could be there with you both.” She glances at that same target beyond her phone again and nods subtly. “Um, yeah, that sounds good. Put Reed on, Owen. Thanks so much.”
“You bet. Bye now. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks. I’m fine. Just forgetful and easily distractible.”
I move across the aisle toward Reed, prompting him to slide one seat over. Quickly, I take the newly vacated seat and hand Reed my phone.
“Hey, baby,” Reed says. “Why the fuck didn’t you make our lunch and why the fuck didn’t you call me before now?”
“Sweetheart, is Owen still there? I need to talk to you alone.”
Reed looks to his left, even though I’m sitting to his right. “Hey, O. Can you give me a sec? Thanks.” He waits a beat. “Okay, we’re alone. This better be good, Hannah.”
“What I’m about to tell you is going to piss you off, but you have to promise you won’t contact law enforcement. My life depends on you following that instruction.”
“What happened to your face?” Reed asks.
“I’ve been abducted, and my captor wants money in exchange for my life. You’ll need to do everything he says to a T. My life depends on it.”
Jesus Fucking Christ. Greg Smith. Who else could it be? But why? How? And why the fuck does he think Reed is Hannah’s boyfriend?
Hannah is now giving Reed a bizarre, disjointed speech that basically boils down to this: her captor wants Reed to pay five million bucks in Bitcoin of all things in exchange for her release.
While Hannah talks, I open my computer and punch through a virtual back door I left ajar on the fucker’s laptop. He wiped his entire system clean recently, and probably congratulated himself on kicking his pesky hacker out by doing so. But of course, he didn’t do any such thing. I’m impossible to shake, once I’ve got you, especially when my target is a high priority one like this fucker.
Once inside Greg Smith’s laptop, I quickly check the device’s pinpoint location and surmise it’s in the same place as Hannah’s phone. In theory, he could have spoofed his location, but that’s extremely unlikely, considering both devices line up and he almost certainly thinks he’s shaken me. To be sure, however, I try to check the phone he had with him at the Climb & Conquer party, but its battery is dead or dismantled. He must have ditched that phone and got himself a new one when he realized he’d been hacked. Okay, what about that burner phone? I click into that one, and, yep, it’s still live. And not only that, its location is the same as Hannah’s phone and Greg’s laptop. Bingo.
