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“No. No, I don’t.”
“And the kid, baby, that kid’s not right. His life is hell anyway. I’ll be doin’ him a favor.”
She felt angry tears spring into her eyes and lowered her head quickly. “I know. I know you’re right. I mean, I don’t think we have any choice.” She lifted her eyes again, searching his. “Do we?”
“If there’s another way, I promise–”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Vinnie.”
“You gonna be okay with this?”
She made her face hard, nodded once. “Hell, I’ll have to be.”
“That’s my good girl. Here, babe.” He handed her the case. The whole damn case. “Do a little more blow. It’ll help.” Then he left the bathroom and closed the door.
She looked at the case that held the drug she so craved. Vinnie figured she would snort a line or two and come out of the room too high to care much whether he murdered her own baby boy. Hell, why should he think any differently? She hadn’t acted like a mother since Tyler had been born.
She wanted the cocaine so bad her hands were shaking. But not yet. Soon, she promised herself. But not just yet. She set the case down and turned to the window. Then she unlocked it and pushed it open. She still couldn’t see anyone, but she whispered all the same. “I’m gonna run Tyler a bath. Then I’m gonna keep Vinnie in the other room and send him in here to take it. Get the kid out of here if you can.”
She closed the window again but she didn’t turn the lock. Then she brushed the tears from her eyes and returned to the case she’d left sitting on the bathroom sink. She did a line for courage. Then she took the rest with her and went back into the room.
* * *
Kara was standing to one side of the little window with her back pressed to the wall, and Selene was doing the same on the other side, when the woman’s voice came softly from the bathroom.
They shot each other startled looks, not relaxing until they heard the window close again. Kara closed her eyes.
“It could be a trick,” Selene whispered. “We try to get him, they end up with three hostages instead of one.”
“She’s his mother,” Kara said. “I knew she’d try to protect him if she could. Jim didn’t believe it, but... She probably finally figured out how dangerous her boyfriend is.”
“Even so.”
“She has a chance to do something good for her son for the first time in his life. Selene, she put him in those leg braces. She did that. No, I don’t think it’s a trick. I think she means it.”
Kara peered into the bathroom briefly, long enough to see that water was running into the bathtub and that the latch on the window was open. Then she pressed her back to the wall again. “The window’s up high. It’s a long way to pull him. I don’t know if I’m strong enough. I’m going to have to go in and lift him out to you.”
“No, Kara, no, that’s too much.”
“I’m going to do it Selene, so just deal. When I push Ty out I want you to take him and run to the car. If anything goes wrong—”
“He could catch you in there! Kara, what if—”
“What if,” she repeated. “What’s the worst that can happen? He kills me instead of a little boy who hasn’t even lived five years yet? Come on, Selene, we both know it’s worth the risk. Better me than him. We get Tyler out. Period. If anything goes wrong, you take him and you go. Then call Jim and then tell him where I am.”
Tears rose in Selene’s pale blue eyes. “I’m calling him now. God, Kara, please don’t do this.”
“I’m doing it. You know damn well if it was your call, you’d do the same. I love that boy, Selene. Do this for me.”
The tears spilled over, streaming down Selene’s face, but she was tapping keys on her phone rapidly as she did. “You’d better get back out and be right behind me.”
“If I’m not, don’t come back for me. If he ends up right back in their hands, it will all have been for nothing. Promise?”
Sniffling, Selene nodded and hit Send. “I promise.” She dipped into a pocket and pulled out a little pink heart-shaped stone. “Take this. It’ll help keep you safe.”
“I’ll be okay,” Kara promised as she closed her hand around the stone. “Thank you, Selene.”
“I love you, Kara.”
