His face went white, and he released his hold on Haskett’s shirt. Haskett wobbled for a minute before plopping down to a sitting position in the gravel. Slowly, Adam turned to Loren. “What did you say?”
She clenched her forearms across her stomach. Her teeth chattered. “They’ve k-kidnapped them, Adam. Haskett said if I gave him the pictures, they’d come home s-safe, but...” She couldn’t go on. She stared at him and rocked back and forth.
Adam’s expression changed from disbelief to terror. Then terror gave way to fury. His eyes narrowed to slits and he leaned down to grab Haskett by his shirtfront again. “Where are they?” he said, a dangerous edge to his voice. “Where are they, you son of a bitch?”
Haskett’s eyes widened with fear. “In Vegas. You’d better let me”
”Vegas? What the hell are they doing there?”
“Don’t ask me.” Haskett’s voice quivered. “All I know is they left the rock concert and headed for Vegas. My contact thought they might be up to no good, spying on the construction site for you, taking more pictures of the steel, or something. Anyway, they’re being held captive there now.”
“You’re lying.” Adam wrenched Haskett’s shirt again and the material ripped. “If those kids are in Vegas, it’s because somebody took them there.”
“They were going there themselves, I tell you!”
Loren forced her vocal cords to work. “It doesn’t matter.” We just have to get them back safe and sound. If Haskett takes the pictures up there, Josh and Daphne will be released. So let him go.” She started across the driveway toward the envelope. “I’ll get the”
“No!”
She whirled to face him. “Yes! I’m not taking any chances, Adam!”
“You’re taking one right now,” he said, breathing hard, “by believing a crook. Who says they’ll release Josh and Daphne? If we give them the pictures, they don’t have to do anything we say. We’ve lost all our bargaining power.”
She gazed into his eyes, as frantic with worry as hers. She knew he loved Daphne every bit as much as she loved Josh. She’d never truly doubted it. His gaze pleaded with her to listen. She took a shaky breath. “What do you think we should do?”
“Deliver the pictures ourselves.” He let go of Haskett’s shirt and shoved him away with a look of disgust. “When we have the kids, they get the pictures.”
Haskett gingerly touched his swelling jaw. “They’ll never go for that.”
“If we keep the pictures, they have no choice.”
“Adam’s making sense, Loren,” Walt said.
“Look, Riordan, you don’t know these guys.” Haskett staggered to his feet. “Just let me take them the envelope. I’ll bring the kids back. I swear. You think I’m happy about this? Anita will be furious.”
“No kidding. I’d say your little love fest with her is over.” Adam glanced at Loren. “Better pick up the envelope. We’re going to need it.” When she hesitated, his tone sharpened. “Please, Loren. Be with me on this.”
Her gaze locked with his. Then, as if the words had just streaked like a comet across the sky, she remembered what he’d said before he drove away tonight. I would trust you with my life. He was demanding no less. By trusting him with Josh’s life, she placed her existence in the balance, as well. But his daughter’s life was on the line, too.
She looked into his eyes and knew he would die himself before he’d let something happen to either of their children. Wordlessly, she turned and walked over to where the envelope lay in the gravel.
“I’m warning you, you shouldn’t be fooling around with these guys,” Haskett said as she picked up the envelope and hugged it to her chest.
“No, we shouldn’t,” Adam agreed, skewering him with a look. “And I will never forget you’re the reason we have to. Okay, first of all, I want to talk to our kids.”
Haskett blinked. “Talk to them?”
“That’s right. Nothing you say holds any water with me, Haskett. For all I know, the kids are on their way home from the rock concert and this was a big bluff on your part.”
“I’m not bluffing, I tell you.”
“Then let’s go inside and call Vegas.”
Loren stared at Adam. The thought that Haskett was lying had never occurred to her. She’d based all her actions on an unquestioning belief that he was telling the truth. A rush of hope made her heart pound faster. “Adam, do you think maybe he is bluffing?”
“Let’s hope so.”
Walt led the procession into the house. Adam shoved Haskett into line after Walt and followed him in. Loren, holding the envelope as if it were a bomb, brought up the rear. If Haskett had been bluffing, she’d feel like a fool for handing him the pictures. But she’d gladly admit to being a fool if only Josh and Daphne arrived home soon from the concert, healthy and whole and wondering what all the fuss was about.
Her stomach clutched as, without hesitation, Haskett went to the wall phone in the kitchen. Taking a slip of paper from his pocket, he punched in a number. If he was bluffing, he was too damn good at it.
“Yeah, this is Haskett,” he said into the phone. “There’s been a little problem.”
Loren closed her eyes and prayed.
“Riordan showed up as I was leaving with the pictures. He wants to deliver them himself.” Haskett paused. “He, um, sorta caught me by surprise. Anyway, he doesn’t believe you have the kids. He wants to talk to them.” There was another pause. “I don’t know. Daphne, I guess.”
It’s not a bluff. Loren ached all over, as if someone had been pummeling her for hours. She opened her eyes and watched Adam take the phone from Haskett.
His knuckles whitened and he raised his eyes in anguish. Then he swallowed. “Hi, sweetie.”
Loren moaned.
“Listen, don’t be afraid,” Adam said, his voice amazingly resonant. Loren marveled at the strength it must have taken for him to speak so normally. “All they want is the pictures Loren and I took today. I’ll bring them up there and get you guys.” He paused. “Well, because they were taking my steel shipments and the pictures show that. Don’t worry. I’ll give them everything they want and we’ll have you home before you know it. I love you, too. See you soon. And Daphne...”
When he grimaced and didn’t continue, Loren figured someone had pulled the phone away from his daughter.
“Yeah,” he said, his tone rough again. “I’m convinced you have her. Now I want you to put Josh on, so his mother can verify his voice.”
Loren’s gaze flew to his. Could she do this?
He gave an almost imperceptible nod and handed her the phone.
Holding the receiver with both hands, she put it to her ear. “Josh?”
“Hi, Mom.”
She felt dizzy. Adam put a steadying arm around her waist and she took a deep breath. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, so far. Who are these guys?”
“I don’t know, Josh.” Her knees shook. Without Adam’s arm bracing her, she might have fallen. “They have something to do with missing steel from the bridge construction in Laughlin. They’re...keeping you until we give them the pictures we took.”
“You mean we’re hostages?”
“Well...sort of.”
“When are you coming?”
“Soon. We’ll be there soon. Josh, have they hurt you, or anything? Is” The phone had been taken from him. She knew it immediately and stopped speaking. A clipped male voice asked to speak to Riordan. Choking back a sob, Loren handed Adam the receiver and stumbled toward her father. He enfolded her in his arms, gripping her so tightly she had trouble breathing, but she hung on. Maybe if they continued hugging each other, they could keep hysteria at bay.
“This is Riordan,” Adam said into the phone. He paused. “No, I’m bringing the prints and negatives. Leave her out of it.”
Loren stiffened. Were they asking him to have her deliver the pictures?
“No, I” Adam was silent again.
Giving her father a parting squeeze
, Loren left the shelter of his arms and walked unsteadily to the phone. If the kidnappers wanted her to deliver the envelope, she’d do it. She stood in front of Adam and mouthed, “Say yes.”
He glanced at her and shook his head. Then he stared at the floor and ran his fingers through his hair while he listened some more. “Hoover Dam. Midnight tomorrow.” A pause. “Because that’s the way I want it.” Then he looked at her again, and she almost could hear his mind clicking into overdrive. Finally, he sighed as if defeated. “All right.” Another pause. “No, you’ve made yourself perfectly clear. We won’t try to make extra copies.”
He hung up the phone slowly and turned to Loren. “They want you to bring the prints and negatives.”
“No,” Walt said. “I’ll go. They can’t be afraid of an old man. Call them back, Adam. Tell them I’m almost seventy and feeble.”
“I’ll go,” Loren said quietly, gazing into his eyes. “It’ll be all right.”
Walt came to stand beside them. “Don’t let her do it, Adam.”
Adam’s glance flicked to Walt and came back to rest on Loren. There was loving concern in his eyes, but something else, too—a confidence that made Loren’s heart swell. “You heard her, Walt. It’ll be all right.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Haskett asked.
Loren was startled. She’d almost forgotten Haskett was still around.
“You’re supposed to take them a picture of Loren,” Adam said. “They want to be able to identify her.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.” Adam glanced back at her. “Do you have a recent picture? A snapshot or something?”
“I don’t like this at all,” Walt grumbled, rubbing the bald spot on his head and gazing up at Adam from under his eyebrows. “Thought you had more sense, Riordan.”
“I’ll get a picture,” Loren said. The prospect of facing the kidnappers frightened her, but it also gave her a sense of purpose. As her father continued his protest, she left the dining room. Shelves lined the wall on each side of the fireplace, and one held a row of photograph albums. She pulled down the most recent and switched on a lamp beside the couch.
Standing with the album braced against her hip, she opened it to the first page. Josh grinned back at her, his safety goggles pushed to the top of his head, making his thatch of blond hair stick up behind them. One hand rested on the wing of 206 Whiskey Foxtrot, and the other was raised in a victory sign. The picture blurred. Loren wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her dress and kept looking, but the shot wouldn’t stay in focus.
Finally, she gave up and held the open album pressed against her heart, rocking it like a child, while tears dripped onto her arms and hands.
She heard her father call her name. She gulped back a sob. “Be right there,” she called, hoping she didn’t sound as shaken as she felt. She laid the album on the end table next to the lamp and wiped her eyes again. Her fist pressed against her mouth, she turned the pages until she found a picture of her alone, standing in front of her favorite ice-cream shop, a triple-dip in her hand, a silly grin on her face.
Josh had taken the picture, she remembered, earlier in the summer when he’d accused her of losing her zest for life. “When was the last time you had a triple-dip cone?” he’d challenged. When she couldn’t remember, he’d insisted they go into town for just that. He’d taken the picture to serve as a reminder to her to put more fun in her life.
She slipped the picture out of its plastic sleeve. She’d be willing to sacrifice everything—her business, her home, even her ability to take pictures—if she could share a triple-dip cone with Josh right this minute. Her chest tightened and she gasped as a new wave of grief hit her. Holding on to the edge of the table, she struggled for control.
When she was sure she had it, she closed the album and walked back to the dining room. “Here.” She handed the picture to Haskett.
Walt still looked disapproving, but Adam nodded.
“You know,” he said, addressing Haskett, “I’d love to know how you discovered we took these pictures.”
Haskett looked smug. “I just bet you would.”
“Not even my secretary knew I’d hired Loren, and my trip to Sedona was supposed to be a vacation. Even if somebody at the bridge site spotted the plane, there was no link to me.”
Haskett smiled, then winced and touched his bruised jaw. “For a smart guy, you can be pretty dumb.”
“So enlighten me.” Adam’s tone was deceptively casual, but Loren noticed the muscle twitching in his cheek.
“Not a chance.”
“I’ll find out.”
“Yes, I think you will.”
Adam dropped the casual pose. “Get out of my sight.”
“With pleasure.” Shoving Loren’s picture into his hip pocket, Haskett headed for the front door.
Adam watched until the door closed behind him. “I want to make sure he leaves,” he said in an undertone, heading for the kitchen door that opened onto the back porch. “Lock this door and the one in front in case he circles back. He might still try to steal the envelope. If I’m not back here in fifteen minutes, call the police.” Then he slipped soundlessly out the door and melted into the shadows of the porch.
“You lock that one and I’ll get the front,” Walt said. In a moment, he returned to the kitchen. “Are you keeping track of the time?”
Loren nodded and fought her growing panic. She’d kept it under control as long as Adam was there, but now he was gone. She was terrified she wasn’t up to the challenge despite Adam’s confidence in her. And if she didn’t succeed, what would become of Josh and Daphne?
She stood by the back door staring at the jerky motion of the kitchen clock’s second hand. Each time the hand moved, she made a bargain with herself that she could last one more second before the hysteria that was working its way up her windpipe had to be released.
When the knock came, she cried out and backed away from the kitchen door.
“Loren, it’s me,” Adam called from the other side of the door. She wrenched it open. He took one look at her and pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay,” he murmured into her hair as she shook and gasped for breath. “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever known. It’s going to be okay.”
Finally, the tremors lessened and he gradually released her. He held her by the shoulders and peered into her face. “Better?”
She nodded and glanced away, feeling weak for having rushed into his arms like that. She stepped back out of reach. It wouldn’t happen again.
“Adam, I don’t want Loren to do this,” Walt said. “It’s too dangerous for her to deliver those pictures alone and you know it.”
“I know,” Adam said, his gaze remaining on Loren’s face. “That’s why you and I are going with her, Walt.”
“Going with me?” Loren asked. “How?”
Adam gave her a rueful glance. “I’m not sure yet. That’s why I set the exchange for midnight tomorrow.” He walked over to gaze out the kitchen window, his hands braced on the sink. “They wanted you to start up there tonight and meet them at four this morning at Hoover Dam.”
“What?” Loren met his gaze in the reflection from the window, her pulse racing. “You turned down a chance to get the kids back right away?”
He faced her. “You have to stop believing they’ll do what they say. We should expect them to lie and make our plans with that in mind.”
“But Adam, a whole extra day? We don’t know if they’re hurting those kids. We don’t know if they’re being fed, if they’re”
“You think I like it any better than you do?” He paced in front of the sink, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t want them up there a minute longer than necessary, but I needed to buy some time.”
Walt cleared his throat. “How about the police?”
“No!” Loren said, expecting Adam to echo her.
Instead, he sighed and glanced at her father. “I’ve been asking myself that for the past hour, Walt. If we di
d call the police, I’m sure they could eventually catch these guys. But to have them there during the exchange at Hoover Dam, with all the inevitable gunpower...”
“No, Adam,” Loren said again. “If you call the police, we lose all control. If these people are based in Las Vegas we could be talking about Mafia. The police might see it as a chance to nab the guys, when all we want is our kids back safe.”
Adam was silent for several moments. Finally, he turned to her. “How about this. At first light, let’s take a plane—yours or mine, doesn’t matter—and fly over Hoover Dam. We won’t have time to take pictures and get them processed and developed, but we can still study that sucker from all angles.”
“Good idea,” Loren said, her confidence in him growing.
“If we can find a way for Walt and me to come in as backup, we’ll consider pulling this off ourselves. If we can’t, we’ll call in the police.”
“We’ll find a way.” Pride surged through her at the answering flash of agreement in his eyes, and she felt more hope than she had since Barnaby Haskett had first made his demands. In her mind, she and Adam stood shoulder to shoulder, as they once had years ago, ready to take on the world.
“I don’t know,” Walt said. “I’d feel better if we called the police tonight.”
Adam flicked a glance toward Walt and gave him a ghost of a smile. “You’ll have to forgive us, Walt. Loren and I grew up in the sixties. We question authority.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DAPHNE AND JOSH ransacked the bedroom and bathroom where they’d been locked in, searching for something to identify where they were. The towels had no laundry stamp, and there were no matches or ashtrays. They pulled the sheets off both double beds looking for some evidence of a name.
“But we’re definitely in a hotel,” Daphne said, holding up the Gideon Bible she’d pulled from the bedside-table drawer.
“That’s the only thing normal about this room, though,” Josh said, keeping his voice down. “And you have to wonder why they left it here.”
Daphne shuddered. “You mean like we should be praying, or something?”
“Let’s hope not, but that metal thing that locks over the window is creepy. I’ll bet they’ve held prisoners here before.”
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