He watched with jaw clenched as the younger man searched Paige, running his hands over her with thinly disguised glee. Paige stood in stony silence, her face completely still. The older man did a cursory search of Rider, clearly interested only in weapons, however unlikely it might be that there would be any here in the small school. But, as a result, the man missed the cell phone that was virtually invisible in the loose shirt pocket.
“Now,” the older man commanded. “You will all stay quiet and behave. No one moves without clearance from me. We will be here until we get what we want, so be smart and don’t do anything foolish.”
The tension in the room ratcheted up a notch. Some huddled together, some clung to each other, some simply stared in detached shock. But the fear was uppermost in every face.
Every face except one.
He’d meant only to glance at Paige, to make sure she was holding together, not that he doubted her. But what he saw stopped his gaze dead. He knew the look too well, since it had so recently been directed at him.
Paige Cooper wasn’t afraid.
She was furious.
Seated on her sofa, Paige cuddled little Stevie, who had calmed down enough to breathe between sobs. She tried to be gentle, but the anger that was boiling in her made it a difficult task.
She knew who these men were. Oh, not specifically, but the specifics didn’t matter, not with soulless brutes like this. No matter what their cause, they were all alike in one critical way: they didn’t care who they hurt or killed or how many lives they destroyed in their single-minded fanaticism. She squeezed Stevie tighter. Like the cowards they were, they preyed on the innocent—people who had nothing to do with whatever their ultimate goal was—rather than face their enemy openly. Men like these had murdered her husband, and regardless of their problems, Phil had been the father of her son, and Kyle had been devastated at the loss.
Her anger burned hotter. She had left everything behind to come to this remote place for peace, and now the ugliness had invaded even here.
The older of the two invaders walked over to where Paige was huddled on the sofa with the little boy.
“Keep them all quiet,” he ordered her. “I do not like noisy children.”
Paige looked up at him, letting every bit of contempt she was feeling show in her face and echo in her voice. “You’ve already bought your ticket to hell with your actions. Go use it.”
The man frowned. She could see him working it out, and by the time he realized exactly what she’d just told him to do, she had turned back to the boy and refused to look at him again.
“I think you fail to realize who is in charge here,” he said to her. Paige ignored him. After a moment he said, “No matter. You will know soon enough.”
Then he walked away and took up a position at the door he’d come in. His younger counterpart was at the other door. Only then did Paige risk a look around. The children had calmed a bit, what crying there was was mostly silent or at least hushed. She felt a little jolt of pride as she realized the oldest ones, even Kyle, were helping the youngest, hugging them, holding on.
Even Noah was doing his part: Hannah, the girl who’d been asking him questions, was clinging to him like a lifeline. But Paige realized he wasn’t looking at Hannah but at her, with an expression of both apprehension and something warmer, almost like admiration.
She didn’t know what he could be admiring. She felt on the verge of completely losing control, whether to her own fear or anger she wasn’t sure. But she knew neither would do the children any good, so she tried desperately to regain some equilibrium.
She looked over at Kyle again. He had a couple of the smallest children beside him, and on the other side he had Lani. She could tell he was trying to act protectively, but she saw in his face he was as scared as they all were. He looked up then, as if he’d felt her gaze, and in that moment she was looking at the child she remembered. Whatever problems they’d been having weren’t between them now.
Kyle opened his mouth to speak. In the instant before he got out “Mom,” Noah suddenly coughed, loud enough to draw the boy’s attention. Paige saw Noah give a slight, sharp shake of his head. Kyle looked puzzled—no more than she herself felt—but lapsed back into silence.
Noah looked at her then, and caught her frown. His gaze flicked to the man back at the doors, then to Kyle and back to her, again with that little shake of his head.
Her frown deepened, as did her puzzlement. She didn’t know what Noah was trying to communicate. She also wondered why nothing was happening, why the armed men seemed only to be waiting.
Noah leaned over and whispered something to Hannah, who wiped at her eyes and nodded. He patted her on the back, then started to walk toward Paige. Instantly the younger man, the one who seemed to want to shoot first and not bother with questions after, had his weapon trained on Noah.
“I said not to move without permission!” the older one snapped from the main doors.
“Look, it’s my back,” Noah said, sounding meek and almost whiny. “I can’t stand up for too long.”
Paige frowned; she’d never noticed him having a problem before. Of course, she hadn’t seen him on his feet at length, either, except for the welcome speech he’d given the first day. And given her state of mind when she’d realized it was him, she didn’t think she could trust her memories of that. She’d never heard this tone of voice from him, either, but then she’d obviously never seen him in a situation like this.
“Sit, then,” the apparent leader said, with an expression that said he had little patience for such minor complaints. He went back to digging into his duffel bag for whatever he’d been after when Noah had moved. God knew what terrorists carted around with them, Paige thought.
Noah walked to the sofa and sat down close to her, but not close enough to draw their captors’ attention. He reached out and tweaked Stevie’s cheek and gave the child a reassuring smile. Then, still looking down at the boy, he spoke in a low voice clearly meant only for her.
“It’s better if they don’t know he’s yours.”
It took her a second, but then she got it. He didn’t want Kyle to betray that he was her son. She thought about that and then realized his point. If they knew he was her son, and if she didn’t do exactly what they wanted, they might try to use Kyle to force her to comply. She never would have thought of it herself, but she knew he was right.
She peeked up at Noah, saw he was now looking at her, and she quickly, barely nodded to indicate she understood.
She glanced at the two men. “Why here?” she muttered under her breath, not really expecting an answer.
“Probably because the island’s containable,” Noah said, still keeping his voice low. “And there’s just the staff here now, with no real security yet. They won’t be coming in until the guests do. And as long as they hold the children, the parents will cooperate.”
His calm assessment, at odds with the near whine she’d heard moments ago, surprised her.
“But what could they want here?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Maybe it’s just about Redstone. Josh is always a target for any disgruntled group who wants to strike out at wealth or power. They don’t care that he came up the hard way, from a worse start than most of them ever had.”
“In my experience,” Paige said tightly, “they don’t care about anyone.”
Still, she was surprised at his astute assessment. She supposed he had to know about such things, the way he gallivanted around the world. But that he was calm enough to think about it when they were almost literally looking down the barrel of a gun was unexpected.
For a long time nothing happened. They all just sat still. The children were afraid to move, and Paige was growing angrier by the moment. Terrorizing children was beyond cowardice, it was evil. This was the second time in her life she’d confronted this kind of malignancy, and she found it even more repugnant now than she had before. No matter what they were after, no matter what injustice they felt had b
een done them, nothing justified this. Nothing.
“I wonder what they’re waiting for,” Noah said softly, his voice so quiet she doubted anybody more than two feet away could have heard him.
Paige felt something jump then tighten inside her. Yes, she’d wondered why nothing was happening, but somehow Noah’s phrasing, that they were waiting for something specific, made the lack of activity now even more ominous. She hadn’t thought they might be simply waiting for something, some sign or order. and she didn’t want to think of what the result of that sign or order might be.
She looked at the younger man, the one who made her most nervous because of his apparent desire to shoot when anything at all happened. He was lounging against the doorjamb behind her desk, the powerful, threatening-looking rifle cradled in his arms like a baby. She wondered what sort of twisted mind could come so close to murdering a child, yet would take such loving care of a lethal weapon. She believed guns had their place, but that place was most certainly not in the hands of a man who apparently saw nothing wrong with that dichotomy.
The older man at the main doors, however, seemed much more restless. She didn’t know if his constant glances outside were merely wariness, watchfulness or if he was actually expecting something. And if he was expecting something, she wondered what.
Maybe, she thought, they were afraid someone would be coming to rescue them. That idea cheered her until she realized the catastrophe it could turn into, with the children caught in the middle.
She looked over at Kyle. He was sitting with his arm around Lani, who for once wasn’t lecturing him on his attitude. Kyle was clearly trying to comfort her, and she was proud of him for that. Her son, the boy she remembered, the generous, smiling boy who had loved her, was still in there somewhere. And she would reach him. Somehow. She would—
The sudden movement of the older man stopped her thoughts. He leaned partially out the door, as if peering at something in the distance. Then he came back and shouted urgently to his companion.
“Filipo! He is coming!”
The younger man, the swaggering, trigger-happy one, snapped to attention. He stood up straight, rifle at the ready. His expression, which had until now consisted of an arrogance-tinged smirk, became impassive, even stern.
Paige glanced at Noah. He lifted a brow and his mouth twisted at one corner, indicating he, too, realized that this was what they’d been waiting for. Whoever the “he” was, he was obviously the leader of these two, and possibly this entire operation. Whatever this operation was.
She had a feeling they were about to find out.
She heard the footsteps on the stairs, then a heavy, measured tread across the small porch. This was followed by other footsteps, more than one set, she thought.
She realized she was holding her breath, but couldn’t seem to make herself let it out. A man stepped inside. He was wearing regular green fatigues, not camouflage. He carried no rifle, but had a sidearm in a covered holster at his hip. She had a chance to study him as he paused to speak to the man at the doors.
He was taller than both of the men who had taken over the school but not quite as tall as Noah. He was older than both, as well, judging by the faint touch of silver at the temples in his otherwise brown hair. Although, not much older, perhaps mid to late thirties, with clean-cut, pleasant features.
Apparently finished with their discussion, the newcomer looked over his shoulder toward the outside and made a summoning gesture. Two other men, near duplicates of the first two, down to the rifles and camouflage, stepped into the schoolroom. They took up positions, one in front and one behind the man who was clearly a leader of some sort. Then the entourage of three headed toward the front of the schoolroom.
The children stirred restlessly, made nervous all over again by this new threat.
“Shhh,” Paige said, trying to soothe them.
The two escorts split and went to each side of the area where the children were sitting. The leader came toward the sofa. He glanced at Noah assessingly. Noah seemed to sink down into the cushions, as if trying to disappear, and after a moment the man shifted his gaze to Paige.
He waited, as if expecting her to rise to her feet. Not likely, she told him silently.
She couldn’t help noticing he had ridiculously long and thick eyelashes. In fact, if you set aside who he was and what he was doing, he might be considered a rather handsome man…if you also set aside the unnatural brightness in his eyes that made Paige think of drugs or madness.
Paige knew she could never set any of that aside, knew that to her he could only be ugly.
And after a moment he seemed to think better of waiting for her to rise and spoke.
“You are Mrs. Cooper? I am called Ares.”
His English was slightly accented, but rather formal. That he knew her name bothered her. “I wondered what silly name you would pick to make yourself feel like a man,” she muttered.
A pair of dark, almost femininely arched eyebrows shot upward in surprise. She knew he’d heard her, but he apparently decided to pretend he hadn’t.
“I am the leader of the People’s Freedom Cell of Arethusa.”
She glanced at the two escorts. “Such a brave leader that you must have four armed men with you to face a room of schoolchildren?”
The man called Ares tensed.
“Paige, stop,” Noah urged. “Don’t antagonize him.”
“And who are you?” Ares asked, frowning at Noah.
“Me? I’m just a fellow teacher.”
Ares didn’t look convinced.
“He’s a supervisor,” Paige said quickly, much more calmly. “He’s here to monitor my class.”
Unimpressed, Ares turned back to her. “In any case, he is right. Do not antagonize me.”
As quickly as that her calm deserted her again. “I’ve lived through the worst your kind can do. You don’t scare me.”
To her surprise the man laughed suddenly. “I was told you were a special woman. I can see that is correct.”
He spoke it as a compliment, but the laughing words stabbed fear through Paige like a bayonet. He was told?
All of a sudden this went from a random, impossible-to-understand bit of terrorist insanity to something much more personal. Something, at least in some way, aimed at her. She fought to regain some semblance of composure, knowing she didn’t dare lose it now, not when the children were in jeopardy.
“First,” Ares said, with every evidence of cheer, “let me warn you not to expect any help. My men hold the entire premises, and have secured everyone on the hotel grounds. We also control all communications apparatus. No call can be made without our knowledge. There will be no rescue.”
Paige looked quickly at the children, but either the man’s words hadn’t gotten through their shock or they didn’t realize he’d just told many of them their parents were now also hostages. She hoped it stayed that way; they were already scared enough without adding fear for their parents into the mix.
With a suppressed shiver she looked back at their captor.
“I have heard,” the man said, “that you are a fair woman. That you teach your students to see both sides of a situation.”
She wanted to look away, but the man called Ares never took his eyes off her, and she wouldn’t let herself look away until he did, no matter how frightened she was by the fact that someone had apparently talked to this man about her.
“That makes you a lucky woman,” Ares told her. “You will be moved to the hotel. Your things will be brought to you, and you will be treated well.”
“I can’t leave these children!” The words burst from her.
“My men will stay with them.”
“That does not make me feel any better,” she said, her tone sarcastic as her fear ebbed a little in the face of his absurd effort at reassuring her.
“Then your superior can stay, as well,” he said, jerking a thumb at Noah, “if you like.”
“And who do I have to betray for these thirty pieces
of silver?”
“Betray?” Was he mocking her with that tone of utter innocence? “Why, no one. In fact, the opposite. You will be in a position to save many lives.”
With a great effort Paige hid the shiver that rippled through her at his indirect admission that lives might be lost before this was over. In an inane flash she remembered her journal entry, and suddenly knew exactly how the woman in that book had felt, as if she’d brought all this down upon herself with her silly musings.
“You will be,” Ares said grandly, “the spokesperson.”
Her fear faded, replaced by bewilderment. “Spokesperson? For whom?”
“Why, the hostages, of course.”
Her breath caught. She glanced toward the children, toward Kyle, but Ares shook his head. “Not them,” he said impatiently. “They are merely insurance. I’m speaking of the true hostages. The ones to come, who can get the attention of the world.”
She heard Noah suck in a breath. And it hit her then: Ares was talking about the wealthy, high-profile guests who would be arriving in two days.
“Ah, I see you understand. Very good. So you comprehend the honor I have given you.”
“Honor?” Her voice was tight.
“Indeed. You will become a celebrity of sorts, when the media arrive.”
She blinked. “The media?”
“Of course. As soon as everything is secure, they will be notified of our takeover. And you will be the voice of the hostages. You are a woman, a teacher, the world will believe you. You will tell the world they are being treated well, that we are reasonable men and that we should be given what we ask for.”
Paige did rise then. She stood because she could no longer sit still in the face of this insanity.
“People held against their will have no voice,” she said icily, matching his formality of speech. “Nor do reasonable men do such abhorrent things. I truly hope that you are given exactly what you are asking for.”
Her words slowed him for a moment, but she saw the anger flash in his eyes when he understood what she had meant.
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