*****
Richard
My mobile rings. I snatch it up. “Yes, Ross?”
“I've lost contact with James. They've made him leave the phone behind when they sent him on the next leg…”
Fuck…
How do we help him now?
“… And the earpiece. And…” Ross’ voice is shaky… “Richard... They… the kidnappers I mean… they spoke to me via the connection. I recorded it all. I'm playing it back to you.”
Klempner. You know who this is.
Just like you to let this tired old bastard run the gauntlet. But that's just you all over isn't it. Letting someone else take the heat.
We'll have the money very shortly. And believe me, it had better be all the money in that bag. But the deal’s not sealed until we have you too. Until then, that darling daughter of yours is going nowhere.
The voice snaps off. There’s a moment’s hiss then Ross speaks again. “Richard, what do you want me to do? Should I call the police?”
“No… don’t do that. If they think the police are involved, they’ll almost certainly murder Charlotte… and her baby… before Michael and Klempner can get to her.”
“What then?”
What indeed?
Should I go?
Leave Mitch to look after Elizabeth?
*****
How do I tell her this?
Wearily, I climb the stairs to find my sleeping wife.
But she’s not sleeping. “Elizabeth… There’s been a development. Ross has…” I stop, mid-sentence. “Elizabeth?”
From the pillow, she stares up at me, wide-eyed. “I’m sorry, Master…”
“Sorry? Elizabeth, what’s wrong?”
minutes apart. I didn’t want to disturb you until I was
Oh, God…
you going
Master. It’s too
early? It’s way
know, Master. But,
just going
Calm…
Stay calm…
*****
the top onto a flask. “Hot coffee,” she says. “And I’ve
Elizabeth is
“She’s not due for another…
there’s no way I can
way with her. I’ll bring your car to the front,
*****
Michael
cautious moment, Klempner and I
ceiling perhaps once white but now yellowed and draped with
not to
he regards the
he runs the women as prostitutes, but he must
other seat by me, watching the screen with
flicks between shots of what looks like an entrance lobby, then a
the return, but the feed is unresponsive, moving at its own pace.
on his lower lip. “Nothing from the basement
to one room after another of couples, triples and more; rooms
the clients know they're on
screen. “Some of the City High and Mighty there. Good blackmail
corridor lined by a series of barred and padlocked
‘cells’ to me,”
“Yes… Finchby tends to keep them either working or locked up until
used to supply
staring at him,
him. He doesn’t turn from the screen. “Michael, you know my past. I’m not going to
course,
image shifts
there, in a corner of the
gorge rises. “Oh,
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