*****
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?”
about fifteen minutes apart. I didn’t want to disturb
Oh, God…
you going
“I think so, Master. It’s too early
early? It’s way too
But,
stay calm. I’m just
Calm…
Stay calm…
*****
coffee,” she says. “And I’ve
is
a hand to her mouth. “She’s not due for another… what, ten
no way I can leave
I’ll bring your car to the front, get the engine turning over, then it’s warm when
*****
Michael
after a cautious
is stale, musty with cigarette smoke, the walls and ceiling perhaps once white but now yellowed and
trying hard not to actually touch anything. “You'd think
are employed differently,” mutters Klempner. But he regards
but he
me, watching the screen with half an eye, the
like an entrance lobby, then a dance floor, various corridors... Each quarter displays
but the feed is unresponsive, moving at its own pace. “He’s got plenty of cameras
slowly, chewing on his lower lip. “Nothing from
couples, triples and more; rooms where girls ‘entertain’ their clients.
if the clients know they're on camera?”
fingernail at the screen. “Some of the City High and Mighty there. Good blackmail material if he ever has any
a series of barred and padlocked doors. Each
say ‘cells’ to
working or locked up until he’s sure
used to supply
words, finding myself simply staring at him, leaning in, intent on the
Klempner realises I’m watching him. He doesn’t turn from the screen. “Michael, you know my past. I’m not going to spend every waking
of course,
shifts
corner of the screen,
rises.
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