In This Together

“So I take it Eric is not in favor of looking for the man his wife was cheating with.”

“He wasn’t. Not for a long time. But now that he’s had time to think about it, and MacKenzie is about to get new parents—he says he won’t oppose me. He still doesn’t believe his wife was unfaithful, though.”

Elena had to admit, it was an intriguing case. Under other circumstances, Daniel—who had final say on which cases the foundation took on—would have at least done some preliminary digging around.

“The fact that MacKenzie’s about to be adopted is bad enough,” he said. “But the foster parents who are adopting her—they don’t take care of her properly. They just ignore her. And I think they take away the clothes and toys I give her.... Hell, I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”

Elena knew: because she was willing to listen. She got the feeling no one had actually listened to his story before...at least nobody with an open mind.

He picked up the tray, apparently intending to take all those potential weapons out of Elena’s reach. As he did, her empty soda can rolled off the tray and onto the floor.

“I’ll get it.” She leaned down at the same time he did. She bumped her head on his shoulder, and everything on the tray spilled to the ground. “Oh, I’m sorry, that was clumsy of me. Here, let me help.”

What followed was an awkward dance as they both tried to pick up the fallen dishes, bumping into each other several times in the process.

“For God’s sake, I’ll get it, okay?” he groused. “Keep your hands off the fork.”

She backed off and sat down on the closed toilet. Once he’d collected everything and put it back on the tray, he left her alone. She heard him wedge something under the doorknob, trapping her again.

She took a deep breath and reached under her thigh to the object she’d hidden there. All of that clumsy bumping together hadn’t been entirely accidental on her part. As a six-year-old on the streets of Havana, she’d been a damn fine pickpocket.

She now had Travis’s phone.

How soon before he missed it? How much time did she have? And what would she do with it, now that she had the chance to call for help?

CHAPTER FOUR

SHE HAD TO call someone. Of course she did. Travis Riggs had kidnapped her! What was she supposed to do, hand him back the phone with a polite, “Excuse me, I think you dropped this”?

Lord only knew what he might do when he found out he’d been pickpocketed. Thus far, he seemed pretty harmless. She didn’t sense violence in him. But what did she know? Not everyone broadcasted their true natures. He was obviously unbalanced. One little thing could set him off like a firecracker.

She could call 911, but then she would have to do a lot of explaining. Travis had undoubtedly told Daniel not to call the police, and Daniel’s natural inclination was to rely on his own resources first. All those years he’d spent fighting the murder charge against him had left him with a healthy skepticism toward law enforcement. He had a lot of respect for certain, individual cops. But for the institutions, he didn’t.

Decision made. She’d call Daniel. With trembling fingers, she dialed the number.

He picked up almost before it rang. “Daniel Logan. You listen to me. If I don’t have Elena back unharmed within the hour, I will personally—”

“Daniel, it’s me,” she whispered. God, she’d never heard him so angry, and she’d heard Daniel angry plenty of times.

“Elena? Thank God. Where are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. He hasn’t hurt me and he’s not going to. It’s all bluff.”

“Where are you?”

“I don’t really know. Daniel, please listen, I don’t have much time. Could you just give him what he wants?”

He paused just long enough that Elena knew he didn’t have an easy answer for her. “I won’t do anything to endanger you. If that were the only way to get you back unharmed—”

“He’s not going to harm me.” Well, she was pretty sure. “There’s a child involved. His brother is going to lose his little girl forever. That’s why he’s so crazy. The wife, Tammy, she was having an affair that was never investigated.”

“I will give him precisely what he asked for—no more, no less. And once I have you back safely, I will nail his ass to the wall so thoroughly he’ll never see daylight again.”

Oh, boy. Daniel was really, really bent out of shape. “How’s the power plant?”

“Why are you asking me that? You’ve been kidnapped! Who cares about a power plant?”

“Everybody, if there’s a radioactive leak.”

“It was a false alarm. The safety team resolved it long before I got there.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Keep talking, Elena. I’m going to work with his provider to see if we can triangulate your location.”

“You don’t have to do that. He’s not going to hurt me.”

“You think I should just roll over and do whatever he wants? Do you want every two-bit gangster out there with a friend or relative in prison to think they can get me to—”

“In this particular case, yes—give him what he wants. If you do find me, if you come in here with guns blazing, I’ll be in more danger than I am now.”

“You’re being held hostage by a maniac. I don’t think it could get much worse than that. You don’t know this guy. You don’t know what he’s capable of. And I’m capable of conducting a proper hostage extraction, thank you very much.”

Dios, he was in a snit. She’d made a mistake. She shouldn’t have called Daniel. “I have to go. If he realizes I took his phone, he’ll move me.”

“I’ll find you, Elena.”

She turned off the phone, sick to her stomach. What if Daniel made good on his threat? She doubted Travis even had a gun, but she feared he might be dangerous when cornered, weapon or no. He could end up getting himself killed.

Her eyes burned with tears. Why was she like this? She’d outsmarted her kidnapper; she’d gotten a message to Daniel. She should be elated. But she was frightened, and she felt as though she’d done something wrong. Really wrong.

Suddenly the bathroom door burst open, and if she’d been scared before, she was terrified now. Travis filled the door, looking very large, and if he could have shot lasers from his eyes, he probably would have. He looked like an avenging dark angel.

He came toward her, and for one horrible moment, she thought he was going to hit her. But he snatched the phone out of her hands.

“I didn’t even turn it on,” she said.

“You had my phone for five minutes and you didn’t turn it on?”

All he had to do was check the call history to know she was lying. “Okay, yes, I turned it on, but I just wanted to tell Daniel I was okay. I asked him to give you what you want.”

“I’ll just bet you did.” He took her arm. “Come on. We have to go.”

“We do?”

“I suppose you think we should just sit here and wait for the cops to come and arrest me?”

She tried to reason with him as he dragged her through the house. “I didn’t tell him where we were. I couldn’t, because I have no idea.”