“Of course not,” Noah said quickly. Then he smiled with relief. “That must mean what Carruthers did caused no real harm. Delilah will still be released. I knew it!”
“Did you?” Lynch asked softly. “I didn’t.” He took a step toward him. “You must have a sixth sense about—”
“Come on, Lynch,” Kendra interrupted as she grabbed his arm. He seemed to have entirely forgotten about not making waves. “I need to get you somewhere we can tend to that wound. You’ve left it too long.” She was leading him toward the door. “Get on the phone now, Noah. We’ll expect that cash here by early tomorrow. I’ll call Kelland and tell him how cooperative you’re being.”
“Yes, do that,” Noah said eagerly. “Make certain he knows that even though this wasn’t my fault, I’ll work hard to make sure the next time will be different.” He frowned. “And tell him to keep Matt Dalborne from smearing me. That scumbag politician has called me twice today and yelled at me. I know he’s going to try to use this to gather enough press coverage to ride it straight to the White House.”
“I think we all realize there’s no question there won’t be a repeat of this disaster.” She slammed the door behind them.
“You didn’t have to rescue him from me. I probably wouldn’t have done anything too lethal,” Lynch murmured. “Though I admit he was annoying me.”
“Obviously. I didn’t trust you.” She shook her head wearily. “I didn’t trust myself. You’re not the only one who wanted to sock him. Too many bad things are happening, and I’m not reacting well. I need to take back my control. So after I give Jessie a call, the first thing I’m doing is driving you to the ER and getting you a CAT scan. Then if they tell me your head isn’t going to blow up, we’ll go to Jessie’s place and you can get some rest.”
“I promise my head’s not going to blow up, Kendra.”
“That would be nice, but like I said, I don’t trust you. I want to make sure of something, anything.”
“Okay.” He took her hand and held it tightly. “Then we’ll make sure my head’s going to remain in one piece.”
“That sounded patronizing.”
“It’s your imagination. I wouldn’t dare. Now let’s get out of here…”
* * *
Dimness, curved walls, long, narrow room…
Same place as before, Dee thought dazedly as she opened her eyes. For the first time, she was aware of a white panel in the back with a large silver door. It looked new, unlike the worn walls, ceiling, and floor everywhere else.
She had been drifting in and out of sleep for the last few hours, but she hadn’t let that witch, Charlotte, know she’d regained consciousness after being yanked roughly wide awake to answer that damn ransom question the woman had hurled at her. She would have told her to go to hell if she hadn’t realized that very personal question must have come from Jessie. Besides, the one thing Dee had learned during those last encounters with Charlotte was that all she’d get from her was threats and ugliness.
She’d decided she’d do better to just try to get her bearings, think about all the things Jessie had taught her over the years, move forward, and hope that someone else would show up who would be more accommodating. And this time when she drifted back to awareness, she realized that she might have gotten lucky. Because whoever Charlotte was speaking to now was receiving the same scathing venom she’d been handing out to Dee earlier.
And it was also definitely the same bitter voice. “It’s ridiculous.” Charlotte was standing just out of Dee’s field of vision, but her voice was even more angry than it had been the moment Dee faded into unconsciousness. “You’re all fools, Dorset. You were given a simple job to do and you couldn’t even bring home that money. It’s a wonder that you weren’t caught. I was the only one who did everything right. If it had been me in charge, I would have found a way to make you pay for that carelessness. Didn’t anyone tell you we have mafia contacts at our disposal? How would you like to deal with them?”
“Do you think I’m not paying?” It was a man’s voice and it was just as bitter. “He cut my share in half for the next go-round, and he sent me here to help you guard that bitch. He got tired of you complaining. I think he was afraid you’d kill her and leave us with nothing.”
“And I would, if I could talk sense into him. She’s not worth the bother.” She was silent. “But he recognizes my value and knows that I deserve something better than being a watchdog to that cash cow you’re all so eager to keep penned up here.” She added, “So I’ll take your help, Dorset. You’ll do what I say or I’ll cut her throat and tell him you did it.”
“He wouldn’t believe you.”
“But you’re not sure, are you?” She added in a whisper, “You’ve never been sure about me. Now get out of here. I thought I heard her stirring. I’ll call you when I need you.”
Dee heard a curse, and then a slashing bolt of light lit the dimness—that must have been the silver door opening.
“You are awake.” Charlotte’s face was suddenly above her. “Listening to us? Not that it did you any good. All it proved was that you’re surrounded by people who care nothing about you. They couldn’t even get the instructions about the ransom right. They tried to pull a fast one and trap us. Now they’re probably shivering in their boots afraid that we’ll send them your head in a box.”
“And are you going to do that?”
“I haven’t decided.”
She shook her head. “It’s not up to you. I heard that much.” She paused. “Who does make the decision, Charlotte?”
“If I told you, then I’d have to kill you.” She chuckled. “Maybe that’s what I should do. The perfect excuse. I’ll have to think about it.”
And she might decide to make use of that or any other excuse, Dee thought. “You would have done it before if you’d had the option. And I must be worthwhile to someone or they wouldn’t have sent that man to keep you under control and make sure it wouldn’t happen. I think I might be safer than you’d like me to believe.”
“Are you? Think what you want.” Her smile was ugly. “But not if you rely on Dorset. He was sent because I was more important than him and always will be. Which means you can’t be sure when I’ll get my way.” She said softly, “But you can bet it won’t be your way, Delilah.” She was unfastening the IV. “Sit up. There’s only one thing good about Dorset showing up and that’s that I can make him take care of you until this is over. I got sick of getting calls with questions about whether you were still alive and if I was getting that drug right. From now on Dorset can do it.”
“He can’t be worse than you are.” Dee’s gaze was once more raking her surroundings. Curved walls…that bolt of brilliant daylight. Even in this dimness she was able to recognize where she was. “This is an airplane. A big one. Maybe even a jumbo jet. There aren’t any seats, but I can see where they used to be. We must be on the ground because there’s no noise from the engines. What am I doing in an airplane?”