She stared down at the phone with indecision, hyperaware of every second as it ticked by.
She had every right in the world to call the authorities. To bring hell down on a crime syndicate that thought nothing of murdering innocents. Jozef had shot Danilo without a second thought. He not only took away a life, but a future too. Anything Danilo would have accomplished. Wife, family, career, gone. Jozef deserved jail time. Yet she couldn’t imagine him living the rest of his life behind bars. He was like a wild animal, watching, prowling, hunting. He would die if he was caged.
Shaun never imagined this kind of heartbreaking indecision when she finally got her hands on a phone. It was gut-wrenching and she knew, no matter what choice she made, it would be life-altering. Finally, she decided to call the only person she really wanted to talk to.
Luckily, she had Fatima’s cell phone number memorized. It was the middle of the night in Montréal; Shaun hoped her mom would answer.
The phone rang once.
“Hello?”
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Mom?”
There was a long tension-filled pause. “Shaun! Oh my god, is that you?”
“It’s me, Mom.” Tears rushed to Shaun’s eyes as the sound of her mother’s voice reached out to her. It was like she’d been swimming in a dark void these past weeks, never knowing which way to turn, terrified for her survival, and hearing her mother was like a lifeline.
“Oh, my baby, oh my god!” Fatima’s words came out in a panicked rush. “Where are you? Are you hurt? What happened?”
“Mom, calm down, I’m okay.”
Shaun could hear fumbling in the background and something dropping. “Hang on, I’m calling the consulate.”
“No!” Shaun exclaimed, pacing inside the closet. “You can’t do that.”
“What the hell do you mean I can’t call? You were kidnapped from a hospital, for god sakes. Someone was killed! Of course, I’m going to call the authorities. Tell me where you are.”
Shaun smiled grimly. This was Fatima Patterson, a force to be reckoned with. When her daughter was threatened, she would go to war like an Amazon queen. “I know, Mom, I was there. But things are complicated. If you call in the authorities, things could get even messier.”
“Shaun, tell me where you are right now.” Fatima tried to use her authoritarian mom tone, but the strain and worry in her voice were impossible to hide.
“I can’t do that.” Shaun sank to the floor of the closet and slumped against a chest of drawers.
“Why?” Fatima demanded.
Shaun could hear the creak of bedsprings as Fatima sat down.
“The people who took me… they’re into some dangerous stuff.”
“No shit,” Fatima growled. “They killed that young man at the hospital and kidnapped you. God… I thought we were going to find your body somewhere.”
Shaun had a flashback to the shadowed woods where Jozef took her to end her life. Fatima had no idea how close Shaun had come to fulfilling Fatima’s nightmare.
Fatima burst into tears which caused Shaun’s own tears to spill over. She cried freely as she listened to her mother’s sobs and tried to reassure her over and over. “They didn’t hurt me. They kidnapped me so I could treat a man who was injured. I saw too much though and they couldn’t let me go.”
“You have to get out of there,” Fatima insisted. “I’m calling the consulate.”
“Don’t!” Shaun said impatiently. “I’ll hang up and I really don’t want to. I want to stay on the phone with you for as long as I can.”
“But why?” her mom said just as impatiently. “What’s going on? Are they holding you hostage? Do they want anything? We’ll pay it. Anything, I’ll find a way to get it. Your father had a lot of friends in high places. I’m sure we could scrape together as much as we need.”
Shaun sighed and pulled her legs up, placing her head wearily on her knees.
“No, they don’t want ransom.”
“Then what? They have to want something, or why are they keeping you there?”
Shaun thought about telling her mom about the engagement but decided to keep it to herself. As much as she wanted to talk to her mother about everything, she didn’t want Fatima worrying more than she already was. Finding out her daughter was about to be forcibly wedded to one of the most terrifying men in Europe might put Fatima over the edge.
“I don’t know, mom. I guess they have to keep me since I saw their faces and know who they are.”
“And you can’t tell me?” Fatima asked again, desperation in her voice.
“I’m sorry,” Shaun whispered.
There were a few seconds of silence and then Fatima said, her voice calmer, “No, I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t be trying to force information from you that you clearly can’t give. I’m just so grateful to hear your voice. It’s been hell. I haven’t slept in weeks.”
Shaun nodded, though her mother couldn’t see it. “Me neither.”
“Are they treating you okay?” Fatima asked helplessly.
“Yes, please don’t worry about that. I’ve been assured that I won’t be harmed as long as I stay with them. In fact, I’m being treated more than fairly. They took me shopping to replace my clothes. I’m getting all my meals and then some. More than anything, I’m suffering from boredom. I’d kill for a surgery.”
Again, Fatima paused as she digested what her daughter was telling her. “You’re not… are you… getting attached to these people?”
“I don’t have Stockholm, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Shaun crossed her fingers in case she did actually have Stockholm Syndrome and was lying to her mother. “I’m just trying to make the best of a bad situation.”
“Okay, but I don’t want you to ever forget that they killed somebody. No matter how kind they are to you now, they’re killers, Shaun. I feel like…” Fatima choked on her words and paused to take a few deep breathes and gather herself. “I feel like I just got you back after thinking you might be dead. I can’t handle knowing you’re alive and well somewhere, only to find out they killed you anyway. I know you can’t tell me much, but I promise you, Shaun, I will do everything I can to find out where you are. I swear to god, if they’ve harmed a single hair on your head, I will kill every last one of them with my bare hands.”
Shaun choked back her tears as best she could as mama bear Fatima showed her claws. “Thank you,” she whispered.
They remained silent for another minute as they tried to calm down enough to talk. It hit Shaun for the first time since getting on the phone with her mom that Fatima didn’t sound like she’d been asleep. It should be very early morning in Montréal.
“Mom… where are you?”
“I’m in Kiev. I got here a few days after you went missing.”
She didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to her before that Fatima would travel to where Shaun had gone missing. Shaun would have done the same if her mother had been kidnapped. It made her heart ache to know her mom was relatively close, less than a day’s drive away, yet they couldn’t see each other; might not ever be able to see each other again.