Business and Pleasure (22 page)

“Hey,” Mark says, “why don’t you come over
here and we’ll go over the plan.”

Grateful for something else to focus on, I
join him and his fellow cops at the dining room table, and Mark
explains what I’ll need to do. The plan is pretty simple, really. I
have to tell Bob I’ll give him what he wants, but that I need more
time, and then I have to try to keep him on the phone as long as
possible. With a little luck, they’ll be able to trace the call,
and then we can track them down. If it were possible, I’d actually
fulfill all Bob’s demands—anything to get Becca back, unharmed. But
the fact is, Bob is obviously delusional, because there’s no way in
hell to come up with that much money in only a few hours, and
things like signing over stock in a company require lawyers and
paperwork and filings with the government. Not that any of this
makes much difference, because in my heart, I know that even if I
fulfilled every single one of his requests, Bob would still kill
her. He’s nuts…just like Christina, and the minute he got what he
wanted, he’d kill Becca and take off.

The phone’s blaring ringtone startles me
from my morbid thoughts. I race over and snatch up the
receiver.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Elizabeth. Do you have what I
need?”

He sounds hoarse or tired, hell, he’s
probably a little of both, not that I give two shits. I wish he
would drop dead, but I fight back my anger. I have to sound willing
and compliant; I have to keep him on the phone and get him to agree
to give us more time.

“Bob,” I say, and my voice cracks. I clear
my throat and try again. “Bob, I need more time. I told you
before…it takes more than a few hours to gather that much money and
draw up papers so I can transfer my fifty one percent of Neo Corp
to you. I had to track down the attorney. Please, just a little
more time.”

“I’m running out of time, Elizabeth, and
therefore, so is your sister! I want my money, my plane, and my
company, do you understand me!” He sounds pissed, and my heart
races. No telling what he might do to Becca.

“Can I talk to my sister again please?” If
he agrees to allow me to speak to her, maybe I can buy us the time
we need to trace this call. I’m also dying inside…I need to hear
her voice again. I have to know she’s still okay.

Bob doesn’t answer, and for a second, I fear
he hung up, but then I hear the phone smack against something, and
then Becca comes on the line.

“Lizzy?”

“Becca, sweetie, I’m here. We’re doing
everything we can to get to you. Don’t worry. Are you okay? He
hasn’t hurt you, has he?”

“Not yet,” she says, and she sounds so
weary, like she’s giving up hope. “But he’s going to kill me. I
know he is. The minute he gets what he wants, he’s going to shoot
me.”

Hearing Becca voice my earlier thoughts
causes my chest to ache. I can’t allow her to think like this.
“Becca, honey, listen to me. You’re going to be fine. I
promise—”

“Just tell Mark I love him, will you? And I
love you too, sis.”

She’s saying good-bye… “Becca, damn it, stop
that shit right this minute. You are not—”

“That’s enough!” Once again, I’m
interrupted, but this time, it’s Bob, and he sounds angrier than
ever. “Get me what I want now! You have one more hour, Elizabeth,
before I kill her. And I
will
kill her, so help me God!”

He hangs up the phone, and I look hopefully
toward Mark, but he frowns and shakes his head.

“We didn’t get a trace. I’m sorry. We did
get a pinpoint on a general area but no actual address.” Mark tears
a sheet of paper off the portable printer. “Come take a look at
this, will you? Maybe you’ll recognize something here, or one of
the street names will mean something to you.”

I set the phone down and then join him at
the table, but no matter how hard I try to focus, all I see is
street names on a piece of paper. Nothing is registering with me
right now, although I do know for sure that Bob doesn’t live on any
of those streets.

“Oh my God!”

I turn and look at Natalie, who is standing
directly behind me. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Suddenly, I feel a sting of hope.

“I don’t know if this means anything…God, it
probably does. How the hell could I have forgotten this? Jesus. I
just remembered…Christina kept saying ‘home’ when she talked about
Bob and Becca. She kept saying she had to get back ‘home’ to make
sure Bob took care of things right.”

“Home?” Is it possible? Is Bob holding Becca
at Christina’s house?

Alex has joined us at the table, and I turn
to him and say, “Take a look. I assume you know where she
lives.”

He nods, and then without hesitation, he
points out her house. It’s right in the middle of the mapped out
area. Hopefulness and a sense of relief lift my spirits, and for
the first time, I truly believe there’s a good chance we’ll get my
sister back.

Mark and his men head toward the door.
Without waiting for an invitation, I follow, and Alex and Natalie
are right behind me. We’ve come this far together; we’ll finish as
a team.

While Mark calls for backup, we jump in the
car, and then make our way toward Christina’s house. I don’t know
why I didn’t think of this earlier…like, the minute I realized
Christina was involved in Bob’s madness. Someone—the police,
maybe—should have checked out both their places, just in case… I
shake my head, wondering what might have happened if one of us
looked into this before now.

Alex flies down the highway, weaving in and
out between other cars, led by a fleet of police and emergency
vehicles, their lights flashing and sirens wailing. Fifteen very
long, agonizing minutes later, we arrive at our destination, but
Mark instructs everyone to park a block away, so as not to alert
Bob to our presence.

We climb out, and Natalie, Alex, and I stand
on the sidewalk while Mark gives instructions to his men. The
neighborhood seems unusually silent, eerily so, and the darkness is
only broken by a few dim streetlights. I watch as the officers draw
their guns, stealthily approach the house, and then all hell seems
to break loose.

The sound of splintering wood breaks the
silence as the cops bust down the door and rush inside the house. I
hold my breath and wait. Despite Alex’s comforting hand on my
shoulder, I can’t help but fear the worst. What if Bob harms Becca
before the officers can get to her? What if he uses her as a
hostage? Why is it so quiet? After the initial commotion caused by
the cops breaking down the front door, the silence feels…wrong.
Driven by fear, I pull away from Alex and begin running toward the
house.

“Elizabeth! What do you think you are
doing?” Alex grabs my hand and pulls me to a stop.

He’s saying something else, but all I can
hear is the quiet. The dreadful, heavy silence that must mean
something’s gone terribly, horribly wrong.

“Let me go.” I struggle against Alex’s hold,
but he doesn’t let go.

“I can’t let you go in there. The cops can
handle it. Let them do their job, Elizabeth. I can’t risk something
happening to you.”

“Alex, I swear to God, if you do not let go
of me, I will hit you. Let go.”

I jerk my arm, and this time, he releases
me, but when I turn to run toward the house, he’s right on my
heels. Together, we enter through the front, and then stand there,
listening. Where are they?

Footsteps sound on the stairs. I look up to
see Mark’s men coming down from the second floor. Mark, meanwhile,
steps into the archway to my left.

“There’s nothing here, sir. We’ve searched
the entire house.”

The officer’s words slice through me.

“No! She’s here! I know she is!” I rush up
the stairs, past the police coming down, and conduct my own search
of the house, but by the time I finish with the second floor, I
have a sinking feeling the cops are right. Bob and Becca aren’t
here. Still, I keep looking, checking every room, every closet. I
come to a stop in the kitchen pantry, sinking to my knees under the
weight of despair. Did we miss them? Did Bob somehow find out we
were coming? But no…they must be here. But they aren’t…we’ve
searched everywhere, and I have a sick feeling we’ve run out of
time.

“Elizabeth, honey. Come on. Let’s get you
out of here.” Alex has a hold on my arm and is helping me to my
feet.

“No!” I resist his effort to lead me from
the kitchen. “I can’t leave! She’s got to be here!”

“I know she is,” he says, speaking low, so
only I can hear him, “and I think I know where, but we’re going to
go get the police and let them find out for sure.”

“What do you mean?” I question him, but I
allow him to lead me out of the kitchen and into the adjoining
dining area.

“I just remembered…Christina has a panic
room.” He answers my question, but he’s looking at Mark, who is
standing near the table with his men. “It’s right behind there, and
down a flight of stairs.”

Alex nods toward a built-in bookshelf
against the far wall.

Wordlessly, Mark goes to the bookcase. He
runs his hand along both sides, and then along the top. As he
reaches the end, there’s a tiny
click
, and the whole thing
swings open.

In absolute silence, the cops stream through
the opening and run down a flight of stairs. After a few tense
moments, I hear yelling, and I’m nearly giddy with relief. Yelling
means there’s someone down there. Yelling means…yelling means
they’ve found my sister.
Becca
. The thought spurs me into
action, and I race down the stairs and straight into the panic
room, which is nothing more than a concrete bunker, roughly the
size of a walk-in closet. A wall of police men stand before me,
blocking my view. Becca. I must get to my sister. Without thinking,
I shove my way between two large men, and find myself face-to-face
with Rebecca and her captor. Bob’s holding my baby sister at
gunpoint.

“I
will
shoot her! Put your guns
down!” Bob lifts the gun and places it against Becca’s temple.

His actions and the look on his face tells
me he means business. As for Becca, my heart breaks at the sight of
her. Her normally rosy cheeks are stark white, her hair is a mess,
and she’s trembling like crazy. I need to do something, but what?
Neither I nor the police can go to her without risking Bob pulling
the trigger. When one of the officers takes a tiny step forward,
Bob shoves the gun against Becca’s head so hard; I can see an
indentation from across the room.

“No!” I scream in panic before I can stop
myself.

“Ah, Elizabeth! There you are. So nice of
you to join us.” Bob throws Becca to the ground.

“Yes. I’m here. You had to know we’d find
you,” I say, working to distract him while Becca crawls toward a
waiting officer, who swiftly scoops her up and carries her away.
Once she’s out of danger, I’m not longer quite so afraid. Sure, he
can shoot me, if he wants to, but he’ll die if he does. How
desperate is he? I’m afraid we’re about to find out.

He lets out a loud laugh. A crazy laugh. The
man has definitely lost his marbles.

“It’s over,” I tell him, and then hold my
breath, praying he’ll agree.

“Over? No, my dear Elizabeth, it’s only just
begun. I made demands, and I expect you’ll give me what I want.
What
you
took from me, years ago!” He pauses, and then
chuckles. “Ah, I can see you have no clue what I am talking about.
Well, let me enlighten you. Prior to your parents’ death, I was
working with them at Neo Corp. I helped them come up with the
software they sold to the government, but instead of giving me
credit, instead of making me a true partner, they gave me a spot on
the board. Can you believe it? I’d never been so insulted or so
angry. I wanted more, and I decided to go after what I wanted. Your
aunt told you that your parents died in a plane crash, when the
fact of the matter is, I killed them.”

My blood freezes, and I sway. A strong hand
at my elbow steadies me, and I glance over to see Alex standing
there. Do I look as sick as he does? The look on his face tells me
he’s feeling a lot like I am right now. Ill. Shocked. Disgusted.
Angry. Disbelieving. What is Bob talking about? He killed my
parents? Impossible. My thoughts are racing as I sift through my
memories of that painful time. I know what Aunt Crystal told Becca
and me; could she have lied? Did she make up the story about a
plane crash to spare us the horror of knowing our parents were
murdered? No. No matter how horrible the truth might be, I know my
aunt, and she would never, ever lie to me like that. So what the
hell is Bob trying to pull now?

“Ah, you don’t believe me, do you?” Bob
makes a soft tsking noise and shakes his head. “Well, I promise,
it’s true. I killed your parents. It just so happens, they were
picking me up so that we could all take their private jet to Los
Angeles to work out a deal with another business. I made up some
excuse about not feeling well and that they should go without me.
Meanwhile, I had a bomb planted on the jet. The bomb went off
shortly after their take off from the airport.”

A soft gasp breaks the silence. Oh,
God…Becca. My little sister is listening to all this. I glance her
way. Mark has her, thank goodness. He’s holding her up, but when
our eyes meet, I can see she’s dying inside.

Either oblivious to or uncaring of the pain
he’s causing, Bob on with his story.

“I thought I would finally get control over
Neo Corp, but no! Once again, I’m denied what’s rightfully mine,
and you end up with the fifty-one percent of the company that I was
supposed to get!”

My heart is racing. My blood is boiling.
This man killed my parents! He almost killed my sister! He has
tried to strip me of everything I hold dear. My hands itch; I want
to wrap them around his throat and kill him myself.