“He’s become national news as the man who replaced a tragic visionary. Musselman stock closed at eighty- two dollars today.”
“It’s all so fucking predictable,” Tate said, pausing. “How’s Vargas handling things?”
“A little harder than we expected. I think she actually liked him, but she’s ten million dollars richer as of last week,” Morita said, pausing a moment. “She’ll be fine, but…”
“She could use a rest. Right?” Tate said to complete Morita’s sentence.
“You don’t miss anything, do you?”
“I misread Quinn.”
Morita didn’t say anything.
“Still nothing from the FBI?” Tate asked.
“Nothing. They don’t have anything without Quinn,” Morita said. “But that won’t stop them from keeping us on their radar screen.”
“We’ll just have to sting them,” Tate said with a snort, looking around to see if anyone was watching him as he approached the gate to his flight. “How’s the story coming?”
“The press will have it by tonight. Vargas still has a few pieces of evidence to place, just to make sure.”
“Perfect,” Tate said, smiling to himself. “Deputy Director Wiseman and Special Agent Kohl will be up to their asses in alligators, explaining why they got duped by a deranged, sex-crazed CEO. How’s Kamin handling things?”
“He’s working from a villa outside of Rome, consumed with the Musselman sell-off and negotiations with Morgan. I think he’s actually excited about leaving KaneWeller,” she said.
“Let’s keep it that way. Don’t say anything about me being in Boston for now. I’ll talk to him in a couple of days.”
“You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” Morita asked.
“Not worried. Uncertain,” Tate said, making a slow search of everything and everyone around him before entering the jetway. He was worried, but he wasn’t about to let Morita know that. Too much depended on her cool-headedness. Besides, now that they had Emily Klein, Wilson wouldn’t do anything stupid. But he had to make sure.
“How did Wilson look when he got off the plane?” Morita asked.
“Angry and resolved.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet. If he’s eminently dangerous, we’ll know in the next day or two,” Tate said as he arrived at his seat. “I think it’s time to tell him the truth.”
40
Emily — Learjet 60, Inflight
Emily slowly regained consciousness only to discover that she was tied to her seat inside a small jet airplane. She spied the label on the seat next to her-Learjet 60. Her eyes darted around the cabin. There was no one else in sight, but she could hear voices talking beyond the drawn curtain, several feet in front of her. The window shades on both sides of the airplane were pulled down. It was still light outside. They were traveling west, she thought, into a setting sun.
Replaying the abduction in her mind, she tried to remember as many terrifying details as possible. After Wilson had left the apartment to get the fax, she had stopped curling her hair and pranced to the open window overlooking Hotel San Fantin. She’d wanted to shout
Whipping back around toward the window, she started to scream, but her cry was barely audible as the larger of the two men clamped his huge hand over her nose and mouth and grabbed her around the waist. The last thing she remembered was the smell of ether.
As she sat tied to her seat, she could only imagine what torment Wilson must be going through. She tried to move her arms and legs, but the leather lashings were too secure. Methodically weighing her options, she felt surprisingly calm and lucid, even though she’d been horrified by her captors only hours earlier. Wilson was right. This secret society, insider’s club, or whatever the hell it was, could not be allowed to continue in any form whatsoever. She wished she’d never questioned Wilson’s resolve to expose them. She’d only done it out of fear. Fear of death. Fear of harm. Fear of difficulty and struggle. Fear of being alone without Wilson. But now that her worst fears had materialized, she felt her a new resolve burning inside her.
She swore to herself that if she was able to get out of this alive, she would never again allow fear to control her. Never. She repeated the word never again and again until she remembered how her captors had fondled her body before she lost consciousness. She fought back the tears. Everything can be taken from you except your freedom to choose your thoughts and feelings, she said to herself, even in the worst of circumstances.
Wilson would be moving heaven and earth to find her. She knew that. The thought strengthened her. She would find a way to help him find her. Her emotions were on fire. The only way they could stop her would be to kill her.
41
Wilson — Boston, MA
When Wilson and Mike Anthony arrived back in Boston, they took a cab to the Back Bay apartment. Hap Greene and three of his associates were waiting for them. Wilson sat down across from Hap and the others. Driggs was the only one of the associates Wilson had previously met; Hap introduced the others as Jones and Taylor. He then informed Wilson that, since yesterday afternoon, 153 private jets had arrived from Europe at more than three-dozen airports along the northeastern seaboard. Hap studied Wilson before asking, “What are you going to say to her when she’s on the phone? You’ll only have a few seconds.”
Wilson appreciated the directness. He’d already given Hap’s question considerable thought. “Nothing. My guess is that after they get me on the phone they’ll shove the phone in her face to let her say a few words and then take it away. There won’t be any dialogue. Emily is savvy. She’ll be thinking the same thing we’re thinking. She knows we’ll be recording and analyzing every word she says. If she has any idea where she is, she’ll find a way to give us a clue without making it obvious.”
Hap looked at Wilson with a slight smile. “Good. You’re right about the dialogue. I hope you’re right about Emily.” After a pause and a glance at his associates, he continued. “One other thing. Tell the kidnappers that you want to hear her voice telling you she’s okay at least once a day. The more opportunity she has to give us information, the better. Even then, we won’t get many words from her. The first time all we’ll get is I’m okay. After they see you’re cooperating, maybe they’ll allow her to complete a sentence, but it won’t be a long sentence. And, they’ll scrutinize her every word just like we will.”
Wilson nodded soberly before expressing a concern that had been plaguing him.
“You said public knowledge of the kidnapping would increase the probability of her death. I don’t think we’ll be able to keep Emily’s kidnapping a secret for more than a week or so.”
“Which means we have to find her before that,” Hap said with a wildcat fierceness in his eyes.
Wilson had never seen that look in Hap’s eyes. It bolstered his confidence, but he also recognized that he was grasping at anything to brighten his hope. “How’s my father and family?”
“Everyone’s safe and heavily guarded. There’s been no change in your father’s condition,” Hap said. Then he reached under the coffee table and brought out three newspapers-
