Side by Side

“You said you didn’t come to hurt me!”

“This won’t hurt at all,” Sarnov said. “At least no one has ever complained to me later that it did.”

38

Lucy Dockery swam up out of the void slowly, regaining consciousness to find herself back in the gritty bed in the darkened room. She was naked, and in a lot of pain, certainly made worse because she couldn’t see and had to imagine how serious the damage to her was. Her face was bruised, hair and blood was matted into stiff wafers, and she could feel lines where the skin was laid open. Her lips were split and swollen, her teeth sore but she didn’t think any were broken. Her nose was swollen to twice its size and filled with dried blood. She didn’t think any of her bones were broken, because she could move her arms and legs, fingers and toes, but the joints in her hands ached.

Her nightgown was gone, ripped from her body as she fought Buck from a hopeless position on the floor at his feet.

He hadn’t raped her. He’d stripped her, beaten her senseless, had her flat on the kitchen island with her legs apart, and he’d stopped only because Dixie and a pair of giants came in and pulled him away. Pants bunched around his ankles, he roared as the twins dragged him out the door. Dixie had called Scaly-hands “Buck.”

Lucy remembered the beating, Buck’s hideous grunts of pleasure, the terrified wails of Elijah behind a door only a few feet away. She hadn’t cried out because she couldn’t bear to have Elijah hear her screaming. It seemed so insane, so hopeless, and she didn’t have the slightest idea why these creatures were doing this to them.

Lucy knew that if she didn’t escape, she and probably Eli were going to die, and if that oaf with palms like tree bark had anything to say about it, the trip to death wouldn’t be fast or pretty.

Monday. Buck had said that until Monday, he could do whatever he wanted to her, because “after that she was just one more dead piece of pussy.”

Why Monday? She pushed the physical pain away and thought about that. What would be happening on Monday? She didn’t even know what day of the week this was. How long before they killed her and Eli? A day? An hour? Was it an idle threat? She didn’t think so.

Why Monday? She remembered that her father had told her that after Monday they could take Elijah and go to the house in Blowing Rock for a vacation. He had been expecting to deliver his verdict on the Bryce case that day. Had these people abducted them to influence her father’s ruling on that case? That made sense. But that should mean that they wouldn’t kill her if her father ruled for Bryce. Was it because she had seen their faces? That was their fault. They had not tried to remain anonymous, so they must have always planned to kill her. If they were just going to kill her, that was one thing, but because they might kill Eli too, she had to do something and do it fast.

She was smarter than they were and smarter was better than stronger.

She needed a plan to get out of the steel building.

Something else occurred to her. The dogs hadn’t attacked her even when Elijah had cried. She was sure they had wanted to, but something had slowed them, or had perhaps confused them. She smiled to herself as the realization washed over her. And for the first time she was sure that she and Eli might have a shot at escaping after all. A plan. All she needed was a plan, and a lot of luck. She smiled when something occurred to her, and when she did so, the pain hit her, and she remembered Buck’s cruel hands on her. But smiling was worth it. She now had a spark, the beginning of a plan, a way to save her son’s life.

Lucy lay in a fetal position in the dark listening to Dixie sing “Itsy Bitsy Spider” to Elijah, who, incredibly, was laughing.

39

In the drumming rain, Winter held the Sig Sauer loosely at his side and peered into Click’s den. Standing back from the window, Winter was as good as invisible to the three inhabitants of the room. He couldn’t hear the conversation through the glass, but he could see Serge Sarnov and Max Randall and he could read Sarnov’s lips. Click’s chair was positioned so Winter couldn’t see the young man’s face, just his white socks.

What Winter learned from reading Sarnov’s lips thrilled him. The Russian made Click a job offer, which Click must have declined, because Sarnov pulled a pistol and aimed it at Click. Reflexively, Winter aimed at Sarnov’s head, figuring for deflection and reflection, but he didn’t fire, because-based on Randall’s and Sarnov’s body language-he didn’t believe Sarnov intended to kill Click. He was right. The gun was just the additional incentive the boy needed to reconsider.

Winter wondered if Click was smart enough to know that what the Russian said about Laughlin’s and his father’s greed might be true, but he doubted Click understood that the Russians would not part with any larger share of profits than Click’s own family would. “Join us or die” was not exactly a promising start to the ideal courtship.

Winter waited until Serge holstered his gun to move away from the window. Then he walked to the edge of the yard and sprinted back to Alexa’s car. She was in the driver’s seat.

“What’s the deal?” Alexa asked.

“The Smoots definitely have the Dockerys,” he replied. “Score one for Clayton. You can tell Clayton that Ross Laughlin is not just Peanut’s lawyer-he’s also his boss. Laughlin is definitely our link between the Smoots, Bryce, and Sarnov, Lex. Laughlin is connected to a syndicate, but the Russians are planning to move in on them.”

“You’re sure?”

“Acquisition by force is a standard Russian business plan. That’s what Serge said. I guess that’ll be news to Clayton.”

“I’m sure it will be. Did Serge happen to say where the Dockerys are?”

“Sarnov didn’t say. I couldn’t see Click’s side of the conversation, but I don’t think he mentioned a location either. Maybe Click knows, maybe he doesn’t, but there’s no doubt the Smoots grabbed Lucy and the baby and have them. Sarnov said they’re going to kill them.”

“Even if Bryce walks?”

“I got that impression. We need to find Peanut. He sure as hell knows where they are.”

“They could be anywhere,” Alexa said. “Do we stick with the kid or follow Sarnov?”

“I’d put a tracker on the BMW if we had another one, but I don’t think Sarnov is directly involved with the Dockery abduction, based on the lip-reading I did. We have to get to Peanut, or beat it out of Click.”

“You’re joking?”

“No, not really. Beating it out of Click is a perfectly good idea. Lex, the longer we wait, the more likely something bad will happen to the Dockerys. They’re going to be murdered unless we can get them released, and time is running out for them. You said so yourself.”

“Maybe after Monday, yes.”

“You aren’t sure. Did they share their timetable with Clayton or yourself? If they did, fine. If they didn’t. .”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she snapped. “You’re going to torture the truth out of a teenager?”

“If it will save the Dockerys, yes. And he’s twenty-one and a criminal coconspirator in a kidnapping and possible double murder.”

“Maybe we won’t have to do that. Clayton says NSA’s Big Ears caught Peanut and Dentures talking. Peanut uses prepaid disposable cell phones, but as soon as Clayton can get the location for the pay phone number she called from, we’ll have something tangible. They could be holding the Dockerys in one of their houses. Maybe we should be checking Peanut’s house, offices, properties.”

“I doubt they’d risk keeping them in an obvious place,” Winter said. “But what the hell. It’s worth a shot.”