“Miss Lin.”
“Who is this?”
“Would you die to keep the boy and the girl safe?”
I close the door. Turn away from the car. Breathe into the phone, “Who the fuck is this?”
“I don’t much care for your tone, Miss Lin.”
“Yeah, well, fuck you.”
The man sighs. “Very well. If you do not wish to take this situation seriously, then that is up to you.”
“And what situation is that?”
Colin and Mitchell pull up in the sedan.
“If you want the children to stay alive, do not end this call for any reason. Do you understand me? As long as you stay on the line, the better chance they have of survival.”
I start to take a step toward the sedan, but stop. I think about this caller and how he’s watching me right now and what might happen if I approach the agents.
“What do you want?”
“First, I would like you to wave to the two FBI agents.”
“Why?”
“Do as I say.”
I raise my free hand, slowly, and wave it back and forth at Mitchell and Colin. They frown, glance at each other.
“There, I waved to them. Now what?”
“Now say goodbye.”
The shots are instantaneous. One shot at Colin, one shot at Mitchell. The windshield spiderwebs, blood spraying the inside of the car.
“And now for the second part,” the man says. “Drive.”
Forty-Five
I’m in the car and have the engine started before I even realize it. The phone to my ear, I throw the car in reverse and glance over my shoulder as I screech out of the parking space.
Behind me, David says, “What’s happening? What’s going on? Did those guys … are they …” while Casey starts crying in her seat.
“Where?” I say into the phone, and the man on the other end simply says, “To the exit.”
Five seconds have passed since Colin and Mitchell were killed. The shots came from the direction of the pool entrance. It had to have been done with a sniper rifle, some kind of silencer attached. I hadn’t heard a thing except for the popping of the windshield as it broke.
I speed through the parking lot, up one lane and down the next. I try not to hit the few parents and children leaving or entering the pool. Already people have seen the black sedan, the dead bodies. They’re either on their phones, calling 911, or they’re trying to track where I’m going. After all, only a guilty person flees from the scene of a crime.
At the exit, I say, “Now where?”
“Take a left and keep driving straight until I tell you otherwise.”
I wait for a break in traffic and then pull out onto the road. Even though I don’t want to, I ignore Casey behind me, still crying, just as I ignore David who has started to mumble his questions of what’s going on and what’s happening.
I keep glancing at the rearview mirror, not sure what I expect to see. The voice on the other end doesn’t say anything. I have to pull the phone away, check the screen, to make sure we haven’t been disconnected.
After a mile, the voice says, “At the upcoming intersection, make a right.”
The intersection in question is less than three hundred yards away. I flick on my turn signal. I don’t know how this man sees me—as far as I can tell I’m not being followed—but right now I don’t question it.
The traffic light is red. We stop behind a minivan with a bumper sticker that says WHAT’S YOUR BEEPING HURRY?
Casey is still crying. David has started crying too. I glance at the phone again, hit the mute button, place the phone back against my ear and quickly look back over my shoulder.
“Everything’s okay.”
David wipes at his face. “What—what—what’s happening?”
“Just don’t think about it, okay?”
It’s a stupid thing to say but I don’t know what else to tell them.
The light turns green and traffic starts moving and once I make the turn the voice says, “Now, Miss Lin, tell me again—would you die to keep the boy and girl safe?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Miss Lin?”
“I said yes, goddamn it!”
Another pause.
“Very well, Miss Lin. If you do not wish to answer me, then—”
I remember the mute button is engaged and quickly click it off. “Yes!” I shout. “Yes, I would die for them!”
The pause this time lasts almost five seconds. It feels like five minutes. The traffic is going at a fairly reasonable speed, yet it seems like we’re barely moving five miles per hour.
The man says, “That is very good to hear, Miss Lin.”
“What do you want?”
“We will be discussing that matter soon. Now at the upcoming intersection, make a left.”
I glance behind me at the kids, then back at the road. At the intersection I turn left and drive for another half mile until the voice speaks again.
“At the next intersection, turn right.”
I make the turn. I drive for another half mile. We’ve left the main strip with all the restaurants and businesses and car dealerships and are now in a residential area.
My hands are sweaty against the wheel. Blood beats heavy in my ears. Not even five minutes have passed since we left the pool, and all I can think about is the safety of the two children in the backseat.
A stop sign looms ahead.
The man says, “At the upcoming intersection, stop the car and turn off the engine.”
I glance again at the rearview mirror. Both Casey and David have managed to cry themselves out. Now they’re sniffling, wiping away their tears.
At the intersection I stop the car and turn off the engine.
“Now step out of the car.”
“What?”
“Step out of the car.”
I want to say something to the kids. Tell them I’ll be right back. Tell them I love them. But I don’t want to waste any time either, so I open the door and
