They stepped into a dark, short entryway. The thin framing of light came from a closed door on his right. Eric put a hand on his shoulder – almost gently – and opened the door.
It was a small room and it smelled of cleaning fluid and sweat. A small lamp stood in a corner and in its feeble circle of light Luke saw a woman. She lay on a metal bed. She was in her mid-twenties, dark haired. She wore jeans and a thin sweater. Her hair was a tangle over her face and she smelled of having gone a couple of days without a good wash.
She stared at Luke in complete terror.
‘Baby, it’s me,’ Eric said, stepping from behind Luke.
The woman coughed a whisper that sounded like oh God Eric and she trembled. ‘Oh my God, why, get me out of here…’
‘It’s all okay. It’s all okay,’ Eric said. Luke could see that shackles bound the woman to the bed – a set of chains braceleting her to the cot, at her wrists, another set of shackles at her feet.
Eric hurried toward her but stopped himself. He made sure to not turn his back on Luke and he backed away from the bed. He pressed the small key into Luke’s hands. ‘Set her free.’
‘Eric, who is he? Where are the police?’ the woman asked.
‘Say nothing more. You’re safe, that’s all that matters.’ Eric stepped back, the gun not aimed at Luke but at the ready.
‘Why the hell do you have a gun?’ The woman demanded, an edge in her rising voice.
‘Just hush, babe, you’re safe now.’ Iron in Eric’s voice, a huge relief. ‘Safe and sound.’
Luke fumbled with the keys. He unlocked the chains cuffing her wrists and the links fell to the mattress. She slapped the constraints away as if they were radioactive. The links tinkled as they slid to the hardwood floor.
‘Thank you,’ the woman said to Luke. ‘Thank you so much…’
‘Don’t thank him,’ Eric screamed. ‘Don’t say a goddamned word to him!’
Luke unlocked the shackles on her legs. He met the woman’s gaze; she was confused, glancing at him and then Eric. She kicked the chains away and wriggled past Luke off the bed. She fell against Eric’s chest, drinking in the comfort of his touch. He kept the gun aimed at Luke.
‘I want to go home,’ the woman sobbed into Eric’s shoulder.
‘So do I,’ said Luke.
Eric kissed the top of the woman’s head, stroked her shoulder. He eased her toward the door and turned back to Luke. ‘Get on the bed.’
Luke sat on the mattress’s edge.
‘I’ve moved heaven and earth to keep you safe,’ he said to the woman.
She nodded, looking confused, and he kissed her forehead.
‘But I need you to do what I say. I need to keep the gun on him. So I need you to lock this guy to the bed.’
Luke’s throat froze and the woman mumbled, ‘What?’
‘Lock him to the bed. He’s taking your place.’
‘Eric…’ the woman began. ‘You can’t abandon a person here. No. Let’s just go to the police, please, let’s just go to the police.’
At the same time Luke stood. ‘No.’
‘Sit down!’ Eric shouted.
‘You’re not leaving me here.’
‘Aubrey, please,’ Eric said. ‘Do as I say.’
‘I don’t understand-’ the woman started to say and Eric yelled, ‘Don’t question me, not after I’ve put everything in my life on the line for you. Just do it, goddamn it!’ Eric pushed her toward the bed and following her, put the gun to Luke’s temple. ‘Stay still. Don’t struggle.’ He swallowed. ‘He’s a bad guy, baby. Don’t feel bad for him.’
‘Don’t listen to him, he kidnapped me-’ Luke shouted. He stopped. If he told this woman Eric had committed murder then Eric might kill him instead of leaving him here. He shut his mouth.
‘He’s one of the guys behind your kidnapping,’ Eric said. ‘I grabbed him, he’s your ransom. So don’t feel bad for him, babe.’
The woman – Aubrey – stared hard at Luke and Luke shook his head. He grabbed at her smooth wrists. ‘He’s lying. I’m not a bad guy. Please.’
‘Let her go!’ Eric roared. He fired a bullet past Luke’s head, into the wall.
Luke and Aubrey froze, doubled over in surprise. She trembled at the gunshot and Luke released her. She raised the cuffs to his wrists and clicked the shackles on him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured. ‘I’m sorry.’
Aubrey glanced at Eric. Then she attached the chains to his ankles.
‘He’s lying to you, I’m innocent…’ Luke said.
‘All I did,’ Eric said, ‘was deliver a ransom.’
Aubrey stepped back, shaking, and the man embraced her again. ‘Go outside, wait for me. We’re going home.’
Aubrey stumbled out of the cabin.
Eric unfolded the phone. He pulled a small metal device from his pocket – Luke guessed it was a modulator, designed to mask his voice – and snapped it over the phone, and he punched in a number. He raised his finger to his lips in a hushing motion.
The phone was on speaker and Luke heard Henry say, ‘Hello?’
‘Henry Shawcross. I have bad news. Your stepson, Luke Dantry, has been kidnapped.’
‘What? Who the hell is this?’
‘Let’s just say I’m passing the baton to you,’ Eric said. ‘Listen carefully. To get your stepson back, you must wire fifty million dollars to a series of offshore accounts.’
‘Henry doesn’t have fifty million dollars. Are you insane?’ Luke said softly. The idea was ridiculous. ‘You’ve made a serious mistake.’
A long, agonizing beat of silence. ‘I wish to speak to Luke,’ Henry said.
‘Tell him you’re alive and well. Nothing else.’ Eric unhooked the device from the phone and put it close to Luke’s face.
Luke said, ‘Henry?’
‘Luke.’ Henry sounded stunned. ‘Is this a joke?’
‘No. He grabbed me at the airport. He had a gun. He-’
Eric stood and replaced the modulator onto the phone. ‘He’s alive and unhurt. Do what you’re told or your stepson is dead.’
Another long stretch of silence; Luke could hear the rasp of Henry’s breathing. ‘I’m sorry. I will not pay.’
Luke froze. He thought he had misheard. He said will not. Instead of cannot. ‘What?’
Henry’s voice sounded thin, tinny, a ghost of his usual confident baritone. ‘I don’t know what money you’re talking about. Please don’t hurt Luke. But I don’t have this money you want.’
Eric said, ‘Don’t lie. You know you have the fifty million, you bastard.’
‘I do not.’
‘For God’s sakes, give him what he wants!’ Luke yelled. He was thinking: if you don’t have the money, just tell them that you do. Stall them; make them think the money is coming, get the FBI on the job. ‘Please, Henry. Tell him you’ll cooperate.’ Maybe Henry was too stunned by the ransom demand to know what to say.
‘Luke, I cannot. I cannot.’
His stepfather – smart, determined, more than capable of thinking on his feet – was not willing to bluff. He was not willing to lie, to promise complete cooperation, and get off the phone and call the police. He was leaving Luke to the murderous mercies of a kidnapper. The realization hit him like a stone hammering into his chest.
Why wouldn’t he lie, say anything to save Luke?
‘You don’t understand, you don’t cooperate, he will die,’ Eric said.
‘I can’t help you.’ Henry, unyielding.
‘He’s already killed one guy. He knows about the Night Road!’ Luke yelled. ‘Give him what he wants!’
Silence, like a thread pulled to a breaking point. ‘I suspect this is a sort of very bad joke. Luke, why are you doing this?’
