Chapter 26
Josie’s head ricocheted painfully off the hard, carpeted floor of the trunk as the car sped out of the driveway.
Her mind raced as she tried to make sense of the last few chaotic minutes.
Despite the cold sweat trickling between her shoulder blades and the sound of her heartbeat echoing in her ears, relief surpassed fear, at least for the moment.
The lie that had fallen off Josie’s tongue, the one she’d sold to Kevin and his gun-wielding accomplice, had worked. The kids were having a sleepover at their grandmother’s house, she’d said, and the men had taken her at her word. Adam and Ellie were safe.
When Kevin grabbed her by the arm and forced her toward the door, she’d fought him.
She’d knocked the living room lamp over, shattering the bulb on the wood-planked floor.
When the other man, whom Kevin had called Spider, likely due to the ugly, black spider web tattoo, pulled out his gun, Josie had frozen in place.
“Don’t bother,” he’d said.
Now, as they sped away from the kids and the house, and Josie bounced around in the trunk of her half-brother’s car, relief gave way to panic.
The dark, enclosed space tripped a wire in her brain that she’d fought for years to bypass.
Her tongue stuck to the roof of her dry mouth, and the air around her felt thick and heavy. It squeezed her chest like a vise.
She inhaled to the count of four, held it for a count of four, then exhaled for a count of six. Slowly, her heart rate normalized, and her brain went from manic spinning to a slow roll. If this was all she could manage until someone dragged her out of the trunk, she’d call it a win.
Disoriented, Josie had no idea how much time had passed before the engine went silent, the car doors slammed, and boots hit the pavement. The trunk opened, and a rush of cool air blew into the congested space. Josie breathed in greedily.
“Get out,” Kevin ordered. He gripped one of Josie’s arms and hauled her up.
She stumbled when her feet hit the ground, then hurried to right herself as she took in her surroundings.
They’d parked in an alleyway behind an old, brick apartment building.
A flickering streetlight cast an eerie glow on the cracked pavement, and above their heads, a rusted metal fire escape ladder dangled from a third-floor window.
She looked for a street sign or anything to give her a clue where she might be, but there was nothing.
Kevin kept hold of Josie’s upper arm, his fingers digging into her soft flesh.
They followed Spider into the building, where the smell of urine, mold, and garbage made Josie’s nose wrinkle.
As they climbed a flight of stairs, Josie kept silent, shivering when a cool draft of stale air hit her sweaty skin.
Spider shoved a key into a deadbolt and twisted open a doorknob. Kevin tugged Josie into the apartment. Dirty linoleum, the shade of a brown paper bag, covered the kitchen floor. A table with three mismatched chairs sat under the window, and dirty dishes filled the sink.
Kevin dragged Josie through the kitchen into a small living room and shoved her onto a worn, stained sofa.
“Don’t move or Spider will shoot you,” Kevin warned. “The guy’s a little unhinged.”
“What is happening right now, Kevin?” Josie asked, in a surprisingly steady voice.
“I told you, I need cash,” Kevin answered.
“So, you thought you’d kidnap me? And then what? We’d go to the bank tomorrow morning?”
Kevin sat in a ragged recliner across from Josie. His left knee bounced, and his bloodshot eyes darted around the room.
“I came up with a better idea,” he said, sneering at Josie.
Before Kevin could elaborate, Spider tossed a phone at him.
“It’s a burner,” Spider said.
Kevin fumbled the device before securing it in his shaking hand. Josie caught Spider narrow his eyes at Kevin.
“We’re gonna make a call, Sis,” Kevin said, flipping open the phone.
Josie had an inkling who they were about to call, and she could guess what Kevin’s “better idea” might be. He confirmed her suspicion a moment later.
“Call your boyfriend. Tell him I want fifty grand, and he has until Friday morning to get it,” Kevin demanded.
Obviously, her half-brother had no idea what Adam truly did for a living, or just how dangerous he could become if cornered, and Josie wasn’t going to enlighten him. Instead, she said, “I thought you only wanted twenty-five thousand dollars.”
“Certain aspects of my plan required assistance, and that assistance didn’t come cheap,” Kevin answered.
Josie cast a cautious glance at Spider, who stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his barrel chest. She couldn’t read his expression.
Kevin dumped the phone onto Josie’s lap. She swallowed hard and licked her dry lips before picking it up to dial. Adam answered on the second ring.
“Who is this?” he barked, and Josie could hear the tension and worry underneath his sharp tone.
“Adam, it’s me.”
“Josie? Are you okay?” Adam’s tone instantly softened.
“I’m okay. How are the kids?”
She didn’t want to say more and reveal her deception, but she had to know.
“They’re safe and at Lissa’s. You did good, Josie.”
She clamped a hand over her mouth and tried to cover the sob that escaped, but Adam heard her.
“Honey, tell me the truth, are you hurt? What’s happening?”
Josie sniffed and opened her mouth to answer, but Kevin grabbed the phone from her hand.
“Listen to me carefully. If you want to see my big sister alive and well again, I want fifty grand, and I want it by Friday morning.”
Josie could only hear Kevin’s side of the conversation as he paced around the cramped living room.
“I’m not giving you any more time. I’ll call you Friday morning at 6 am with instructions on where to bring it.”
Kevin abruptly ended the call and tossed the phone back onto the sofa.
“Let’s hope lover boy comes through,” he said, glaring at Josie.
Josie wished she could have spoken to Adam one more time.
His voice soothed her, made her feel like she wasn’t alone in this.
She knew he was doing everything in his power to figure this out, and he’d have a whole team of professionals who’d help him, but so much could happen between now and Friday morning.
She hadn’t trusted Kevin when they’d first met, and she didn’t trust him now. She hoped he wouldn’t actually hurt her, but she wasn’t certain, especially since he was obviously high. And there was no question in her mind that Spider was capable of anything.
It was Wednesday night. Kevin had given Adam about thirty-six hours to get ahold of the money.
That probably wouldn’t be enough time for Adam to figure out where she was, and if Josie had to guess, she thought Adam would probably show up at the meeting point Friday morning.
If Kevin kept to his word and exchanged her for the money, maybe this would all be over quickly.
Spider was the wild card, and the fact that Adam didn’t know about him made Josie uneasy.
Josie hated feeling so powerless. She wanted to do something to help herself, but the gun tucked casually into Spider’s pants kept her frozen to her seat on the worn sofa.
Kevin turned on the television to a station carrying reruns of Law and Order.
He ordered pizza and demanded Josie eat a slice before he allowed her to use the bathroom.
When he eventually locked her into a small, musty smelling bedroom, Josie checked the window, but the room was three stories up with no fire escape or ledge, and the door bolted from the outside. There was nothing she could do except lie on the hard mattress and try to sleep for a few hours.
***
Detective Morgan had set up a makeshift headquarters in A.J.’s kitchen. Cam and Jake were working their own parallel investigation from the TSI office, where A.J. would have preferred to be, but once he’d received the ransom call, Morgan wouldn’t let him out of her sight.
So far, she’d been competent, but A.J. had gotten used to running his own show with Cam. Sitting at the kitchen table, essentially doing nothing but waiting while Josie was out there somewhere, went against his nature.
When she’d called, her first question had been for his kids.
Josie had likely saved his kids from being taken too, or worse.
He couldn’t let his mind go down that particular rabbit hole, but A.J.
had no real idea what Kevin was capable of, and that thought made his blood chill.
He hoped the man wouldn’t hurt his own sister, but there was absolutely no reason to believe he wouldn’t, especially if he was desperate.
Detective Morgan’s plan was to allow the transaction to happen, make sure Josie was safely released, and then try for a takedown afterward.
She’d have the Hostage Rescue Team staged somewhere close by, just in case.
As she paced around A.J.’s kitchen on the phone, with a coffee mug in hand, A.J. called Lissa to check on his kids.
“They’re sleeping together in the guest room with Fluff snuggled between them. They’re worried about Josie, but I told them all of TSI is out looking for her,” Lissa said.
Her reassuring tone had the same calming effect on A.J. as he assumed it did with his kids.
“Thanks, Liss. You have no idea how much I appreciate you keeping them tonight.”
“Your focus needs to be on Josie now. We’ll get her back.”
Silence stretched over the phone, and A.J. was sure he and Liss were thinking the same thing. They’d get Josie back, but plenty of damage could happen in the meantime. Liss had been beaten so badly by her abductor that the image of her battered body had burned itself into A.J.’s brain.
“She’ll be okay,” Liss whispered.
“She has to be, Liss. I can’t do this again. I can’t lose her, too.”
When he disconnected the call, the thought cycled through his head on repeat. He couldn’t do this again. He couldn’t lose Josie, too. He didn’t think he’d survive it.