Page 25 of Captivated with Them

Chapter Eleven

Kodee

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THE PHONE RANG FIRSTthing in the morning, and I hurried to answer it. Any call might bring news about either Rue or Dillon, and I didn’t want to miss it. Ryan wheeled himself out of the bedroom after me and sat waiting and watching intently.

I pressed the phone to my ear. “Yes?”

I recognized Frankie’s New York accent immediately.

“We have our first job for you. We need passports for two girls.”

I’d already prepared myself for this moment. He wanted something from us, but I wanted something from him. “First, we need to see Rue and Dillon. I want to know they’re alive and safe.”

I looked up and caught Ryan’s eye, and he nodded to show he agreed with what I was doing.

“You’re not in any position to be asking for favors,” Frankie growled.

I held my nerve. “It’s not a favor. We want to see our friends and make sure they’re all right. You want something from us, so we want something in return. That’s how things work.”

“No, they don’t. Around here, we make the demands, and you comply.”

“And if we refuse?”

“Then we kill your friend.”

I did my best to keep my cool. “For all we know, he might be dead anyway. And if he’s not and you decide to kill him, we won’t be doing any work for you at all.”

Silence came down the line. I hoped he wouldn’t be able to hear the drumming of my heart. I swore I could feel it beating against the inside of my ribcage.

To my surprise, Frankie relented.

“Fine. Meet us at the restaurant at midnight. You’ll get to see your friends then. But don’t try anything stupid. We have men watching your building and we’ll know right away.”

I was tempted to tell him we’d already met his men and they’d been acting as chauffeurs for us, but I didn’t want to get them in trouble.

“We’ll be there.” And I hung up.

“Did I hear that right?” Ryan asked. “Frankie is going to let us see Rue and Dillon.”

“Yeah. Tonight, at midnight.”

“That’s good, right? At least we’ll know they’re okay.”

“For the time being, anyway.”

Ryan wheeled himself across the apartment. He always needed movement to enable him to think clearly. “Is there anything we can do? Any way we can free them?”

I shook my head. “I can’t see how. We’re unarmed and outnumbered.”

Ryan thumped his hand down on the side of the chair. “Plus, I’m in this fucking thing.”

“In the grand scheme of things, the chair is just one small factor, Ryan. You know that.”

He nodded to show he did. Things were stacked badly against us.

“I think right now, we just need to be grateful that Frankie Capello is willing to work with us. At least we’ll get to see Rue and Dillon, make sure they’re all right, and let them know we’re safe, too.”

Ryan let out a growl and dragged his hand through his hair then scrubbed his face. “I just hate feeling so fucking useless.”

“Yeah, I know. But we need to be smart. We don’t have people and guns, but we have our brains, and we need to use them. Now isn’t the time to jump in with both feet. We might get some clues about where Dillon is being held when we go to meet them, which we can use later.”

“Agreed.”

The hours of the day stretched seemingly endlessly ahead, and we had no choice but to wait for night to come. Then we’d be reunited with the two other people we loved, if only for a short while.

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