Page 129 of The Black Trilogy

The locks clicked as Nick released them, and Luke sprang out of the car.

Nick followed, muttering, “Poor guy.”

Luke paused to stare at him. “What? What are you talking about?”

Dan strolled over, smiling, her hands relaxed by her sides.

“This is handy. At least it saves us the trouble of looking for him. Might get a lie in tomorrow,” she said.

Nick nodded his agreement. “Yeah, although I’m getting kind of hungry.”

Hungry? The man was hungry? Luke felt like he was about to throw up.

Dan looked at her watch. “Are you joining in the pool?”

“Count me in,” Nick said. “What are we doing? Ten-minute slots?”

“Five. The US offices are joining in too. Nate’s gone off to make popcorn.”

Luke couldn’t hold back any longer. “What on earth are you two talking about? In case you hadn’t noticed, your friend has just been abducted at gunpoint.”

How could they be joking right now? Someone needed to tell him what was going on.

One of the policemen wandered over, greeting Nick with a complicated handshake.

“Jason, it’s been a while.”

“All right, Nick? How do you want us to play this?”

“Hold back for a bit, would you? Dan and I will head off in a minute. Can you follow behind us?”

“Sure. Give me a shout when you’re leaving.”

“No worries. Will do. Your woman okay?” Nick asked.

“Shaken up, but someone’s taken her into the house for a sit down and a cuppa. She’ll be fine.”

Everyone had clearly gone mad.

“A woman’s been kidnapped,” Luke told the policeman, as that seemed to have escaped his notice.

“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry about it.”

Luke’s jaw dropped as the cop strolled back to his group of colleagues in front of the house. The ones in uniform shifted from foot to foot, unsure of what to do with themselves, but a couple in plain-clothes were laughing.

“What about Ash? Nobody seems to be taking this seriously.”

“She’ll be fine,” Nick said.

“You don’t know that. The last time we saw her, she was decidedly un-fine.”

Was Luke the only one who cared?

“I do know. She just messaged me.”

“What? But she left her phone here.” Luke pointed to where it still sat on the ground.

“Correction. She left one of her phones here. She still has another two with her.”

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