Page 42 of The Chain

“Good. I was on a plane once with a woman who was allergic to peanuts, and she had a meltdown just from the smell of someone’s peanut-butter sandwich. Nightmare,” she says and lets out a huge sigh. “Thank you for coming, Pete. You’re a rock. I couldn’t get through this without you.”

Pete looks at her and swallows. His mouth opens and closes. He has two things to tell her. He has to tell her about the heroin and he has to tell her about the Camp Bastion incident. He’s not a rock. He’s unreliable. He’s a failure. He would have been court-martialed if he hadn’t resigned first. “There’s something you should know…” he begins.

Rachel’s iPhone rings:Unknown Caller.

She answers it on speaker so Pete can hear. “Yes?” she says.

“There’s been a change of plan,” the woman holding Kylie says.

“What do you mean?”

“You are required to deposit an additional twenty-five thousand dollars into the InfinityProjects account.”

“We already paid the ransom. It’s—”

“It’s been changed. Sometimes they change things. You need to pay another twenty-five thousand. Furthermore, you need to complete part two of the process today. Do you understand? If you don’t do these thingstoday,I’m supposed to kill Kylie.”

“No, please! I’ve done everything you’ve said. I’m cooperating!”

“I know you are. They just messaged me. We have to do what they say, Rachel. Another twenty-five thousand by midnight and part two done by midnight. If you don’t do it, I have to kill Kylie. And if I don’t do that, they’ll kill my son, so I have to do it.”

“No, that’s crazy. We’re cooperating, we’re doing—”

“Do you understand what I’ve told you, Rachel?”

“Yes, I—”

The line goes dead.

Another twenty-five thousand today? How?

“Car coming!” Pete says, looking through the living-room window.

“It’s coming here?”

“It’s coming here,” Pete says. “Two occupants. A man and a woman. Parking next to my truck. What does Marty drive now?”

Rachel sprints to the kitchen window. The car is a white Mercedes; the man in the driver’s seat is Marty, and she’s sure that the woman next to him is Tammy. Rachel’s met Tammy only once, at one of the Kylie handovers, but Tammy is a leggy blonde with a cute bob haircut and Marty’s passenger certainly has the haircut.

“It is Marty!”

Pete runs to the kitchen window. “Jesus, you’re right. What is he doing here? I thought you said he was in Georgia.”

Rachel groans. “It’s Friday evening. He’s come to take Kylie for the weekend.”

“We’re on the clock here; we need to get rid of them.”

“I know!”

Marty waves to her through the window. Rachel remains standing, aghast, at the kitchen sink and watches as Marty and Tammy come up the outside steps. Marty opens the kitchen door, smiles at her, leans forward, and kisses her on the cheek. He looks good. Very handsome. Movie-star handsome. He’s lost a little weight, there’s color to his cheeks, and he’s finally gone to a barber who knows how to cut his thick, wavy hair. His green eyes are twinkling, but his heavy eyebrows are knit together with concern when he looks at her.

She fights the weak, atavistic urge to collapse onto Marty’s chest, throw her arms around his neck, and weep. She sniffs and pulls herself together and smiles.

“Well, you’re looking terrific.” Marty lies like a frickin’ trouper. There’s a little clearing of the throat from behind him and he brings Tammy forward. “Of course you remember Tam,” he says.

Tammy is tall and pretty with boring blue eyes. “Rachel!” Tammy declares and gives her a hug. “How are you doing?” she asks.

“I’m OK,” Rachel says and takes a deep breath.

---