Page 19 of The Captive
“What’s going on here, Delta?”Le Clair snapped when he caught sight of them.He’d been sitting on a white wicker chair with a cell phone in his hand, but he stood the moment they came outside.
“Miss Kelley requested some air,” Deacon said quietly.“I didn’t think you’d object.”
Le Clair’s gaze zeroed in on Lana, then rested on the tight grip of Deacon’s hand on her arm.After a second, his features relaxed and he gave a shrug.“Fine.Make it quick.”
“Yes, sir.”
They descended the creaky porch steps and ventured farther, their boots crunching against the stiff dead grass as they walked across it.
“How can you answer to that man?”Lana muttered, keeping her voice low so it didn’t carry with the wind.
“I have no choice.Everyone answers to someone, Lana.”
“Well, I’d never work for a man like that.He’s evil.”Thewind snaked its way under her hair, lifting stray strands and whipping them around.“Has my father been contacted yet?”Deacon hesitated.
“Well?”she demanded.
“Yes.”
The admission seemed difficult for him, and it surprised the hell out of Lana.So her dad knew about the kidnapping?Heknewand he’d sat around twiddling his thumbs for four days now?
A terrifying thought slid into her head.“Is he refusing to pay?”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so?”she echoed.She stopped walking, planting her hands on her hips.“What is going on, Deacon?You said this was about money.”
“It is.”His tone didn’t sound so convincing anymore.
Fear gathered in Lana’s stomach.“Then why am I still here?Why hasn’t an exchange been made?”
His chest rose as he drew in a long breath.“I don’t know,” he repeated.
Silence fell between them.They began to walk again, moving around the small clearing.Lana could feel Le Clair’s gaze on them, and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck tingled.In the distance, the mountains towered over the landscape almost ominously, and yet they brought a strange sense of comfort.At least she had an idea of where she was.If she got the chance to speak to her family, she knew she needed to figure out a way to give them a clue of her whereabouts.
Trying to be discreet, she glanced around, looking at the bushes across the clearing, the scattering of boulders to her left.Maybe if she could find a way out of the bedroom in the middle of the night, she could run toward those rocks and—
“Don’t even think about it,” Deacon said sternly.
She guiltily avoided his eyes.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re plotting your escape.”He let out a heavy sigh.“There are motion sensors rigged all over this mountain, Lana.Outside your window, too.You’d only be wasting your time.”
She tried to hide the disappointment weighing down on her chest.Well, at least she’d tried.
She and Deacon came to a stop underneath a cluster of tall redwood trees with knotted branches and thick leaves.The sun had disappeared behind a patch of gray clouds, and it was cooler beneath the trees.Lana tucked her hands into the pockets of her coat, shivering slightly.
“You’re cold.We should go in,” Deacon said roughly.
“No,” she protested.“Don’t put me back in the room.Not yet.”She leaned against the gnarled brown bark of one of the tree trunks and glanced at him warily.“Did you really grow up in Boston?”
He looked surprised by the question.“Yeah, I did.”
“So that wasn’t a lie?”
“No.I’m from the east coast, like I said.”He shrugged.“Though I haven’t been back there in two decades.”
“Why not?”She immediately berated herself for the display of curiosity.He was her kidnapper!Next thing you knew, she’d be wielding a machine gun and calling herself Patty Hearst.
