Page 60 of The Captive
Reilly let out a shocked breath.“Are you messing with me, Holt?”
“I’m assuming you’ve heard about her disappearance then.”
“It’s all over the news.”
“Does the Bureau have agents on the case?”
Reilly hesitated.“You know I can’t divulge that.”
Damn bureaucrats.That meant yes then.
“Listen to me, Reilly.She’s here with me.We’ve been captured by Paul Le Clair, I know you’ve heard of him.”The cell phone let out three mechanical dings.Low battery.Deacon cursed softly.“Look, you need to get in touch with the agents in charge of the Kelley abduction.Tell Hank Kelley the exchange is a trap.He can’t show up alone, you understand, Reilly?”Three more warning chimes sounded, prompting Deacon to talk faster.“Le Clair has no intention of letting Kelley or his daughter get out of this alive.You need to make sure that—”
The connection died.Cursing again, Deacon dropped the useless phone on the floor of the van and kicked it underneath Lana’s seat.
“Do you think he’ll believe you?”Lana asked, urgency thickening her voice.“Will he warn them?”
Deacon took a long breath, then released it slowly.“I sure as hell hope so.”
* * *
“You’re not going alone,” Jim Kelley insisted for the hundredth time, fixing yet another steely gaze on his father.
Hank’s jaw was set in a stubborn line.“I already told you, boy.I’m not about to play games with my daughter’s life.The man said to come alone.”
Jim fought a wave of sheer frustration.He glanced around the massive room at his twin brothers, seeing the same frustration on their faces.Dylan had flown in from L.A.the moment the kidnappers had called to arrange the exchange.He’d wholeheartedly agreed with Jim’s assessment that their father was taking an unfathomable chance here, as did Cole and Gage, who’d been trying to talk Hank out of it for hours now.Lowe and Hartman, the two federal agents sitting on the couch opposite Hank, had also tried discouraging the senator, but to no avail.
Hank was determined to do this on his own.Atonement, Jim knew.For the first time in his sorry life, Hank Kelley was trying to clean up his own mess.
And what a mess it was.
From what Jim understood, his father had gotten mixed up with a secret society whose main goal was to assassinate President Joe Colton.Freaking figured.His dad couldn’t just stick to cheating on his wife, could he?No, he had to involve himself inpresidential assassinations.Aim high, that had always been Hank’s motto.
Jim had sat there in disbelief when Hank confessed everything.Apparently, after he learned of the assassination plot, Hank had tried to extricate himself from the situation, but the men he’d joined up with had panicked.Hank Kelley knew too much and, therefore, needed to be eliminated.Everything that had ensued, Lana’s kidnapping, the sabotage on Cole’s ranch, the attack on Hank in town—it was all done to lure Jim’s father out of hiding.
And it had worked.Hank had decided to sacrifice himself for Lana, no matter how foolhardy this plan was.“Hank.”
Jim’s head lifted at the sound of his mother’s quiet but commanding voice.She was still in Martha’s Vineyard being watched like a hawk by the guard Jim assigned to her, but she refused to be kept in the dark, and had demanded to be included in any discussion.She’d been on speakerphone this entire time, and like the others, Sarah sounded increasingly upset by her husband’s decision to handle the exchange alone.
“You can’t do this by yourself.”Sarah’s tone softened.“I know you want to bring Lana home, but you’ll be risking both of your lives if you don’t let the boys or the FBI help you.”
Jim heard a cell phone vibrate, noticing from the corner of his eye as Special Agent Lowe rose from the sofa to take a call.
“I won’t allow anyone else to get hurt,” Hank told his wife.“I’m responsible for everything that’s happened.I need to be the one to fix it.”
“Not at our daughter’s expense,” Sarah shot back.“The FBI is trained to handle kidnappings.You, Hank Kelley, are not.”
Jim only half listened as his parents argued, far more interested in the hushed conversation Agent Lowe was conducting across the room.The man’s broad shoulders had stiffened, his brow furrowed as he listened.Something was up.The agent’s body language convinced Jim of it.
He was right.A few seconds later, Lowe stalked over and rested both hands on the arm of the sofa.“There’s been a development,” Lowe announced, cutting Sarah off in mid sentence.
The room fell quiet.
“A call just came through headquarters’ main switchboard from a man claiming to be with your daughter.”Lowe studied Hank’s face.“His name is Deacon Holt.Are you acquainted with him?”
Hank was quick to shake his head.“Never heard of him.”
“Well, he claims he’s with Lana, and he had a warning for us.”Lowe’s jaw tensed.“He says the exchange is a trap.The kidnappers plan to kill you on sight.”
