Page 78 of The Night Belongs To Fireman

“I don’t think it will be. I don’t think he cares about the money.” Seeing that her father wasn’t listening, she turned to Marsden. “Back me up here. You heard the message.”

“I heard it,” he said grimly.

“Just listen to it again. This man is on a mission.” She clicked play on her phone and Fred’s kidnapper’s voice rang through her living room for the tenth time.

“The time for hiding is over, Rachel Kessler. If you want your friend back, you’ll go public with your support for animal rights and your sponsorship of the Refuge. We expect to see your face on TV before the end of tonight, or we’ll treat your friend the way the labs treat the mice they use to test mascara.” He gave a wheezy laugh. Something about it sounded familiar. “Our group is BEAST, the Brotherhood for Ending Animal Substandard Treatment, and you’re going to put us on the map. We shouldn’t have to force you to do the right thing, but we will if we have to. This is a matter of life or death.”

“Nutty as a Waldorf salad,” muttered Marsden.

“Yes, but he has Fred. We have to do something. The money’s not going to be enough. He sounds like he’s on a crusade. I have to do what he says.”

Marsden swung his grizzled head back and forth like a prizefighter scoping out an opponent. “Might be a fake-out. Enough cash might change his mind.”

“I already sent double,” said her father. “The original amount was almost embarrassing.”

“You already sent double the amount?” Rachel put a hand to her head. Her body still ached from her struggle with the would-be kidnappers. Fred had taken even more abuse; she hated to think how he must feel right now. “That proves it. If money was what they wanted, Fred would be free by now!”

“That kid is tougher than he looks,” said Marsden. “Military family, great firefighting record, fight training. He might be able to take care of himself just fine.”

“Might? Might?” Rachel wheeled on him. “He’s in danger because he was protecting me. I know what it’s like to be totally at some stranger’s mercy …” Her throat closed up. Ever since she’d watched Fred get bundled into that van, horrible bits of memory had been jumping into her head. The black slime in the corner of the abandoned warehouse. The cockroach family that had scuttled freely across the floor. The sour, gagging stench of the bucket in which she peed.

“Rachel, think rationally for a minute,” said her father in his “soothing” voice that he used to talk her into his demands. It made her want to shred glass. “If you go on TV, your privacy will be gone forever. You won’t ever be able to have a normal life again. People will know what you look like. You’ll be a constant target.”

“I haven’t had a normal life since I was eight, Dad! And we don’t know for sure that I’ll be a target,” she added desperately, even though the picture he painted was basically her worst nightmare. “People have a lot more interesting things to think about than me. It’ll be fifteen minutes of fame and then someone else will grab the spotlight. Someone who wants it.”

Her father looked like he wanted to jump through the flat-screen and strangle her. “I’m not talking about the media. I’m talking about people who wish me harm. Or the people who want my money. Most importantly, I’m talking about the one who already kidnapped you once and promised to do it again. Have you lost all sense, Rachel? Do you think Fred would want you to do something so risky? Of course he wouldn’t. That’s why he took this job, so you’d be safe.”

Of all the arguments her father had made, that one hit home. He was right that Fred wouldn’t want her to put herself at risk. But this wasn’t Fred’s decision to make; it was hers. “I already have insanely tight security, Dad. I’m sure that won’t change.”

“You’re goddamn right it won’t. Don’t be surprised if it doubles by tomorrow.”

“Fine. Double my security. Do whatever you have to do to keep from getting blackmailed. You’re not the only wealthy man in the world. Other people have to deal with this. So we’ll deal with it. Just like we always have.”

She focused on her cell phone, even though her hands were shaking so hard she didn’t know how she’d manage to dial. As far as she was concerned, the discussion was over. She’d felt obliged to inform her father of what she intended to do, since it affected his life too. But as soon as she’d heard the message, she’d known what she would do.

“I’m sorry, Dad. But I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get Fred released.”

“If you do that, I’ll withdraw all funding from the Refuge.” Her father’s harsh statement sliced through the room. His face had gone dull red, his eyebrows slashing across it as if they’d been drawn by Sharpies. “I always knew it was a bad idea. Clearly this lunatic group has some connection to that place. We’ll be chasing that down, guaranteed. I already have people researching BEAST. I want to know how they found out who Rachel is, and how they got past our screening.”

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