Page 83 of The Agent
Tully put on a headset and stared at the computer screen, forcing himself to sit still when he wanted to leap out of his chair and race off in search of Natalie. Waiting had always been part of his job and he had trained himself to use that time to think. He had to see this as a standard client-kidnapping scenario so he could view all the angles with his usual cool precision. But visions of Natalie being touched in any way by Van Houten made red flare through his brain.
The electronic ringtone of a phone pinged through the headset and Tully focused.
“Regina, my dear.” Van Houten’s clenched-jaw, upper-crust voice grated on Tully’s eardrums.
“You’re not supposed to contact me.” She sounded confused and upset. Perfect, in fact. “My lawyer said I shouldn’t call you at all.”
“Your lawyer is an asshole.” Anger sharpened his tone. “But you made the right decision to override him.”
“I couldn’t go back to sleep after he told me.” Her voice quavered. “Why are you calling in the middle of the night?”
“Because I miss you, darling. I want you to come home.” He oozed insincere concern.
“You could have waited until tomorrow to tell me.” Now she sounded just a touch annoyed. That would provoke him.
“I thought you might need some additional persuasion, so I’ve arranged for that.” No more concern, all hard edge.
“There’snothingyou could do to persuade me.” She spit out the words like bullets.
“You had help from a nosy bitch named Natalie Hart. Remember her? Well, I have her now, and if you don’t come home, some very bad things will happen to her.”
“What?”Regina’s shriek was genuine and ear splitting. “You can’t do that. You can’t hurt her. I’ll call the police.”
“No police or she dies right now.” His voice was a whipcrack.
Tully felt his lips drawing back from his teeth as he snarled like a wolf. He was going to kill Van Houten with his bare hands and enjoy every second of it. And that was just forthreateningNatalie.
“Okay, okay, no police.” Regina was conciliatory, trying to calm him down as though she’d had to do it many times before. “What do you want me to do?”
“I told you. I want you to come home to me. You are my wife. You’re carrying my child. You belong with me.” His tone turned cold. “I was deeply offended that I had to learn of your pregnancy from Dr. Rowland. Thank God he’s an old family friend and felt I should know. Why didn’t you tell me yourself?”
“I-I was scared.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “You hurt me.”
“I’ll never do it again. You’re too important to me. I love you.” All phrases spoken without any conviction.
“But you’re going to hurt Natalie.”
“Only if you force me to. Come home to me, and Natalie goes back to her nice little house without ever knowing she was here.” He began with a coaxing tone, but his next words were pure sharpened knives. “If you make the wrong choice, Natalie will disappear forever, buried where no one will find her. And her death will be very, very painful.” The last was said with relish.
Tully’s anger was swamped by a wave of cold terror because he could hear in Van Houten’s voice that the manwantedto kill Natalie. Even if Regina gave in to his demand to return, Natalie would still be in danger.
Once again he held on to his control and remained in the desk chair, one part of his brain considering and discarding options while the other part listened to the conversation.
An anguished sob came from Regina, one that sounded entirely genuine. “All right.” Her voice cracked. “I’ll come. But I don’t have any way to get there. I’m at a hotel.” Regina was sticking to Tully’s imaginary scenario like a champ.
“I’ll send a car for you. Just tell me where you are.”
“My lawyer said I shouldn’t tell you that.” She paused. “I know, I’ll take a taxi. You can pay for it when I get there.” There was a slight edge of pleasure in her voice at the expense for her husband.
“Why can’t you just ... that’s fine.” Tully could hear Van Houten tamping down his anger at her defiance. “The taxi can drop you at the gate. The guards will pay for it and give you a ride to the house.”
That screwed up Tully’s plan to be the taxi driver.
“Please, don’t hurt Natalie,” Regina begged.
“As long as you cooperate, I won’t.” With audible effort, he softened his tone. “I’m so glad you’re coming home, darling.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can get the taxi.” Regina’s voice was almost strangled.
