Page 66 of Billion-Dollar Ransom
CHAPTER 73
KAITLIN RAN OUT of the movie theater and darted through the middle of the Grove shopping center, which was starting to look like a ghost town at this hour. The retail stores were closing for the night, leaving only the AMC and one lone Asian boîte with a pricey cocktail lounge open. Was there not a single security guard around? Seriously?
She could hear the stranger behind her, running just as fast as Kaitlin. This crazy bitch might be tired, but she was also quick and athletic. That was not good.
Kaitlin was wary about running up to another stranger out here, because who knew? This psycho could have an accomplice. Kidnappers usually worked in teams.
You have no idea who’s around. Who might be watching.
Kaitlin decided that the massive parking structure was her best bet. She might find someone in there with a tin badge and a Taser. And if not, she could hide behind cars and eventually lose this weirdo.
But as she ran toward the garage, a better plan came to mind: She could run back into the theater and leap over the entrance barrier, which would, hopefully, cause a theater employee to call the police.
Hold on. Why wait? She could call the police herself right now. And then do some fancy fake-out end run around her pursuer, make her way back to the AMC, and wait for the po-po to arrive.
Kaitlin looked down at her phone and finally glanced at the text from her mom. To her surprise, it didn’t sayCall me please.In fact, it was nothing Kaitlin would have expected in a million years.
Kaitlin stopped running, and so did her pursuer. The woman pulled a phone out of her purse, pressed a number, and said:
“One hundred percent.”
CHAPTER 74
Thursday, 9:58 p.m.
FOUR’S BURNER PHONE went off at the worst possible moment. She considered not answering, but if One was on the other end, ignoring it would be very close to suicide.
She tapped the button to accept the call and braced herself. What if he’d somehow discovered that Four had strayed from the strict letter of the plan and left the kids alone with Three? What would One do? Would he punish them as he’d threatened to?
“Hello,” Four said quietly, stepping out into the hall. She had to be mindful of her surroundings at this late hour, but she didn’t want to stray too far.
A raspy female voice asked, “Is this Four speaking?” This voice did not belong to One.
“Who is this?”
“This is Six. I need you to listen to me very carefully.”
“Hold on,” said Four, still in a near whisper. “Who are you? How do I know this is real?”
“Do you have many prank callers who know your secret code number?”
“Look, even if itisreal, we’re not supposed to be talking to each other.”
“You’re free to hang up,” said the woman claiming to be Six. “You and Three can take your chances. But if you don’t listen to what I have to say, there’s a good possibility that both of you will be dead within the next twelve hours.”
Four didn’t know how to respond. Clearly this Six had some kind of inside information. Otherwise, how could she know that Three and Four were working together? Or, like she’d said, even know the number to this burner phone?
“I’m listening,” Four said.
“You need to get out right now. One is going to double-cross you and your husband. It’s part of the plan. It’salwaysbeen part of the plan.”
The warning would have been easy to ignore if Four hadn’t secretly believed all along that this would be the outcome. Of course One was going to double-cross them. She and her husband were nobodies. Someone smart enough to plan this kind of audacious triple kidnapping would also be smart enough to keep all the ransom money for himself.
Still…
“How do you know?” Four asked. “Maybe this is some kind of test. Maybe you’re working on One’s behalf as a kind of… quality control.”
The person claiming to be Six said, “Maybe I am. You wantquality control? Just wait a few hours and find out for yourself. By then, it’ll be too late to complain to the manager.”
