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Trish and Jaclyn returned with the coffee. He waited until they’d served it before he delivered the abductor’s message—word for word—or as close as he could remember them. No one interrupted, not even Becky, though she seemed to grow more distraught at every syllable he uttered.
She dropped to the sofa next to her mother. Lenora reached over and took her daughter’s hands, cradling them in hers.
“I’m really uneasy with a no-cops policy,” Langston said. “There’s a lot of knowledge about situations like this that we’re not tapping into. I could call Aidan Jefferies. This is out of his jurisdiction, but he’s a hell of a homicide detective, and I know he’s had experience with abductions as well.”
“I think we should let the sheriff’s department handle this,” Zach said. “We can put out an AMBER Alert, question anyone who may have seen the boys get into the abductor’s car and start investigating any child molesters presently living in the area.”
Nick’s insides coated in acid at the mention of child molesters, though he’d already thought the same. But his gut feeling led him in another direction. “It seems likely that the abduction was a spur-of-the-moment decision spawned by the media attention yesterday, maybe someone desperate for cash.”
“That makes sense,” Bart agreed. “The man probably saw the boys’ picture on TV.”
“No sane person would let a picture of Nick and the twins lead them to kidnapping,” Matt said.
Nick shoved his hands into his pockets. “That’s my concern and the reason I hate to blow off his demand that we not bring in the authorities. The guy could be a mental case tottering on the edge.”
“How will the abductor know if you talk to the cops?” Jaime asked. “I mean as long as they don’t come roaring out here in squad cars or show up at the door in uniform.”
“If we bring in law enforcement, the kidnapping could get leaked to the media,” Nick said. “I don’t think we can risk that—at least not yet.”
Lenora leaned forward. “But surely it wouldn’t hurt for Zach to do some unofficial investigating.”
Nick was amazed at how well his mother-in-law was holding up under this. He knew how much she loved David and Derrick, yet she had a quiet strength about her that he envied. Thank God she was here for Becky since his wife didn’t seem to want any comfort or reassurance from him.
“I could fly under the radar,” Zach answered, “but we’ve got to agree on what we’re doing here.”
“I say pay him off, get the boys back and then we hunt the bastard down,” Matt said.
“I’d like to see the FBI brought in,” Langston countered. “I have connections. I can make a call right now and have someone come out here from the agency. But Nick and Becky are the ones with the deciding votes. I know I’d make the decisions if it was Gina or little Randy here.” He kissed the top of his son’s head.
“Where is Gina now?” Jaclyn asked. “Does she know about the abduction?”
“Not yet,” Trish said. “She’s spending the night in Houston with a girlfriend from her high school who’s hosting a Christmas party tonight.”
“With a protection service secretly watching her and the house she’s in,” Langston said. “I’m taking no chances until this crazed abductor is apprehended.”
“I curse myself a hundred times an hour for not thinking to do that,” Nick said.
Jaime walked over and placed a hand on Nick’s arm. “Don’t blame yourself for this. How could you possibly have foreseen something so bizarre?”
Jaime was Zach’s twin sister. She was the party girl, but Nick had always suspected she had a lot more depth to her than she let on.
“Would you all just stop talking?” Becky said. Her voice broke, and her whole body began to shake. “My boys are missing, and I want them back. I want them home and in their beds. I want…” Her ranting and shudders dissolved into sobs.
Nick could stand it no longer. He crossed the room and dropped to the sofa beside her. He wound an arm around her shoulders, hoping she wouldn’t push him away.
Her head fell to his chest. “Get them back, Nick. Just get them back.”
“I will.” It was a promise he’d keep or die trying.
Lenora got up from her seat on the other side of Becky. “I think we should give Nick and Becky some time alone.”
“Sure,” Zach said, “but remember that every second counts in a kidnapping.”
Nick had never been more aware of anything in his life.
BECKY FELT as if she were suspended in time, stuck in the horrifying moment when Nick had first told her the boys had been abducted. She pulled away from Nick and tried desperately to regain a semblance of control as the others filed from the room. “I can’t stand doing nothing, Nick. I need to know that someone is out there looking for David and Derrick.”
“The abductor was adamant that we not go to the police.”
“And in the meantime, what about my sons? What’s happening to them?”
“The kidnapper wants money, Becky. He’s made that clear almost from the second he took them. There’s no reason for him to hurt them as long as we cooperate.”
“Since when do you know so much about kidnappers? Since when do you know about anything except football?”
“Please don’t do this, Becky. It won’t help us to tear each other down.”
His gaze sought out hers, and she turned away, unable to deal with his pain when hers was so intense.
“I know I’m not all that good with reading people,” he said, “but I’m convinced this was a spur-of-the-moment decision with the kidnapper. My guess is he’s desperate for money. And desperate men commit irrational acts when pushed against the wall. That’s why I don’t want to push. I just want to give him the money and bring the boys home.”
“And you really think you can pull this off without David and Derrick getting hurt?”
“I think working without the cops is our best chance of doing that.”
Nick’s face was drawn into hard lines that made him look much older than his thirty-two years. It was odd that she’d never thought of him as aging, though she was keenly aware of it in herself. He was constantly in training, keeping up his speed, agility and strength with the rigorous exercise routine that had kept him at the top of his game.
His boyish good looks and charm had come to him naturally and required nothing but his presence to make them work. But even those were lost tonight in the torment that haunted his eyes.
“If he puts the boys on the phone, I want to talk to them,” she said.
“I don’t know how much time he’ll give us with them.”
“Then put the phone on speaker.”
“He’ll be able to tell and will probably think I have a cop listening in.”
She knew he was right, and yet the frustration started swelling in her chest again until it felt like her heart might burst from the pressure. “Are you certain you don’t know the abductor, Nick, or at least have some idea who he is?”
“Of course not. Why would you think that?”
Actually, she had no idea where that idea had come from, but now that she’d voiced it, it wasn’t all that farfetched. The man had contacted Nick on his cell phone. He’d had to get that number from somewhere.
And he’d known where the boys went to school. She was certain the morning newscast hadn’t mentioned that and was pretty sure that none of the others would have given out that type of information.
“Was the voice disguised?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Did you get any feel for the man’s age?”
“No. He’s not a kid, but beyond that, it’s impossible to say. He tries to sound tough, but his tone wavers at times. So does the timbre, as if he’s getting overly excited or nervous and doesn’t want me to know it. That’s another reason I think he really just wants to get the money and get out. If we convince him we’ll cooperate with him fully, I think this could be over in a matter of hours.”
She ached to believe he was right. “Okay, Nick. I’ll agree to holding off on calling the police or the FBI until he calls again. But if we don’t talk to the boys, or if he’s hurt them in any way, the deal is off.”
“That’s all I’m asking, Becky.”
His cell phone rang again. She tensed, and the quick intake of breath was choking. He shook his head, a signal that it wasn’t the kidnapper. The disappointment laid a crushing weight on her chest.
“I can’t talk now. I’ll have to call you back later.”
Probably Brianna. Becky dropped to the sofa and lowered her head, cradling it in her hands as a new wave of vertigo left her too off balance to stand.
Just keep David and Derrick safe, she prayed silently. If she was granted that, she’d never complain about anything again.
DAVID SUCKED the ketchup from a greasy French fry before stuffing it into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed. Momma didn’t like for him to talk with his mouth full. “I don’t think you really are my daddy’s friend,” he said, as he dipped the next fry.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. I talked to your daddy when I was outside unloading the two-by-fours from the top of my car. He’s real eager to see you boys.”
Derrick wiped a dab of mayonnaise from his chin and sat his half-eaten cheeseburger in the middle of the paper wrapper he’d spread out in front of him. “Then how come you didn’t take us to Uncle Langston like you said you were going to do?”
“I told you, there was a little misunderstanding, but you’ll get to see your daddy soon enough, as long as he cooperates.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” David drew a circle in his ketchup with his last fry. He always ate his fries first. Then he ate the meat off the burger. He hated buns.
“It means your Dad and I are working out a deal. He comes up with cash. You go home.”
The fry slipped from David’s finger and plopped into the puddle of ketchup. “Have we been kidnapped?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. This is just a business deal, and you’re the collateral.”
“How much cash are you trying to get from Daddy?”
“Just a little pocket money. Five million. Do you think you’re worth that?”
David choked and had to spit out the fry he was eating. His allowance was only a dollar a week, and when he’d asked for that super skateboard with all the fancy stuff on it the last time they went to Houston, Momma had said it was too expensive. And that didn’t cost even a hundred dollars.
He didn’t figure anybody had five million dollars except the Queen of England and maybe that woman who wrote the Harry Potter books. He and Derrick were in big trouble. He looked at his twin brother and could tell he was thinking the same thing.
Derrick jumped up from the rickety chair. “I’m getting out of here right now.” He sprinted across the room, heading for the back door.
The guy with the dirty denim jacket grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back until Derrick yelped in pain.
David ran over and kicked the man in his shins. The guy let go of Derrick and grabbed David. “You kick me again, and I’ll take a belt to you, you hear me, boy? You won’t have an inch of flesh that’s not bruised.”
“Then don’t you hurt my brother.”
Surprisingly the guy laughed. “So you two stick together, eh.” Then he stopped smiling and his face turned red. “Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t want to hurt either one of you, but you try anything funny and I’ll lock you in the bathroom and leave you there until this deal is done, do you understand?”
“Sure, I understand,” Derrick said. “You’re a criminal.”
“Right, so don’t even think of trying to escape. Besides, even if you did escape, you’d be so lost no one would ever find you but the snakes and buzzards.”
“You hurt us and my daddy and uncles will kill you,” David said. He was trying hard to act like he wasn’t afraid, but he was plenty scared. Not for him but for his brother. Derrick didn’t like to listen to anybody, and he might do something stupid.
“I’m treating you good, now aren’t I?” the man said. “I bought you hamburgers and fries just like you said you wanted.”
“Yeah, but you told us we were coming here to meet Uncle Langston so he could fly us to Dallas.”
“I lied. Now I’m going to let you talk to your dad, but you have to tell him how good I’m treating you. And that’s all you say. Tell him you’re fine and that you want to come home. That way he’ll close the deal, and this will all be over.”
David nodded. He wanted to talk to Daddy. He wanted that real bad. He didn’t like being kidnapped, and he didn’t like this cabin. He didn’t even want to go to visit his dad at the hospital now. He just wanted to go back to Jack’s Bluff. But if he made this man mad, he might never get back.
The man took the cell phone from his pocket and started punching the buttons, whistling the same tune he’d been whistling when he’d picked them up in the car. David put his arm around Derrick’s shoulders. He’d do what the man said for now, but he’d find a way out of this. Fast. He wasn’t missing Christmas.
THIRTY MINUTES later, there was still no return call. Nick paced the floor, the pain from his injury shooting up his back and settling like smoldering embers in his shoulders and neck. He welcomed the pain. It was familiar and deserved. He’d willingly taken the risks that playing ball in the NFL carried with it.
His boys didn’t deserve this mess they were in and neither did Becky. She might have turned against him, but she’d always been a terrific mother. She was the mainstay for both his sons—steady, constant, yet filled with a love of life.
The same Becky he’d fallen so madly in love with from the first day he’d spotted her jogging across the campus in a pair of tight blue running shorts and showing off the best pair of legs he’d ever seen. He’d asked her out for beers and pizza that very night. To his utter amazement, she’d said yes.
The phone vibrated in his clammy hand an instant before its piercing ring shattered the ominous silence surrounding them. No ID information. His muscles tensed as he took the call.
“Nice that you’re so available these days, Nick. Who’d have ever thought you could call a famous Dallas Cowboys receiver and get him on the first ring?”
His grip tightened on the phone. “Are my boys with you?”
“Still don’t like talking to people like me, though, do you, Nick Ridgely? Your sons are standing next to me. You can have thirty seconds with each boy.”
“Their mother wants to speak to them as well.”
“Thirty seconds. You guys divvy it up any way you like. Maybe Brianna Campbell can take a turn, too.”
Go to hell! The words hammered against Nick’s skull, but never left his mouth. The rotten piece of scum held all the power, and he couldn’t risk riling him.
“Daddy.”
His heart stopped beating for excruciating moments and then slammed into his chest. “Hi, Derrick. Good to hear your voice.”
Becky was at his side in an instant, her eyes begging him for reassurance. He nodded but held on to the phone.
“David and I got kidnapped. Momma’s gonna be mad ’cause we got in the car with a stranger, but we thought he was Uncle Langston’s friend.”
“Mom’s not mad, son. Are you okay? Has he hurt you?”
“Not really. He didn’t buy the kind of hamburgers we like, though, and he doesn’t have much of a TV. It gets lines in it all the time.”
A sorry TV. Nick swallowed hard as relief rushed through him. If that was their biggest complaint, he’d called this right. The guy wasn’t a child molester. Now Nick just had to get the bastard the money and get the boys back before the situation worsened.
