Blink of an Eye (Kendra Michaels #8) - Roy Johansen Page 0,83
dare go back to sleep.”
“I have no intention of doing that.” Jessie shook her head to clear it. “Are you okay?” She looked around and recognized the interior of an aircraft of some sort. Plane. They’d been right about what Dee had been trying to tell them…“This has to be where you’ve been kept since you were kidnapped?” Her gaze flew to Dee’s face. “What was that about poison?”
“Listen to you.” Dee’s voice was shaking. “You’re always worried about me. I’m fine. This isn’t about me. I’m not the one those nutcases tried to drown. They almost killed you. I told you to be careful.”
“This is still very much about you,” Jessie said. “And I don’t like it that they didn’t release you. They got the ransom?”
“So Charlotte told me.”
“Charlotte?”
“Dorset called her the dragon bitch.” She gestured around the plane. “She kind of runs things around here.”
“Where is everybody?” Her gaze was wandering over the plane’s interior. “We’re alone here?”
“For the time being. She’s outside talking to Fantinelli, one of the men who brought you here. There were three of them, Muntz, Blackman, and Fantinelli. I think Fantinelli was the one in charge of the others, but he left after they’d finished sedating and handcuffing you. He only just came back, and Charlotte said she had to talk to him.”
“You mentioned…Dorset. He was here with you?”
“For a little while. I think he was supposed to protect me from Charlotte. I appear to be her least favorite person.” Her eyes suddenly lit with eagerness. “What do you know about Dorset?”
“Not enough. But we were on our way to locating him before I took my spectacular dive tonight.” She sat up and reached out for Dee’s hand before she realized she was still wearing manacles. “And Kendra and Lynch and the others will keep on working to find you. They won’t give up. But we can’t give up, either.” She added grimly, “Because it appears we’re at ground zero.” She glanced at the door leading to the back of the plane. “And I’ve got to learn as much as I can as quick as I can before your dragon bitch comes back. So I’m going to fire questions at you. Okay?”
Dee nodded. “I don’t know what Charlotte’s real name is if that’s one of the questions. And I have no idea who is responsible for taking me. I’ve heard her on the phone talking to someone occasionally, but it was brief, and I didn’t get a hint of who it might be. I don’t know much about her except that she has enough power to argue about how I’m being treated with whoever is in charge.” She made a face. “And she believes it’s far too good. She disapproves not only of me, but of everyone and everything connected to the kidnapping.”
“Why?” Jessie asked. “And why would anyone who had staged such an elaborate crime pay any attention to her? Twenty-five million dollars is a lure that must be irresistible. How would she dare to argue with him?”
Dee shrugged. “All I know is that Dorset was nervous about crossing her and she was always super confident.”
“Why?” Jessie asked again. “Blackmail?”
Dee shook her head. “I’ve told you all I know.” She added, “Except that I believe she could be very dangerous. At first, I thought she was almost like a cartoon character, but the longer I was with her the more viciousness I noticed. She might not be the one in control, but I can see her striking out like a rattlesnake.”
“Which brings me back to that remark you made about poison. Did she try to poison you?”
“No. She told me she’d poisoned you.” Her lips tightened bitterly. “It was one of her sweet tricks to try to make me bleed a little more. You were delivered here by three guys who had been part of grabbing the money drop. She was pissed off that you’d been brought here for her to care for and she exploded. She was yelling that you were sopping wet and stinking like a drowned rat and ordered them to toss you in the shower and get the smell off you.” She swallowed. “You were still unconscious. I thought they were really going to drown you then. They wouldn’t let me help, Jessie.”
“Well, it appears I survived it.” She looked down and realized for the first time she was wearing jeans and a black cotton shirt. “Where did I get the dry clothes?”