Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can - By Kat Martin Page 0,113
shaking and cold as ice. She wanted to reassure him, pull him into her arms, but with her hands tied behind her, all she could do was press herself against him. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, stared into his frightened eyes, and tried to silently tell him that everything would be all right. She prayed he would know his father would come for him, just as he had before.
The only problem was she had no idea where Troy and Duke were taking them.
Or what would happen to them when they got there.
* * *
Ben hit the button on his voice mail to play back his messages. He hated the damn machine. He liked it better when Annie handled the calls, wrote out the name and number on a slip of paper. Annie knew which calls were important, which weren’t and those that were urgent enough to track him down. A goddamn machine couldn’t do that.
He listened to a couple of calls and wrote down the phone numbers, one a former client that could be important. All the while he was thinking of Claire, anxious to see her, tell her he had talked to Jake and that he and Sage would be happy to stand up with them at the courthouse one day this week. He couldn’t believe how excited he was to be marrying her.
It was crazy, considering how hard he had worked to avoid any sort of commitment, but as far as he was concerned, marrying Claire couldn’t happen soon enough.
The third message was from Emma. She was sick, she said, and had to go home. Since she couldn’t reach him, she was calling Claire at the office to see if she could meet Sam’s bus.
Uneasiness slid through him. He didn’t want Claire in the house alone. As soon as the call ended, Ben phoned her cell. Her BlackBerry rang and rang, but she didn’t pick up. He phoned the house. No answer there.
He checked his watch. Sam should have been home by now. His adrenaline was kicking up, making his heart beat faster. He phoned Claire’s office.
“I’m looking for Claire Chastain. This is Ben Slocum. Is she there?”
“Claire left early,” the receptionist said. “Something about being home when Sam got off the bus.”
His stomach tightened. “How’d she get there?”
“John Conrad gave her a ride. John works here.”
“Let me talk to him.”
“I’ll put you through.”
But Conrad wasn’t any help. He had dropped Claire off at the house. He had watched her go inside. Ben was up and heading for the door before the call had ended. He drove like a madman the few blocks home.
When he pulled up in front of the house and saw the door standing open, saw Pepper lying on the porch looking forlorn, he couldn’t breathe. He turned off the engine and ran inside, saw no sign of Claire or Sam and dialed 911.
That was when he saw the ribbon-wrapped box. It was sitting on the kitchen counter. Claire’s name was on the top, but she hadn’t opened it yet. Ben took out his pocket knife and sliced through the ribbon, lifted off the lid.
Inside the box was a note that read, “We want the flash drive.”
Beneath it was Michael Sullivan’s ear.
Thirty-Two
Ben waited for Danny Castillo on the front porch of the house. He had talked to the detective on the phone, given him the scant details of Claire and Sam’s disappearance. The uniforms were there, a couple of detectives milling around. The forensic guys had gone through the house and taken the box with the ear to the lab.
Ben had called Jake and told him what had happened, or at least what he thought must have happened. Jake and the rest of the Atlas gang knew about Michael Sullivan’s murder and that the police believed Diego Santos was involved. Ben told Jake about the box left for Claire, the note inside and Michael Sullivan’s butchered ear.
He tried to stay focused, tried to think clearly, the way he would if this were just another case. But he kept seeing Sullivan’s bludgeoned face, the cigarette burns across his forehead. He kept thinking of Claire and what they might be doing to her. He kept thinking of Sam and what might be happening to his son.
He heard a car pull up and then another. He looked out to see Jake’s black Jeep and Alex’s fancy BMW. Trace’s Cherokee pulled up behind them. All three men got out of their vehicles and