Come and Find Me A Novel of Suspense - By Hallie Ephron Page 0,67

appeared over Nadia’s head, but the voice that came from the computer sounded exactly like Diana’s.

“Voice sim,” Jake said. “It’s come a long way. And in case you were thinking about sabotage, we took out a little insurance policy.” He brought up a map. Typed and waited. He pointed to a green dot on the screen.

She stepped closer. It was a map of downtown. He zoomed in. The dot was at the same intersection as the Palm Court Hotel, where Ashley worked.

“It’s a live feed,” Jake said. “The location gets updated every five minutes, tracking the GPS signal in your sister’s BlackBerry.”

Diana touched the screen. Then she turned to look at Jake, then Daniel. Who were these men, neither of whom would return her gaze? “You’d kidnap her again?”

Jake said, “I can’t promise what—”

“Cool it, would you, Jake?” Daniel said.

“I told you this wasn’t going to work,” Jake said. “She nearly blows away everything just when . . .” He shook his head. “Crap. It’s all going to crap. All because of her.”

“You’re being a jerk,” Daniel said.

“And you’re being fool,” Jake said. “Know what I think? I think it’s time to pull the plug.” He hit a switch and the projected image went blank. “If she won’t work with us, then we need to cut our losses.”

His voice was cold, his jaw set. This was a side of Jake that Diana had never seen before. How far would he be willing to go to keep her from screwing up whatever business they were up to? And what had she done, she wondered, that had made it necessary to reel her in? She didn’t buy for a minute that they needed any special expertise that she had.

“Not yet. That wasn’t the plan,” Daniel said.

Jake paced up and back, his footsteps vibrating across the mesh floor. “I don’t care what we planned. It’s time.” He stopped. “Hell, it’s past time. Abort the mission.”

Diana’s mind was racing. She didn’t know what Jake meant, but his tone was ominous. Were they just playing good cop/bad cop? She wasn’t nearly cool enough to tough it out.

“Hold on, hold on,” she said, stepping between them. “Tomorrow, we have our meeting with Vault?” Jake and Daniel traded a look she couldn’t read. “I’ll play my part, I promise.”

“Sure you will,” Jake said.

“Have I ever not delivered on a promise?” Diana shot back at him.

“And after that?” Daniel said.

Both of them watched her, wary, waiting for her reply. “I . . . I can’t lie,” she said. “I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.”

“At least she’s being honest with us,” Daniel said, addressing Jake.

“I still don’t like it,” Jake said.

“Don’t mind him. He’s a slow learner,” Daniel said to Diana. “So are we good?”

Diana took a sip of the chicory-laced coffee that she’d left on a table, but it had gone cold. “For now,” she said.

Over the rim of the cup, she watched Daniel. Just like that, he was back. It seemed impossible. Somewhere, beyond shock and surprise, she groped for her own emotions. Distrust. Confusion. And beneath that, dread. She knew there was another shoe that had yet to drop.

In a rush, Diana realized how isolated she’d become, a prisoner in both real and virtual worlds. Meanwhile, Ashley would be out there, sick with worry about what had happened to her.

“Hey, guys, if you don’t want my sister to send out an alarm, I’d better call her.” She took her cell phone from her jacket pocket. “She’s expecting me to call her from this phone, but it doesn’t get any bars in here.”

Jake gave her an uneasy look.

“Here,” she said, offering Jake the phone. “You want to call her and tell her I’m okay?”

“Very funny,” he said. “Okay, but make it short.” He indicated the door to the outside corridor.

Four beeps and Jake had disarmed the door. He held it open so she could go past him, out over crumbling concrete steps and into the passage connecting to the main mill building.

She was halfway down the passageway when Jake called, “That’s far enough.”

Diana stepped to one of the small windows. Looking out, she could see that the rain had stopped, and the wind had died down so much that the surface of the water in the reservoir was glassy smooth.

“By the way,” Jake said, “just so you know, there are security cameras everywhere.” He indicated a camera that aimed into the corridor from over the door to the silo. “They can see in light