“Monty and Luke and I are hanging in the control room.” Silence.
“Hank?”
“I thought you’d watch a DVD or something.”
“No, they’re teaching me police codes.”
More silence.
“Dawn brought me a latte and muffin. Luke said I could have whatever I want so she ran out to get it for me,” I said this because I didn’t have anything more exciting to say.
“Bet Dawn liked doing that,” Hank said, apparently knowing Dawn.
“She didn’t seem tickled pink,” I told him.
I heard Hank’s soft laugh and another thril raced through me.
“I’m gonna be awhile. You gonna be okay?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said.
“I’l be there to get you as soon as I can.”
“Okay.”
Silence for a beat, and then, “Am I talkin’ to Roxanne Logan?” he asked.
“Wel … yeah. What’s the matter?”
Another beat of silence. “Nothin’, sweetheart. I’l see you soon.”
I got my third thril and then he disconnected.
I handed the phone to Monty, he replaced it into the receiver and then he touched a button and said, “Brody, come to the control room.” Then he settled back in his chair.
“Who’s Brody?” I asked.
“Our computer guy. You can go with him for a while.
Change of scenery.”
I gave him a relieved smile.
There was a knock on the door and Luke got up and opened it.
A man walked in, wearing black jeans, his dark hair needed a cut and he was head-to-toe in disarray. He wore Buddy Hol y glasses and his body was absolutely not the normal lean muscle of one of Lee’s boys. His black t-shirt said in white lettering, “I upped mine, up yours!”
“Jeez. This is Roxie. Wow. I’ve wanted to meet you, like, for days!” he shouted when he saw me.
“Hi,” I said, surprised at his reaction to me.
“You’re like, famous. It was crazy around here when you were kidnapped. Everybody was running around, the phones ringing off the hook, Dawn was in, like, a total snit, worse than usual. I was running every computer check possible. Hotel registrations, airlines, credit cards. Lee paid me a bucketload of overtime. Every time Vance reported in that someone had seen you at a gas station or whatever, the whole place went wired. When Vance cal ed in that someone saw you tied to a steering wheel, Hank was so pissed off, he put his fist through the wal in the down room. I saw it. It was insane.” I felt the blood run out of my face.
“Brody,” Monty said, his voice low with warning.
“What?” Brody asked, looking at Monty, completely lost in the excitement of it al . Then he caught the hint, his exhilaration faded and he looked at me. “Oh yeah. Right.
Sorry. Wel , glad to see you’re okay and everything.” He didn’t sound glad. He sounded like he would have preferred the place stil to be wired.