“Nothing,” Ryon replied.
Ryon knew everything about Sonia Arlington. He’d been ordered to know and Ryon was an excellent soldier.
The best.
Callum took the phone from his ear and warned, “Sonia, it’s not a good idea to play this game.”
Her eyes grew wide and then she shook his wrist.
“I’m not playing a game!” she shouted, her voice trembling with fear.
When Callum didn’t respond, her faced blanched further. She threw his wrist from her and took a step back, digging her nails into her hair at her temples, pulling its heavy weight back and holding it at the crown of her head.
Then she took a deep breath, dropped her hands, tipped her head back and stated in a strong voice, “Callum, I’m being very serious. I’ve got a rare, inherited blood disorder. If I don’t have that injection every night, I’ll get very ill. If I get very ill and die, you’ll never get your kidnapping money.”
Callum continued to study her without saying a word.
She was, he remembered from their brief meeting thirty-one years ago, very cunning.
She was, he knew now, no less cunning.
She took the step in his direction that she’d moved away and tipped her head back further. “If I don’t get that injection, my blood will overheat. I’m not joking. It’ll heat and heat and heat until it boils my organs inside my body.” Her hands came up to grab his biceps. “They’ll fail, I’ll die, but before that, I’ll be in agony.” Her fingers tightened on his arms. “Callum, this is not a game. Take me home, you’ll see when you take me home!”
God, she was good.
“We’re not leaving this cabin,” he decreed and she instantly made a noise of frustration mingled with fear in the back of her throat.
Then she stepped away again and threw her arm out to indicate the windows.
“Look at it out there!” she yelled. “We’ll be snowed in within hours. We’ll never get out of here. That medication isn’t carried in pharmacies!”
How convenient, Callum thought.
“Of course it’s not,” Callum muttered.
She stepped forward and her eyes flashed before they narrowed. “It’s not carried in pharmacies, Callum, because my condition is so rare, they don’t have a demand for it. I get it directly from my personal physician where Gregor got it before me and my father got it before him. I need my supply from home. We can’t nip out to the local drugstore and ask for a prescription to be filled!”
Callum heard Ryon calling his name from the phone still opened in his hand and he put it to his ear.
“Ry,” he said.
“She thinks you kidnapped her?” Ryon’s voice was filled with humor.
“Evidently,” Callum replied with forced patience.
“That’s hilarious,” Ryon commented, sounding like he thought it was hilarious because he was laughing through his words.
“Ryon,” Callum’s single word showed his patience was waning quickly.
“Let me check it out,” Ryon replied.
“She’s bluffing,” Callum returned.
“No harm in letting me check. If it’s nothing, I’ll phone you. If she’s telling the truth, I’ll send someone up the mountain,” Ryon offered.
“Do it,” Callum ordered.
“On it,” Ryon answered and Callum heard the disconnect.