Page 99 of Protecting Addison
“MacGyver?” It was Smiley.
He stepped closer to Preacher. “Here,” he said.
“Addison just got a ransom call.”
MacGyver’s world spun. “What?”
“Yeah. The guy said he has Ellory and Yana. Said he wants two hundred and fifty thousand for their safe return.”
MacGyver couldn’t speak. He was literally frozen.
“When did the call come in?” Safe asked.
“Just now. Less than two minutes ago.”
“I told you I wasn’t involved in this!” Vogel crowed from where he sat.
MacGyver blocked him out.
“We didn’t get the entire thing recorded, but we got most of it,” Smiley said.
“Play it,” Kevlar ordered. “Maybe we’ll recognize the voice.”
There was some shuffling on the other end of the line, and then a voice MacGyver had never heard before in his life spoke on the recording.
…fine now, but if you don’t get two hundred and fifty K to me by tomorrow night, they won’t be fine any longer. Don’t call the cops, and the money should be in fifty- and twenty-dollar bills. Don’t try anything funny or you’ll never see the girls again. Put the money in a cardboard box and leave it behind the gas station on Fourth and Aspen, by the dumpster, at ten o’clock sharp tomorrow night. Then drive away. This will be your one and only chance to get them back.
Everyone was silent for a moment.
Then Wolf asked, “Anyone recognize the voice?”
MacGyver shook his head, along with the rest of his team.
“Fuck,” Kevlar muttered.
“He’s going to kill my daughter! What are we gonna do?”
Everyone turned to stare at Vogel. This was the first time he’d shown any emotion other than desperation for them to believe him, so they wouldn’t continue using him as a punching bag…and it didn’t seem genuine.
Why was he so concernednow? Shouldn’t he have been freaking out the entire time, from the moment he realized his daughter was missing?
The man knew where the girls were. MacGyver would bet his Budweiser pin on it.
“Let him go,” he said in a low, controlled tone.
“What?”
“Are you fucking kidding?”
“Have you lost your mind?”
MacGyver ignored his friends’ exclamations. “You’re coming with us back to the house. You’re a witness. You were the last one to see Ellory and Yana. Any scrap of information you know, we need to hear. Cars you passed, people you saw, things Ellory said. You’re her father, so you deserve to be a part of this as much as we do.”
To his relief, no one questioned him further, and MacGyver ignored the speculative looks his teammates were giving him. He turned to Preacher, who was still holding out his phone. “Smiley?”
“I’m here,” his friend said.
“Tell Addison and the others we’re on our way back to the house. We’ll figure out a way to get the money one way or another. Even if I have to sell everything I own, I’m getting our girls back.”
