Page 96 of Cross Down
“That’s right,” she says. “But there was still transportation waiting for you.”
“But you weren’t there,” I say. “What was the rush?”
She turns right onto Virginia Avenue. The horizon to the east begins to turn gray as a new day approaches.
Deacon says, “I had to make a decision. I had to get back to the States as fast as I could, and no offense, John, but half a dozen attackers were gunning for you. The odds weren’t in your favor. At least I made sure you had a ride back if you survived.” She accelerates as we approach an on-ramp to I-695 West. “You could say thanks, you know.”
“Maybe later,” I say. “What now?”
“Now?” she asks. “Now we’re off to meet a traitor.”
Chapter
108
Bree gets upfrom her laptop and goes up the stairs; Jannie and Nana Mama follow.
“Willow!” Bree calls. “Are you hiding up here?” She walks into Willow’s room, and Jannie and Nana Mama go down the hall to check the other bedrooms. Bree sees Willow’s toys, knapsack, and stuffed animals, but no Willow. She enters the bathroom.
Empty.
“Willow! This isn’t funny!”
Nana Mama and Jannie return. “We checked all the rooms and the closets. She’s not there,” Jannie says, her eyes red.
Bree gets on her knees, looks under the bed. Nothing.
She stands up, feels a draft.
From the window.
The window is partially open. “We must have missed another operator,” she says, thinking,Damn it, you were so focused on those four gunmen by the trees that you overlooked the rest of the scene.“Jannie, if the phones are working, dial 911 and report a kidnapping.”
Nana Mama still has the knife in her hand. “Let’s go outside, Bree. They might not have gotten far. That little girl will be putting up one hell of a fight.”
Bree runs down the stairs, taking them two at a time. She doesn’t want to shatter Nana Mama’s illusions, but she knows that it doesn’t matter to kidnappers how young or strong their victim is. They know how to snatch a person and go.
But still…
With her pistol in her hand, she tears through the living room and the spacious kitchen. She stops at the door leading to the rear yard. There’s a row of light switches, and she palms them on all at once, and the yard lights up like it’s high noon.
Bree opens the door with one hand, the other one holding her Glock. In her fear and desperation, she thinks of only one thing:John, oh, John, you trusted me with your daughter and I screwed up. Big-time. The bad guys got her and I don’t know what to do next.
She steps outside. Nana Mama follows her and yells, “Willow! Are you out here, girl?”
Bree bites her tongue, wanting to tell Nana Mama to stop wasting her breath, then hears someone saying…something.What the hell?
“A pie. I’m a pie.”
Jannie comes out, carrying a flashlight. “I’ve called the cops. They’re on their way.”
“Listen,” Bree says. “I think I heard something.”
The voice comes again: “A pie.”
Nana Mama says, “Up that tree. Jannie, shine that light up the tree.”
Bree tilts her head and follows the flashlight beam as it goes higher and higher. It stops at a large branch that brushes the house.
