Page 59 of Broken
One of the agents made a call. “Hello, sir. Yes, Ms. Hartley is on board. Yes, sir, there are four agents.” More listening. “We can drive her to that location. So, just for confirmation, we are not bringing her to you.” Silence while the agent listened. “Who are we handing her over to? Understood. I’ll call you as soon as we land.”
The agent hung up and sat across from her. “Ms. Hartley, that was Z.”
She nodded.
“Do you know someone named Prescott Armstrong?”
Her stomach dropped. “Yes, why?”
“We’ve been instructed to take you to him. Will you be able to identify him?”
Jacqueline unbuckled her seat belt. “Unfortunately, I can, but I won’t be working with him, so I won’t have to.” She pushed out of her seat. “Please take me home.”
9
GROVELING
Prescott
As soon as Prescott entered his house, Ethan charged over. Prescott set the hospital bag of Sally’s things in the corner.
His expression fell. “Where’s Mommy?”
His mom and dad made their way in from the family room. The second he met their gazes, they knew.
“Oh, no,” his mom whispered.
“Ethan, let’s show Uncle Prescott what we’ve been doing?” his dad urged.
Ethan didn’t budge, his large eyes peering up at Prescott. Emotion had him biting back the loss as he picked his nephew up.
“Mommy isn’t feeling very good, so the doctors want her to stay at the hospital.”
“Can I see her?” Ethan asked.
Prescott stared at the toddler’s small face. “Not today. She has to rest.” Unsure how to proceed, he flicked his attention to his parents. “What have you guys been doing?”
Ethan pointed toward the family room. “Papa, he got sooooo many toys for me.” That elicited an adorable smile.
“Show me.” Prescott carried him into the family room and stared at the array of toys on the floor.
“I ran to the store,” his dad said.
Prescott set Ethan down, then sat on the sofa while Ethan walked him through everything, one at a time. There was a large, transforming firetruck, a few books on dinosaurs, a light-up crayon board, a race track with oversized vehicles, three board games, two coloring books and a large pack of crayons.
“Wow, it looks like Christmas,” Prescott said to his parents. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have a lot of food in the house, so, Ethan and I placed a grocery order,” his mom said. “The food’ll be ready for pick-up soon.” She smiled at the tyke. “Ethan, why don’t you tell Uncle Prescott what you got?”
“I got my favorite cereal! Yay! And hot dogs.”
Prescott forced a smile, for Ethan’s sake. “That sounds yummy. I should go grab those.” He pushed off the floor. “I’ve got Sally’s handbag, so if you want to pull Ethan’s car seat while I’m gone—”
“Why don’t I come with you?” his dad suggested. “We can move the car seat over when we get back.”
“Ethan,” Prescott began, “how ‘bout you and Nana color a picture? Can you do that?”
“Uh-huh.” The child popped up and went to the table.
