Sam!”
“I know, I know. Read me the entire note,Tyler.”
“Oh God, all right.” He was breathing hard, and she knew he
was trying to get control. Finally, his voice more steady, he read:
” ‘Mr. McBride, you will speak as soon as possible to Rebecca Matlock.
To find her, call the office of the director of the CIA. Tell
them to inform her that she is to call you immediately, that a life is
at stake. Then you will tell her to come to Riptide. You will tell her
not to tell anyone, including her father, or else your son is dead. You
don’t want him to end up like Linda Cartwright. You have twenty-four
hours.’ ”
“How did he sign it?”
“He didn’t sign any name at all. Just what I read to you, that’s it.
Oh God, Becca, what am I to do? You know what he did to Linda
Cartwright, what he’s done to all those other people. Look at what
he did to you. All of Maine is up in arms about Cartwright’s murder.”
He waited a beat, then yelled, “Aren’t you listening to me? A
fucking Russian agent has got my son!”
“I wonder why he doesn’t want my father to come? It’s my father
he’s after. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’ve listened to everything on the news,”Tyler said, calmer now.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me, either. Please, Becca, you’ve got to
come. If you hadn’t called me, I don’t know what I’d have done.”
“If I come, he’ll hold me to get my father. Then he’ll kill both
of us.” She didn’t add that he would also kill Sam. Why wouldn’t
he? She was afraid that Sam was already dead, but she wasn’t about
to say it aloud. Just the thought nearly brought her to her knees.
Not Sam, not that precious little boy. No, she couldn’t fall apart.
Think. There had to be something she could do.
“Oh shit, I know he’d try to kill both of you. Yes, I know that.
What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know,Tyler.”
“Please don’t tell that Adam character or your father, please.”
“All right. Not yet, anyway. If I do decide to tell them, I’ll call
you first, warn you. I’ll get back to you in three hours, Tyler. Oh
God, I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. I should never have come to
Riptide. The man’s crazy, obsessed.”
He didn’t disagree with her, on any of it. “Three hours, Becca.
Please, you’ve got to come. Maybe you and I together can trap
him. Somehow.”
When Adam came into Thomas’s study five minutes later, he saw
her standing at the front window, staring out over the fine green
lawn. She was rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingers, her
shoulders slumped. She looked defeated, beaten down. He frowned.
“What’s going on? Why did McBride have to speak to you?”
She shrugged. “It was just as you thought. He was worried
about me, very worried, what with all the stuff on TV.”
“I don’t believe that’s all, is it?”
Then she turned slowly to face him. “Of course it is. The FBI
people have just pulled up.” The car was black, the two men were
wearing black, their hair was cut short. And Krimakov had taken
Sam. He moved fast, too fast, faster than any of them could have
imagined. What to do?
“What’s wrong, Becca? You look white around the gills.”
“Not a thing, Adam. It’s Agent Hawley and Agent Cobb. Let’s
see what they have to say. I suppose they’re sworn to secrecy about
where they’ve come from?”
Adam said as he walked toward the front door, “They would be
drawn and quartered if they ever opened their mouths.”
Adam shook the two men’s hands and stepped back. Tellie Hawley
said, “It’s good to see you again, Adam. Mr. Matlock, Ms. Matlock.
Bet you’re wondering how we got ourselves assigned to this.”
“It did cross my mind,” Thomas said, as he waved them toward
the living room.
“Boy, it’s hot out there,” Scratch Cobb said, gave Becca a big smile,
and unbuttoned his black suit coat one button. “A very nice house,”