beside him and listening in, they waited as the phone rang once and
then was answered.
“Mr. Adams?” Lee didn’t recognize the voice. It had a mechanical
quality to it, making him think it was being altered somehow. It
sounded inhuman enough to make his skin tingle with absolute dread.
“This is Lee Adams.”
“Nice of you to leave your cell phone number at your apartment. It
made contacting you much more convenient.”
“I just checked on my daughter. She’s fine. And the cops are on the
scene. So your little kidnapping plan-”
“I have no need to kidnap your daughter, Mr. Adams.”
“Then I’m not sure why I’m talking to you.”
“You needn’t abduct someone to kill her. Your daughter can be
eliminated today, tomorrow, next month, next year. While going to
class, lacrosse practice, driving on holiday, even while she’s
sleeping. Her bed is right next to a window, first floor. She often
stays late at the library. It couldn’t be easier, really.”
“You sick bastard! You sonofabitch!” Lee looked like he wanted to
break the phone in two.
Faith gripped his shoulders, trying to calm him down.
The voice continued with irritating calm. “Histrionics won’t help your
daughter. Where is Faith Lockhart, Mr. Adams? That’s all we want.
Give her up and all your problems go away.”
“And I’m supposed to just accept that as gospel?”
“You really don’t have a choice.”
“How do you know I’ve even got the woman?”
“Do you want your daughter to die?”
“But Lockhart got away.”
“Fine, next week you can bury Renee.”
Faith jerked at Lee’s arm and pointed at the phone.
“Wait, wait!” Lee said. “Okay, okay, if I have Faith, what do you
propose?”
“A meeting.”
“She’s not going to come voluntarily.”
“I don’t really care how you get her there. That’s your
responsibility. We’ll be waiting.”
“And you’ll just let me walk away?”
“Drop her off and drive away. We’ll take care of the rest. You don’t
interest us.”
“Where?”
Lee was given an address outside of Washington, D.C.” on the Maryland
side. He knew it well: very isolated.
“I have to drive it. And the cops are everywhere. I need a few
days.”
“Tomorrow night. Twelve sharp.”
“Dammit, that’s not a lot of time.”
“Then I suggest you start right now.”
“Listen, if you lay a hand on my daughter, I’ll find you, somehow I
will. I swear it. First I’ll break every bone in your body, and then
I’ll really hurt you.”
“Mr. Adams, consider yourself the luckiest human being on the face of
the earth that we don’t see you as a threat. And do yourself a
favor:
When you walk away don’t ever, ever look back. You won’t turn to salt,
but it still won’t be pretty.” The line went dead.
Lee put the phone down. For a few minutes he and Faith just sat there
without speaking. “Now what do we do?” Lee finally managed to say.
“Danny said he’d be here as soon as he could.”
“Great. I’ve got a deadline: tomorrow, midnight.”
“If Danny’s not here in time we’ll drive to the place they gave you.
But first we’ll call in some reinforcements.”
“Like who, the FBI?” Faith nodded. “Faith, I’m not sure we could
explain all this to the Feds in one year, much less one day.”
“It’s all we have, Lee. If Danny gets here in time and has a better
plan, so be it. Otherwise I’ll call Agent Reynolds. She’ll help us.
I’ll make it work.” She squeezed his arm. “Nothing is going to happen
to your daughter. I promise.
Lee gripped her hand, hoping with all his heart that the woman was
right.
CHAPTER 44
BUCHANAN HAD A NUMBER OF MEETINGS on Capitol Hill scheduled for the
early evening, pitching to an audience that didn’t want to receive his
message. It was like throwing a ball at a wave. It would either be
kicked back in your face or lost at sea. Well, today was the end. No
more.
His car dropped him off near the Capitol. He went up the front steps
and over to the Senate side of the building, where he climbed the broad