only to learn that Jerod Hughes had just resigned.
That had been yesterday. No one had seen Jerod since.
Amanda’s interview with Jerod’s father banked hard downhill. Mr. Hughes drew a circle around Steph’s name.
Then he tapped the tip of his pen beside it.
Both she and the district attorney jumped as someone began to pound on the conference room door. The loud, frantic banging brought them both to their feet.
Her signal, at last. Holy crap, talk about the nick of time.
“Come in. Come in, for God’s sake,” Mr. Hughes hollered.
Max Crosby pushed the door open. He was winded. “We’ve got a problem.”
“Another one?”
“Steph’s been kidnapped. They put a bag over Warnous’s head, tied him up, and snatched Steph right out of the cabin. Thomas needs you upstairs in the security office. Immediately.”
Mr. Hughes swore and abandoned Amanda without so much as a backward glance. Max, too, ignored her in his haste to obey Thomas’s missive.
Willing herself to be calm, Amanda counted to twenty, giving the others plenty of time to get upstairs before she slipped into the Accord center, then out into the tunnels. She had memorized the route that morning. The lights seemed brighter, every sound impossibly loud as she made her way to the tunnel exit closest to the staff cabins.
Feeling precious seconds tick away, she exited into waning daylight. Now it was more important than ever that she appear perfectly calm. If anyone noticed her heading toward the luxury cabin where Dr. Carpenter had been housing Robert Warnous, she needed to be forgettable.
Two doors shy of Warnous’s cabin, Amanda took an abrupt left and slipped into the deserted cabana. As promised, a metal carrying case waited atop a low, round table. In earnest now, she removed its contents: a small black receiver module, a laptop computer and two power packs.
She assembled the module and laptop exactly as Thomas had instructed. As soon as she booted up the recording software, she was rewarded with the sights and sounds of success. Two doors down, in Dr. Carpenter’s cabin, the short-range camera planted during the kidnapping was transmitting beautifully.
The monitor showed her Josh’s back as he stood over Warnous, who sat sullen and silent in one corner of a sofa. Josh was yelling at him. “What the hell do you mean, you didn’t hear anything? How could you not hear anything? They walked right in the front door. That can’t be done without making noise.”
Poor Josh. And poor Thomas, who would have to explain at some point that he had kidnapped Steph and handed her off to Eric, who was about to smuggle her into a private, high-security treatment center.
No one else could know. For now, everyone had to believe Steph had been kidnapped, or their plan to sweat Warnous would not work. They weren’t interested in the excuses Warnous would make to Josh and the local authorities. They were more interested in what Warnous would do later, once he was alone. Her job for the night was to make sure their equipment recorded everything the camera and its microphone captured. If something interesting happened, she would text Thomas, who was busy pretending to investigate how the kidnappers had gotten onto the grounds.
She allowed Josh a few more minutes to vent on Warnous, and then called his cellphone. Half expecting him to let her call roll into voicemail, she was surprised when he stopped yelling long enough to answer on the second ring. “Where are you?” he demanded.
Feeling both mercenary and ashamed, she lied. She made her excuses, explaining that there was a lot of data entry she’d promised to handle, and Josh shouldn’t worry about her tonight. “Scott and Thomas commandeered me a nice quiet cabin to work in.”
She forgave Josh the warring traces of relief and guilt in his voice as he rang off.
“We’re doing the right thing, we’re doing the right thing,” she chanted, and settled in to watch the monitor.
A parade of people
That had been yesterday. No one had seen Jerod since.
Amanda’s interview with Jerod’s father banked hard downhill. Mr. Hughes drew a circle around Steph’s name.
Then he tapped the tip of his pen beside it.
Both she and the district attorney jumped as someone began to pound on the conference room door. The loud, frantic banging brought them both to their feet.
Her signal, at last. Holy crap, talk about the nick of time.
“Come in. Come in, for God’s sake,” Mr. Hughes hollered.
Max Crosby pushed the door open. He was winded. “We’ve got a problem.”
“Another one?”
“Steph’s been kidnapped. They put a bag over Warnous’s head, tied him up, and snatched Steph right out of the cabin. Thomas needs you upstairs in the security office. Immediately.”
Mr. Hughes swore and abandoned Amanda without so much as a backward glance. Max, too, ignored her in his haste to obey Thomas’s missive.
Willing herself to be calm, Amanda counted to twenty, giving the others plenty of time to get upstairs before she slipped into the Accord center, then out into the tunnels. She had memorized the route that morning. The lights seemed brighter, every sound impossibly loud as she made her way to the tunnel exit closest to the staff cabins.
Feeling precious seconds tick away, she exited into waning daylight. Now it was more important than ever that she appear perfectly calm. If anyone noticed her heading toward the luxury cabin where Dr. Carpenter had been housing Robert Warnous, she needed to be forgettable.
Two doors shy of Warnous’s cabin, Amanda took an abrupt left and slipped into the deserted cabana. As promised, a metal carrying case waited atop a low, round table. In earnest now, she removed its contents: a small black receiver module, a laptop computer and two power packs.
She assembled the module and laptop exactly as Thomas had instructed. As soon as she booted up the recording software, she was rewarded with the sights and sounds of success. Two doors down, in Dr. Carpenter’s cabin, the short-range camera planted during the kidnapping was transmitting beautifully.
The monitor showed her Josh’s back as he stood over Warnous, who sat sullen and silent in one corner of a sofa. Josh was yelling at him. “What the hell do you mean, you didn’t hear anything? How could you not hear anything? They walked right in the front door. That can’t be done without making noise.”
Poor Josh. And poor Thomas, who would have to explain at some point that he had kidnapped Steph and handed her off to Eric, who was about to smuggle her into a private, high-security treatment center.
No one else could know. For now, everyone had to believe Steph had been kidnapped, or their plan to sweat Warnous would not work. They weren’t interested in the excuses Warnous would make to Josh and the local authorities. They were more interested in what Warnous would do later, once he was alone. Her job for the night was to make sure their equipment recorded everything the camera and its microphone captured. If something interesting happened, she would text Thomas, who was busy pretending to investigate how the kidnappers had gotten onto the grounds.
She allowed Josh a few more minutes to vent on Warnous, and then called his cellphone. Half expecting him to let her call roll into voicemail, she was surprised when he stopped yelling long enough to answer on the second ring. “Where are you?” he demanded.
Feeling both mercenary and ashamed, she lied. She made her excuses, explaining that there was a lot of data entry she’d promised to handle, and Josh shouldn’t worry about her tonight. “Scott and Thomas commandeered me a nice quiet cabin to work in.”
She forgave Josh the warring traces of relief and guilt in his voice as he rang off.
“We’re doing the right thing, we’re doing the right thing,” she chanted, and settled in to watch the monitor.
A parade of people
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