by Kathi Daley
“Okay,” I said, taking a step back and wiping my eyes with my arm.
The image of Zak was back on the screen, and once again there were words beneath his image. The face of the bomb now had three red lights and one green.
Just one more to go.
Once again Levi began to read. “'You may have noticed that Zak hasn’t moved since this little game began. He was told the bomb was equipped with a motion detector. Think of how difficult that last test was for you. Zak has been perfectly still for several hours. Let’s just hope he can make it long enough for you to disarm the bomb by completing the final task.’”
I glanced at Zak. I could barely stand to see him this way. The knowledge that the bomb was equipped with a motion detector made me feel even more desperate.
“We need to hurry,” I said. “What’s next?”
Just as I said that, an image popped up on the screen. It looked like an equation of some sort, showing rows of Ys and Os, with one X. Each Y and O had a number next to it. The instructions were to define X.
“Crap,” Levi said aloud. “Should we call the others and have them call Alex?”
I was about to agree with Levi when I noticed there was a number in the lower left corner, counting down from 200.
“We don’t have time.” I looked Levi in the eye. “Look closely at the board. Does it look familiar?”
“You know I suck at math.”
“The original message I received said I could bring one friend into the warehouse with me. I wasn’t sure at first which friend would be best, but I’m certain now the friend who could most help me and save Zak was you.”
Levi looked doubtful.
“There’s no one else who could have beat the video game in time. And neither Alex nor any of the seniors could have held me up so we could retrieve the envelope on the ceiling. And I’m certain no one beside you in my circle of friends know what the single season passing record was off the top of their head. This contest is about you and me working together. Now look at the screen and tell me how to define X.”
Levi looked back at the screen. He appeared to be terrified, but he also seemed determined. I could see Zak’s image in the background as Levi studied the numbers and letters on the screen. I glanced at the timer. Only fifty seconds left. Come on, Levi. You can do this!
“If I’m supposed to solve this, we have to assume this isn’t a mathematical equation,” Levi said.
Forty seconds.
“The numbers could be a clue, but I feel like they’ve been added to the letters to provide a distraction,” Levi added.
Thirty seconds.
“If you take away the numbers it looks like a football play.” Levi looked at me with twenty seconds left. “X is the quarterback.”
I had no idea if he was right, but we only had twenty seconds left on the timer in the corner of the screen, so I quickly typed X=Quarterback on the keyboard.
The timer stopped and the equation disappeared from the screen. I glanced at the bomb. Four red lights.
“We did it.” I raised my hand in the air.
“I hope so. The two-hour timer we were originally given has ten minutes left on it. Just to be safe we should get Zak out of there in the next ten minutes.”
An address flashed on the screen.
My heart sank. The address was a good fifteen minutes away, even if we ran every red light.
“Salinger,” I said. “If he’s in his office he’s only ten minutes away from where Zak is being held.” I ran to the door and prayed it would open. It did. I stepped out and used my cell, which now worked, to make the call, while Levi tried to answer the questions the others were asking.
“Was he in his office?” Levi asked when I hung up.
“Better. He was out trying to find Zak after the seniors called him. He said he’s only two minutes away from the address that flashed on the screen. Let’s go.”
Levi and I ran to his vehicle while the others piled into Ethan’s car. Even though I was certain Salinger would beat us to Zak’s location by quite a bit, Levi put the pedal to the metal. He ran every stop sign and red light, causing other cars to slam on their brakes. There was a lot of honking and I was sure a lot of cussing, but it didn’t look like we’d caused any accidents. When we arrived at the abandoned building I jumped out of the car before Levi even came to a complete stop. I ran toward the building not knowing what I’d find. When I saw Zak sitting on a wall talking to Salinger I fell to my knees and sobbed.
Zak must have seen or heard me because he headed in my direction. He picked me up in his arms and held me close. We both sobbed until we had no more tears to shed.
Chapter 6
Tuesday, March 27
After everyone who’d been with us greeted Zak and expressed their relief that he was okay, we headed home, where everyone who was waiting there did the same. Neither of us had slept in forever, so once Zak made sure the kids were okay, we headed up to bed, where we fell immediately asleep in each other’s arms.
Ellie and Levi had decided to stay at the house for the time being, but Levi drove Diego back to the dorm. Ellie must have continued to take care of Catherine because by the time I opened my eyes the sun was high in the sky. I reached for Zak, but his side of the bed was empty. I quickly washed up and got dressed, then went downstairs. I found him talking to Salinger. Both men were sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee.
Zak opened his arms to me and I slid onto his lap. “What’s up?” I asked as I wound one arm around his neck.
“We just needed to bring each other up to date,” Salinger replied.
“We could have come in to your office if you needed information for your report.”
“I’m not here about the report,” Salinger said, glancing at Zak. They exchanged a look before anyone said another word.
I slipped off Zak’s lap and onto a chair where I could better see his face. “What’s going on?”
“Salinger and I were talking about Claudia and where she might have gone off to,” Zak explained.
“I guess she must have gotten away,” I said as I studied Zak’s face. I could tell there was more, but I decided to wait for him to continue.
“Unfortunately, she did. In fact, she left right after you sent the file over from the NSA office. Everything that occurred after that was controlled by a preprogrammed computer.”
Smart to have two time-consuming tasks after she made her escape to throw everyone off. “I’m sorry she escaped, but I suppose she’s the feds problem now. Shredder added some false data to the file that he said should help them catch up with her.”
“That was smart,” Zak said. “But capturing Claudia isn’t why Salinger is here. I called him and asked him to come over.”
I furrowed my brow. I hadn’t thought so. I prepared myself for something worse than a missing felon. “So what’s going on?”
“Claudia didn’t kill Will,” Zak said.
“What? Are you sure?”
“Very sure.” Zak nodded.
I groaned and momentarily closed my eyes. “So this isn’t over.”
“I’m afraid not.” Zak put a hand on my leg. I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was exhausted. Totally spent. Did either of us have the strength to go on?
“Perhaps you should walk me through this,” I said, fatigue evident in my voice.
Zak shifted in his chair. It appeared he was gearing up for a long conversation. I had no idea what he was going to say, but based on his expression I wasn’t going to like it. “Claudia showed up at Will’s motel room dressed as a pizza delivery driver. We’d ordered pizza so weren’t suspicious. Claudia must have intercepted the call, or maybe she was outside the motel and saw him drive up. I’m not totally clear on that.”
Zak ran a hand through his thick blond hair before he continued. His eyes were hollow and bloodshot. I knew how difficult this was for him. “Will opened the door and let her in. I didn’t recognize her, mainly because she wasn’t dressed as a woman. Sh
e looked like a young boy. Neither Will nor I suspected anything was off until she pulled a pizza box and a gun out of his delivery bag. Before I could respond, Claudia stabbed Will in the neck with a needle. He immediately fell to the ground. I feared he might be dead, but she assured me he wasn’t. I had no idea it was Claudia I was dealing with yet, and to be honest I was so stunned I couldn’t seem to move. After I had a chance to wrap my head around what had happened I demanded to know why this kid, who looked to be no more than a teenager, had killed Will. She told me that Will wasn’t dead, only unconscious. Still holding the gun pointed to my head, she told me to put the phone and note, which were also in the pizza bag, in Will’s hands. I was desperately trying to come up with a plan to gain the upper hand, but at least placing the items in Will’s hands gave me the opportunity to verify for myself that he was breathing regularly. Other than the fact he was unconscious he seemed to be fine.”
“And then…?” I prompted.
“The pizza delivery guy, who was surprisingly strong for his size, cuffed me and made me leave with him. He said we were going to play a little game and then I’d be free to go. He was holding all the cards, so I had little choice but to go along with him. I figured he wanted something from me and once I gave it to him the whole thing would be over.”
“But it wasn’t quite so easy,” I said.
Zak shook his head. “We arrived at our destination and the kid left the room. When Claudia returned she’d changed out of her disguise and I realized who she really was. That’s also when I realized I might be in real trouble. I still had no idea what Claudia wanted, but all I could do was take things as they came and try to deal with the situation as best I could. When she informed me that the game she intended to play was with you rather than me, I thought I would die. I wanted to do something to prevent you from going through what you did, but my hands were tied, literally. I can’t even begin to explain the hell I went through watching her torture you.”
“But you were okay? Physically?”
Zak nodded. “She didn’t do anything to hurt me physically. In fact, she was very generous with food and water. Her game, it seemed, was a psychological one. She put you through hell, making you believe if you made one tiny mistake I would die, and she put me through hell, making me watch what she was doing to you.”
“So she did have a camera on me?”
“Not all the time, but enough for me to see what her tests were doing to you.”
My anger toward the woman who’d treated Zak and me like pawns in her sick, sick game was increasing by the minute. If I ever managed to get my hands on her, I’d… Well, I don’t know what I’d do, but it would definitely include strong language.
“So the questions she asked and the documents she wanted access to—were they the reason for the test or was the test simply to entertain her?” I asked.
“I believe all she wanted was the file the NSA had on her. The rest was a smoke screen.”
I thought about everything she’d asked me to do and realized Zak was probably correct. She needed the file for some reason and instead of just kidnapping Zak and forcing him to get it for her, she’d decided to have some fun at our expense.
“Okay, wait.” I held up a hand as I suddenly realized I had become diverted from the real purpose of this conversation. “If Claudia didn’t kill Will, who did?”
“We don’t know,” Salinger said.
Maybe somewhere along the way I’d actually lost my mind because this wasn’t making a bit of sense. “Why would Claudia spare Will after she realized he was in her way? Even more to the point, why wouldn’t she just wait until Zak was alone before she grabbed him? Was drugging Will part of her plan?”
“I don’t know,” Zak admitted. “I suppose she figured she could use Will as leverage to get me to cooperate, but it almost seemed as if she intentionally spared him.”
“But Claudia likes to kill people,” I pointed out. “She killed two people right under my nose. Why would she spare Will? Knocking him out doesn’t seem to be her style at all.”
Zak shrugged. “I’m sure nabbing me while I was with Will was a calculated move. Claudia doesn’t seem the sort to be impulsive or careless. Perhaps she didn’t know Will would die and planned to get him involved so he’d help you with the math required to complete the tasks. I’m sure she never planned for you to do it on your own.”
“Not if she knows me at all,” I mumbled.
“I don’t think Claudia’s intention, at least with this caper, was to harm or kill anyone. I think she simply wanted the file and found a way to have some fun with you at the same time.”
I raised a brow. “What do you mean, she didn’t plan to kill anyone? Don’t forget she was within seconds of blowing you up.”
“The bomb was a fake,” Salinger said.
I wasn’t sure if I was angry or relieved that Zak had never been in any real danger, which was a completely illogical thought to have. Of course I was relieved, but to think of the stress Levi and I had gone through when there was no real danger really pissed me off. “Fake? Are you sure?”
Salinger nodded.
When I thought of the hell Levi and I had gone through when we thought Zak might die I wanted to scream in frustration, although I didn’t. I decided to refocus my attention on the matter at hand. “So the theory is that someone other than Claudia came into Will’s room and shot him while he was unconscious?”
Zak nodded.
I rubbed a hand over my face and across my eyes. I needed a minute to process this. The odds that some random person unrelated to Claudia killed Will were just too astronomical to even consider. At least I imagined they were. As everyone knows, I really have no idea how to calculate the odds of anything. It did make sense that Claudia planned for Will to help me all along. She wouldn’t have had any expectation that I’d be able to complete even the first challenge on my own. It was a good thing Alex and Diego had been available. With Will dead, I would never have had a chance without them.
“I guess it makes sense that Claudia planned for Will to help me, but the whole thing still feels wrong somehow. Are you sure she didn’t have someone else finish Will off after you left?”
Zak nodded. “Claudia was as surprised as anyone when you called early. She’d estimated Will wouldn’t even be awake at the time the call was received. Of course, she didn’t know he’d been shot and that the gunshot had alerted the authorities ahead of schedule. I’m certain her plan was for Will to awaken on his own, find the note and the phone, and either call you or Salinger. When the call came early she looked into it and found out Will had been shot.”
I let out a long sigh. “So what now?”
Zak looked at me with an uncertain expression on his face. “I want to find out who did this to Will, but I don’t want to put you in danger of any kind. I know you cared about Will and want to find his killer, but you have Catherine to think about.”
“I know. And I don’t want to put me in danger either, but I do want to help. If Levi and Ellie can stay at the house to help out for a few more days maybe the three of us can put our heads together and ensure that Will’s killer is brought to justice.”
Zak didn’t respond. Salinger didn’t either.
“Look, I promise not to go off sleuthing on my own,” I said. “The three of us can work together as a team and if there are any dicey interviews to conduct Salinger can handle them.”
Still, neither man responded.
I continued. “I need to do this. For Will, who was cheated out of his life. For Phyllis, who was beyond devastated that Will was gone but remained strong enough to help me when we were trying to rescue you. For the kids we’re raising, who’ll never be safe as long as there are wackos out there who’ll shoot a man in the head while he’s passed out cold.”
I waited for someone to speak. Eventually, Zak did. “Okay. We’ll help Salinger, but you have to promise that you won’t go off on your own at any time or for any reason.”
“I pr
omise.”
“Even if all you intend to do is interview a friend you consider to be zero threat.”
“I get it. I won’t leave the house without one of you with me. I know what’s at stake. When I thought you might die it brought home to me how much I want Catherine to grow up with the love and support of both her parents,”
Zak took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze. He turned and looked at Salinger. “Were you able to get any physical evidence at all off or around Will’s body?”
“Nothing helpful. We know he was shot at close range with a small-caliber handgun. We found one long blond hair on the floor near the body, but it could belong to the maid for all we know. Or maybe Will had a girlfriend. I was so busy trying to figure out where you were, I didn’t have a chance to focus on Will’s death. Besides, I’ve figured all along if we found your kidnapper we’d find Will’s killer as well. It never occurred to me that the two things were unrelated. I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around that idea.”
“We need a suspect list,” I said decisively. “A place to start. And we should bring Phyllis and Ethan in on our brainstorming session. They both worked with him, in addition to being his friends. They may have some ideas of who might want him dead.”
“Okay.” Salinger stood up. “Why don’t you gather together whoever you think should be involved and set up a meeting for this afternoon? I’m heading to Bryton Lake to have a chat with the medical examiner. Maybe he knows, or at least suspects, something he didn’t include in his report. Text me a time for the meeting and I’ll come over. I should be back in Ashton Falls by one o’clock.”
Zak walked Salinger out while I went to find the kids. Based on the voices coming from down the hallway, it sounded like at least some of the current residents of the house were in the den.
******
Zak and I decided to keep the kids home from school for one more day, even though it seemed the threat to them had passed. Levi and Zak had likewise taken the day off from work. Levi, Zak, Alex, and Scooter were holed up in the game room to try out a new game Zak’s company had developed, while Ellie and I took Eli, Catherine, and the dogs for a walk.
