When the ringing intruded again, Beau swore and lifted himself away, sat up in bed and grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand. No way could he ignore it, not with the trouble swirling around them. Leaning down, he pressed a last kiss on Cassidy’s warm lips.
“We aren’t finished,” he said softly, though for the moment, clearly they were. He looked down at the callerID, recognized the number, and every muscle in his body went tense. “Missy, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”
Missy started crying. “There’s a man here, Beau. He’s . . . he’s got this ski mask over his head and he’s got a gun. He says you . . . you owe him money.”
Someone jerked the phone out of Missy’s hand. “That’s right, Reese. Your girlfriend was supposed to be dead in the middle of the street by now. She cost me fifteen thousand dollars and a world of trouble. I know who you are. I know you’re filthy rich. Fifteen thousand’s nothing to you, so now I want a million, and you’re gonna bring it to me personally.”
Anger and fear had him shaking. Beau’s hand tightened around his cell. “You listen to me and you better listen good. Anything happens to Missy or the baby, you’re a dead man. You hear me?”
“You’re the one who should be listening. I need a ride out of the country. I’m on my way to ol’ Mehico and you’re gonna bring me the money to get there in that fancy helicopter of yours. If you don’t, the girl and the kid are dead. Now keep your mouth shut and do what I say. And no police—you got that?”
Beau forced himself under control. “Yeah, I’ve got it.” He needed to stay calm, think of Missy and Evie. He wondered where Josie was. It was just after midnight. He figured she could still be working, prayed she wouldn’t go home and make things worse.
He pulled a deep breath into his lungs. “It’ll take me a couple of hours to get the money together, get the chopper, and get there.”
“You got ninety minutes.” The phone went dead and Beau cursed.
He felt Cassidy’s hand on his shoulder. “Beau, what is it? What’s going on?”
The breath he’d been holding shuddered out. “The guywho tried to kill you? He’s got Missy and Evie. He wants a million bucks and a chopper.”
“Oh, God.”
“I’ve got to go.” He rolled off the bed, strode over and grabbed his jeans, dragged them on and snagged a clean long-sleeved T-shirt. Behind him, he heard Cassidy run out the bedroom door and down the hall. By the time he’d finished dressing and started making calls, the first to his banker, Cassidy was rushing back into the room in jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt.
“I’m going with you.”
“Not a good idea. You’ll be safer here.”
“I’m going. Missy and Evie might need me, Beau. Or Josie. Is Josie in the house, too?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t mention her.” He started striding down the hall toward the garage and Cassidy fell in beside him.
“We need to call the café,” she said, which he would have already done if he had been thinking more clearly. “We need to find out if Josie’s still at work. If she is, we can’t let her walk into the middle of this thing.”
He glanced at Cassidy over his shoulder. “You’re right. Can you call and find out?”
“Of course. You need me, Beau. Let me help you.”
He swallowed. He always seemed to need her. He didn’t like putting her in the middle of a bad situation, but at the moment, he had no choice. “All right, let’s go.”
* * *
Cassidy sat tensely in the Ferrari next to Beau. Tires squealing, he shot out of the garage, driving like a madman down the pavement toward the street, pausing only for a moment to speak to one of the guards, then taking Will Egan’s frantic phone call when he learned Beau was leaving without Frank Marino.
“Don’t worry, Marino’s meeting us at the chopper,” he informed Will over the speaker. They could make better time in the Ferrari and there wasn’t room for Frank in the sports car. He explained the situation and ended with, “We’ll figure things out as we go.”
“You sure you won’t need backup when you get there?”
“I don’t want to set this guy off,” Beau said. “As soon as he releases the hostages, I’ll call the police.”
“He could force them to go with him, Beau. He could shoot your helo pilot. Anything could happen.”
Cassidy had run through the various scenarios with Beau as they had prepared to leave, including the ones Will mentioned.
“The guy isn’t getting on the chopper,” Beau said. “I won’t let that happen. I just need to get him away from the girl and the baby.”
Then they could deal with the hostage taker, the guy who had tried to kill Cassidy twice before.
