13

"This ends now," the voice said when McKenna answered the phone.

"Can I speak to my sister?"

"No. You have ten minutes to meet us in the north lot of the mall-"

"No," Geoff told him.

"No?"

"I'm too well known around here. I can't do this someplace with a lot of people around."

"But-"

"I know it seems like the safest idea, but believe me, someone might see me and blunder right into the middle of it to say hi and Merry Christmas and stuff."

He heard a sigh. "You really don't have the leverage to be makin' up your own rules here."

"Meet me in the back woods of the old Kaman property in…twelve minutes," he said, consulting his watch as he tied off a thread. "Nadean can tell you where it is. Nobody lives there. It's an old pig farm. No one even lives around there," he continued. "There are still animals out there, but…" he consulted his Timex again. "They shouldn't be showing up to feed and bring the animals in for another three hours. Nobody's there during the day. I know—I used to work there part-time as a kid."

"Sounds like a trap."

"Let me talk to Nadean."

"No."

"Look—I assume you probably have guns and stuff. You don't know what I have. You said someone's here watching me. Clearly we can't trust each other, but both of us has something the other one wants."

"We'll kill her quick if anything seems the least bit fishy."

Geoff snipped thread and examined his work. "Please don't hurt her." He nervously licked his lips. "God, it's Christmas." He grabbed the box of foil and pulled the end to discover he didn't have nearly enough. "Uh…make it twenty minutes."

Eight more minutes didn't faze the kidnapper. "Back woods. Known place. Pigs."

"Yes," Geoff said, wishing the phone cord was longer so he could freely roam the kitchen. "Follow the dirt road around, go past the barn and keep heading toward the trees. I'll be all the way in the back at the edge of the woods."

"No tricks."

"No, sir."

"You want to have a Merry Christmas this year."

"Please, sir," he said, allowing his voice to crack with emotion.

"This is your last chance." The caller hung up.

Geoff looked at the insufficient rectangle of aluminum foil he'd pulled free of the cardboard tube it had been wound around and shook his head.