Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
“Well, anyone who can’t get me by cell phone,” she replied. “Which is everyone because you made me leave it behind. It’s probably someone looking for tech help. Alex, Li, and Erin always call me if they have problems with their laptops. Shockingly Ian never calls. He has one of the girls fix it. I swear those three Taggart girls could hack the world if they wanted to. Lou’s been teaching them how to code, too.”
She was proud of Ian and Charlotte’s daughters. They didn’t let anything hold them back. Sometimes she was scared of them. She picked up the receiver. “This is MaeBe.”
“I have your friend Noelle, and if you let anyone know you’re talking to me, I’ll kill her here and now. Am I understood?” Julia’s voice sounded husky as if she found the current conversation slightly sexual in nature. Not strange for a deeply deranged woman. “Is Kyle with you?”
That hadn’t taken her long. If she didn’t know that he was standing beside her, she didn’t have eyes on them. Not that putting eyes in the office would be easy. Big Tag was hella paranoid, and they had some amazing security around their systems, including the cameras. “He’s in the conference room. I’m in my office. Where is Noelle?”
Kyle went stiff but didn’t make a sound. She turned the receiver out so he could hear.
“My men have her, and they’ll trade her for you,” Julia offered. “And don’t think you can call in the calvary and catch me. I’m not there. I’m not foolish. My men are armed and well trained. John won’t hurt you. He’ll simply bring you to a safe house, and then my brother and I are going to discuss where my father’s files are. I think Kyle will help him work faster if he knows we have you.”
She would bet Julia believed that. “Don’t hurt Noelle. Please don’t hurt her.”
She made her voice breathy and desperate, finding a piece of the MaeBe she’d been before. Although she was probably being hard on that version of herself. It wasn’t like she’d been some shrinking violet. She’d stood up to everyone who’d tried to hurt her. She’d had a backbone.
She just hadn’t taken the time to learn how to protect herself. It was an odd moment to have a big revelation, but here it was. The old MaeBe hadn’t been weak in any area of her life beyond her actual muscular frame. She had fought for what she wanted.
The old MaeBe should have found out where Kyle was and gone and given him the talking to of a lifetime. She’d gotten her heart hurt, but her heart was the strongest thing about her.
“Oh, there’s the MaeBe I remember.” Julia practically purred over the line. It was something that would have made her stomach turn a few days ago, but now she felt a little sorry for this woman.
She was going to be so easy to fool. MaeBe sniffled. “Noelle is innocent in all of this. Hold on.” She halfway put a hand over the receiver. Halfway because she wanted the other woman to hear this. “I’ll be a minute, guys. It’s my dad. He’s got computer problems. Y’all start without me.”
Kyle’s jaw was tight, but he leaned over and kissed the top of her head before quietly walking back toward the conference room. As he got far enough away, he looked back. “Don’t take too long.”
He would inform the rest of the group.
He was trusting her to handle Julia, to get the information they needed to save Noelle.
“You know you’re not going to be able to keep him,” Julia said. “You’re not enough for him.”
MaeBe forced another sniffle, willing the woman to view her as a crying, self-sacrificial pawn. “It doesn’t matter. Noelle does. Tell me where she is.”
“Someone is waiting to take you into custody in the parking garage,” Julia explained. “Go there now. Noelle doesn’t have long. And if my men get a hint that you’re not alone, they’ll put a bullet in her and she won’t need that cane anymore.”
The phone disconnected and MaeBe turned. It looked like her fun night was over.
It was time to go to work.
Chapter Fifteen
Kyle’s heart was threatening to beat out of his chest as he forced himself to walk away from MaeBe. He’d done what he needed to do. He’d given credence to MaeBe’s ruse. She obviously didn’t believe there was any way Julia could have taken over their inner security cameras. Mae knew the security system and the protocols around it as well as anyone in the company. So much better than he did. If she thought Julia would be shut out and couldn’t have eyes on them, then they had the upper hand. He had to do anything he could to sell that fake out.