“Um, well, it’s um … Brian.”
“Oh God, I’m so sorry!” Shit, I couldn’t believe I’d interrupted her and Brian, who’d apparently slept over. I smiled despite my inner misery. “Okay, ignore me, get back to what you were doing—I mean who you were doing—and I’ll talk to you later.”
“No, it’s fine! I can talk—”
“Forget it. I would be the shittiest friend alive if I kept you on the phone. Now, go. I’ll talk to you later,” I insisted.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. I love you. Bye.”
“Okay, love you, too.”
I hung up the phone, smiling a little. At least one of our love lives wasn’t completely screwed up.
Looking at the clock, I saw only twenty minutes had crawled by. Damn. Today was going to be a really long day.
And it was. I played two movies in the theater downstairs, neither of which I could concentrate on for more than five minutes. Giving up after the second one, I wandered the house, which took some time. We had a really large home, over eight thousand square feet, and I drifted from room to room, outside to walk the grounds and around the pool, down to the edge of Lake Michigan, then back.
The sun was setting and I was trying to eat something—I’d been too upset to eat all day—when Ryker’s cell phone buzzed. I grabbed it up immediately.
“Hello?”
“Dear Sage, how lovely to hear your voice.”
My hands went ice cold. Viktor.
“H-how did you get this number?” I asked.
“The detective’s number, you mean? Easy to learn once you know his real name.”
Bile rose in my throat. Ryker. His cover had been blown.
“I must say, Sage,” he continued. “I am disappointed in you. You are supposed to be with Parker, and yet I hear you have been fucking the cop.”
I swallowed hard. “What do you want?”
“I am glad you asked,” he said. “I love games, Sage, and when I found out about this love triangle you are at the center of, I had the most wonderful idea for a game.”
“What are you talking about?”
His voice changed, from light and playful to cold and deadly. “I have them both. Parker and the detective.”
Oh God … My eyes slid shut in dismay and I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t make the sound clawing its way up my throat.
“So here is what we shall do,” he continued. “You are going to do some work for me, and in return, I’ll make their deaths slightly less painful. Do a good job, and I might even let you save one. Understand?”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I asked. “You could be lying to me.” I wasn’t stupid. I needed proof before I did anything he said.
“Oh, you would like proof?” he asked. “I can provide that.”
The phone abruptly switched from voice mode only over to camera. I saw him, someplace I couldn’t discern. It was dark behind him. Maybe a warehouse?
He turned the phone and I sucked in a breath. I could see them, Parker and Ryker. Their shirts had been removed and they hung from ropes tied around their wrists. Their feet just brushed the floor, but not enough to take any real pressure off their wrists. A naked lightbulb swung listlessly above them, dangling from a wire.
“Don’t listen to him, Sage,” Parker called out.
A man standing to the side moved suddenly, swinging a short stick, like a policeman’s baton, and it smacked into Parker’s ribs. His body flinched and he flung his head back at the vicious blow, but didn’t cry out.
“Hang up the phone. Go to the cops.” That was from Ryker, who got the same treatment. He grunted, jerking when the baton hit him, and my hand flew up to cover my mouth. Tears stung my eyes.
“Oh God …” I murmured.
“Let me show you what happens to them should you decide to go to the authorities,” Viktor said.
I watched, barely breathing. Something happened that I couldn’t see, then both men were shaking, their entire bodies taut. Even from the fuzzy image, I could see they were in a massive amount of pain.
“Stop it! Stop!” I cried. “I’ll do whatever you want. Just stop hurting them!”
Their bodies went suddenly slack and I realized what it had been. Electricity. Viktor was sending voltage through them somehow.
“An excellent choice, my dear,” Viktor said, swinging the camera back around to himself.
“What do you want me to do?”
*
I sat outside the bar inside Ryker’s truck, waiting. My nerves were shot and I didn’t know what I could do other than follow the directions I’d been given.
At precisely nine o’clock, a car pulled into the lot. Taking a deep breath, I got out.
The car I’d been waiting for parked and a man got out. He took a moment to light a cigarette as I approached him.
“Detective Malone?” I asked, calling out to Ryker’s partner. “Is that you?”