His Ransom 6(2)

“Jake!”

Jake’s face softened the instant he saw me. He fell to his knees in front of me, dropping his briefcase to the earthen floor. He grabbed up my bound hands.

“Lacey!”

“Jake, I’m sorry,” I said. I repeated it over and over as he pulled me to his chest. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Sean picked up the briefcase and opened it on his knee. He examined the contents. They must have satisfied him, because he snapped it shut abruptly and stood.

Jake hadn’t even looked over at the man who claimed to be his brother. I wanted to scream: Look over there! Look at him! That man is your brother!

But his eyes were fixed fast on me, and on the rope that was tying my wrists together.

“Are you okay?” he asked. He caressed my cheek and a burst of heat spread through my body. Even now, tied up in the bottom of a pit full of bones, his touch sent my nerves into overdrive.

“I’m fine,” I said. I wasn’t fine—I was anything but fine—but Jake had more pressing matters to deal with.

“The cash looks good,” Sean said. He held out a phone to Jake. “This is the transfer sheet for your bank. Sign in and okay the transfer for the rest.”

“Let me untie her first—”

“The transfer first.” Sean’s gun was out, pointing at Jake’s chest. Jake looked slowly up into Sean’s face. I waited for any hint of recognition, but Jake didn’t say anything. He only took Sean’s phone and punched in the passcode, then handed it back. His expression was cold.

Their hands nearly touched, and as the two men leaned toward each other in the lantern light, I saw the mirror reflections of their profiles, the similar structure of their faces. The claim that Sean made, that they were brothers, seemed eerily plausible in that dim light.

Did I really believe him? Strangely enough, I thought I did.

“Let me check to make sure the transfer went through,” Sean said. He backed up, his gun pointed all the while at Jake. The surgeon stood behind him nonchalantly, like it was just another day with a gun and a hostage and ten million dollars being stolen right under his nose.

Maybe for him, this was normal. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest. Seeing Sean point a gun at Jake made adrenaline rush through my system. Fight or flight taking over my mind.

Jake, too, was calmer than I could have imagined. He paid little attention to the gun, or to Sean.

His brother?

My eyes traced and retraced the resemblances between their two faces. The sharp accented jawline; their dark, dark hair. And as I looked at Sean, I realized something else—he was wearing contact lenses. My mouth turned dry. It was him. The flashes of familiarity—that was why it had hit me so hard. I didn’t know how, but I knew. Sean was Jake’s brother.

It astonished me that Jake wasn’t reacting with the same shock that I was still feeling. I stretched my wrists after Jake untied the rope. He put an arm around me.

“Is there anything else?” Jake asked. He stood facing Sean as though there was no danger, as though there wasn’t a gun pointed straight at his chest. I hugged his side tightly.

“Nothing else.” Sean motioned down the corridor with his gun. “Walk a mile or so. The tunnel takes a sharp right. There’s a service door that takes you to the public tourist center for the catacombs.”

“A mile?” I echoed in astonishment. And more than that, I was astonished that Jake didn’t seem the least bit curious about Sean.

“Let’s go,” Jake said, nudging me to turn around. Then, as though reading my body’s hesitation, he looked again at Sean’s face. His brow wrinkled, and I could see him thinking, puzzling it out.

“I have other questions,” Jake said.

“Not now,” Sean said.

Jake pressed his lips together, then decided against it. He turned with me, and we began walking down the dark tunnel of the catacombs, surrounded by the bones of a thousand ancient French families.



It was only a few paces before we were outside of the glow of the lantern. I stumbled over a stone in the dark, and Jake caught my arm.

“Slow and careful,” he said. His hand was clenched tightly around me, and I felt tears sting my eyes as I thought suddenly of everything that had happened. What had I cost him?

I looked back over my shoulder to see Sean and Rien. A silhouette moved over the lantern, flickering a shadow down the hallway. Then the light was raised up, swinging. I watched as they moved around the corner, the light disappearing suddenly into darkness.

Before, the tunnel had been dim, but now it was completely black. I froze.

“Lacey?” Jake’s hand caught on my arm, tugging me slightly forward. “Lacey, we have to keep going for another mile.”