Read Online Perilous by E. H. Reinhard - Free Book Online Page B

pieces,” Viktor said.
    Viktor stared at the two men. They stared back. No one said a word.
    Darryl broke the silence. “Fifty thousand.”
    “No,” Viktor said.
    “The number isn’t negotiable”
    “Everything is negotiable,” Viktor said.
    “This is one of those times when it isn’t. Fifty thousand within two days. Someone will come and visit you. You can give them the contact information for who will get your money to us.”
    “What happens in two days?”
    “If you don’t have our money, you’re dead. Simple as that.”
    “Two days gives me a lot of time to find those close to you on the outside.”
    Darryl headed toward the gate in the fence. Kenny followed. Darryl looked back over his shoulder. “It would, except you won’t be making contact with anyone. Remember when I said we run things inside these walls? That includes the guards. You won’t be speaking with anyone except my friend who comes to visit.”
    The man waiting on the other side of the fence unlocked the gate. Darryl and Kenny walked through. The door was relocked.
    Kenny faced Viktor and banged his fist against the chain link. “I hope you had a big dinner. You’ll be getting empty trays until you pay us.” He laughed. The three men walked back toward the building.
    Viktor shook his head in frustration. “Shit.” Paying would show weakness, and weakness inside was as good as death. Viktor had to come up with something. He had forty-eight hours.
    He leaned back against the fence and interlocked his fingers behind his head. A protruding piece of the chain link scratched his finger. Viktor turned to look. A two-inch piece of the metal had rusted away from its mounting point. Viktor scanned the guard tower. No one was watching. He pulled at the piece, and it moved. Viktor looked around again. One of the guards was retaking his position. Viktor put his back to the fence and clasped his hands behind his head as they had been just a few seconds prior. Behind his head, he worked at the metal.

Chapter 11 - Kane
    The rest of the day went by in a blur. The fingerprint analysis sent down from Atlanta confirmed Charles Riaola’s prints around and behind the rental car’s instrument cluster. He’d undoubtedly tampered with the odometer. A search warrant was issued on his property. Hank and I spent a few hours going over everything there but found nothing incriminating. We found no suitcase, blood, or further evidence. We wouldn’t need much, either way. His confession and the fingerprints, combined with the pending blood and DNA samples, would seal his fate by the time his trial date arrived.
    I was on my way back to the condo a couple minutes before seven o’clock. Hank shot out to his house to change, planning to meet Callie and me at our place within the hour. I pulled my station wagon through the gated entry to my parking spot at the back. While I’d wanted to replace my Corvette with another one, exactly the same, my reality said that was no longer an option. After researching for a week or two, I found the perfect all-around family car: a white five-hundred-fifty-six-horsepower Cadillac CTS-V wagon. They’d killed production on the car after the 2013 model year, but luckily the Chevy dealer I had purchased my Corvette from had a gently used one on the lot. With a little over a thousand miles on it, it was still new in my book. I just picked it up the prior week.
    I killed the motor and walked toward the elevator. I looked over to see Callie’s new Jeep parked in one of the three guest spots. We would have to bite the bullet and lease another parking spot pretty soon before the neighbors started to complain. I hit the button to go up. The elevator doors slid open, I stepped in, and the elevator kicked me out on the fifth floor.
    Toward the end of the hall, I twisted the knob of our front door and knelt— no escaping cat. I pushed the door open and walked in. Across the condo, Callie was sitting on the patio out back. I kicked off my