Read Online The Guardian by Bill Eidson - Free Book Online Page B

woman shoved her in the car and pushed her onto the floor. Janine knew she was in real trouble now, but somehow she was just as angry as she was scared, and she wasn’t going to let them hear her cry.
     
     

 
    Chapter 11
     
     
    She’s a fresh little brat,” the man said. “So we put her in the car. Now tell me what I want to hear.”
    Anger cleared Greg’s mind suddenly, swept away the nightmarish cloud of doubt and debilitating fear.
    In the past day, he’d forgotten everything he’d ever learned about negotiating, about balancing power. The money had become just a hurdle, the appeasement to the violent little god who’d stormed into his life. He’d almost forgotten how much a million and a half dollars would mean to a man whose last robbery had been a convenience store.
    But with what Janine had just said, and with Beth coming into the room, her face stricken, Greg put that into the forefront of his mind. He threw the suitcase onto the kitchen table and opened it.
    “I’m looking at a million five,” Greg said. “It’s in a big tan Samsonite.”
    “Listen tight and I’ll tell you where to leave it. You do that, and after I’ve picked it up, I’ll leave your girl right beside a telephone with a quarter and your number.”
    “No, sir,” Greg said without hesitation.
    “What?”
    “I’ve done my part. I moved heaven and earth selling a piece of property in one day to get the cash you want. I don’t care about the money. All that’s important to me is Janine. So I can’t simply leave this money in the bushes someplace and just hope you’ll do the right thing and let her go. But I will hand the money over to you directly, when you hand her to me.”
    “Just who the hell do you think’s calling the shots here?”
    “Both of us.” Greg kept his tone respectful, even though his insides were churning. His hand dropped to the tabletop, and he picked up Beth’s lighter and flicked the flame on and off absently. “I want my daughter back. You want the cash. So the way I see it, my only way of making sure I get her back alive is to hand it off to you at once.”
    “You’ll drop it where I tell you, or I’ll put her on the phone and shoot her right now. You saw the storekeeper’s head. You know I’ll do it.”
    Ross and Allie were looking at Greg, their faces worried. “Make him understand,” Beth said, her voice low.
    Greg locked his eyes on hers. “You can do that.”
    “You cheap bastard,” the man said. “Your own daughter.”
    “But you’ll never have the money.”
    “I’ll have it, one way or the other.” The man’s pretense of control was gone. “If you won’t come through for your daughter, then maybe you’ll do it for your wife. It may not be this week, this month, but I’ll pick her up some time, and I’ll make it last with her before I drop a dime.”
    The man’s voice cracked with his rage, and Greg leaned briefly against the table, his knees weak.
    “No, sir. You’ll never have a chance at my wife or me. If I hear you kill my daughter, I’ll douse this cash with gasoline and light it.” He touched the flame to a packet of cash and watched it curl the top bill. “The money means nothing to us. I’ll shoot my wife in the head, and then I’ll shoot myself.”
    “Yes,” Beth said. “Make him see.”
    Greg could see Allie and Ross were alarmed, but he kept his voice steady and hard. “Because none of it counts without Janine. If you want this money, I’ll trade you for her directly. And that’s my offer.”
    Greg could hear the man breathing. Greg forced himself to say nothing more, to watch his wife’s eyes.
    “Merry fucking Christmas,” the man said, finally. “Let’s do it.”
     
     

 
    Chapter 12
     
     
    Sit her up here,” the man said. “She can help me play a game.”
    They had driven for another long time. Janine was sick to her stomach, her face shoved into that dirty carpet that smelled of grease and cigarettes.
    But the idea of being up