Magnificent Folly - Iris Johansen [30]
“I’d certainly question it. Tell me anyway.”
“No, there’ll be time enough for that later. Instead, I’ll tell you Cassie is safe and that those men have no intention of physically harming her. She may be frightened, but that’s the extent of the damage they’ll do to her while she remains here in the U.S.”
“While they’re here? Are they planning to take her out of the country? Where, for heaven’s sake?”
“Said Ababa.”
She shook her head dazedly. “What the hell is happening here?”
Andrew impulsively put out a hand as if to touch her. As she flinched back, his hand dropped to the arm of the chair. “She won’t be hurt.” His hand closed on the arm of the chair, his knuckles white. “I know you can’t believe in me, but please believe that, Lily. For your own sake, believe Cassie’s safe.”
“How can I, when you won’t tell me anything? Not even where she is or—”
“I don’t know where she is.” Andrew’s eyes were haunted. “I’m expecting a phone call from Gunner at any time, with more information. He and Quenby are trying to track them.”
“Track? This isn’t the day of the Pony Express or Buffalo Bill. Call the FBI, dammit.”
“We can’t.” Andrew paused. “It would be dangerous for Cassie. These agents don’t want the reason they took Cassie to come to light, and a public investigation would do that. Besides, Gunner has a better chance of tracking them. The Clanad has agents in this area, and this is Gunner’s job.”
“His specialty is finding kidnapped children? What kind of a job is that?” She closed her eyes. “I want my little girl back, damn you. I don’t care about your Clanad or those bastards who took her. I just want Cassie home.”
“We’ll bring her home. Safe.”
Her eyes opened wide and glittered coldly as she gazed at him. “I don’t know what kind of mess you’ve involved yourself in, but Cassie and I aren’t part of it. If Cassie is hurt because of you, I’ll punish you, Andrew.”
“Oh, I know you will,” he said thickly. “You already have.” He smiled with an effort. “Gunner thinks they haven’t had time to smuggle her out of the country yet. They don’t have a network in this—”
The phone rang in the other room.
Andrew pushed back the chair and jumped to his feet. “That must be Gunner. I’ll be right back.”
Lily heard him pick up the phone and answer, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. She struggled to her feet, swayed as a wave of dizziness assaulted her, then moved slowly across the room. Clinging to the jamb of the door, she was just in time to see Andrew hang up the receiver. “Does he know where she is?”
“Oh, for Lord’s sake.” Andrew gazed at her in exasperation. “You look as if you’re about to collapse any minute. Did you have to follow me?” He didn’t wait for an answer, but covered the distance between them in three strides, lifted her in his arms, and carried her back to the bed. “And yes, he knows where they are. The agents who took Cassie are Hamid Kalom—he’s the one with the scar—and Said Baharas. They’ve taken Cassie to a lodge called the Edelweiss Inn, about a hundred miles north of here. The inn is owned by a Said Ababa national, and Gunner says they’re waiting for a plane to arrive at the private airport nearby to take Cassie out of the country.” He placed her on the bed. “Cassie is being held in one of the chalet bungalows on the grounds of the lodge and she’s fine, Lily.”
“How could she be fine, when she’s probably scared to death? And if Gunner and the men he’s with know where Cassie is, why don’t they go in and get her? Suppose the plane they’re waiting for arrives and they take her away?”
“Lily, these agents aren’t …” Andrew halted, searching for words before he finished. “Professional.”
“What do you mean?”
“The government of Said Ababa has always relied on brute force to get what it wants. The men who run that country are acquirers, not creators. You can see how slapdash this entire operation is turning out to be. No planning.”
“Then