Takeover - Lisa Black [61]
“Of course not. It’d be suicide even to try. That’s why I’m going to send someone else.”
His eye fell on Theresa, producing a mixture of feelings. She’d be more than happy to wander around the Fed, more than happy to be anywhere except in this lobby. She could probably find a phone to check on Paul’s condition and call Rachael.
Lucas said, “Jessie.”
All eyes swiveled to the young mother, so that Theresa could openly study the recently widowed woman. Jessica Ludlow had luminous blue eyes and washed-out blond hair that hung, without much form, past her shoulders. Her body type fell between average and chubby, and her hunched-over posture did not help. Like Theresa, she wore a silk blouse, and it clung to her perspiring sides.
The little boy clutched to her chest had the same hair, though with a few darker blond streaks. He dozed now, his eyelids lifting momentarily, then closing again. His mouth and nose had reddened, and his breath came out in small wheezes, ruffling a wrinkle in his mother’s sleeve. Her arms tightened around him.
“You’re going to go to three and find the bank-loan cash.”
“Me?” She squeaked the word. “I work down here. I print certificates and send out interest statements, that’s all.”
“You don’t have to join the staff on three, just bring the cash back here.”
“How?”
“Excuse me?”
She pressed the child closer to herself. Theresa wondered how the kid could breathe. “How? I don’t even know where it is. If it’s locked up, how do I get it out?”
“You’ll figure something out.”
She seemed surprised at the idea. “I will not!”
“Now, Jessie.” Lucas being soothing sounded even more terrifying than Lucas being threatening. “You’re not cooperating. Do you remember what happened to the last person who didn’t cooperate?”
Jessica Ludlow bent her head over her child’s and closed her eyes.
“I’ll go,” Theresa said.
Lucas regarded her coolly. “I don’t recall asking for volunteers.”
“How much can she do with a baby in tow? I can do it.”
“You don’t even work here.”
“I’ve only been here a month,” Jessica pointed out, much to her captor’s displeasure.
His scowl deepened when Brad raised his hand as if in class. “No, I’ll go. I can get it—I have the combination.”
“You? You’re a tour guide. Why would you have access to bank-loan money?”
The man hesitated for only a moment. “I used to date a girl who worked for the auditor. She knew everything about every department here. I can get you as much as you want.”
Theresa didn’t believe him, and she tended to believe everybody. Lucas didn’t either. “This is not up for discussion. I’ll even explain my reasoning, to make it perfectly clear. You”—the barrel of the automatic rifle tipped toward Brad—“have no reason to come back to this lobby and every reason not to. Same goes for you, Theresa—you got your man out of here. If you get out of this room, you can go hold his hand in a hospital somewhere and not give a thought to all these people I’m going to shoot because you didn’t come back. Why not? You don’t know them.”
“I wouldn’t do th—”
“I’m not casting aspersions on your character, now, just assembling the facts from my point of view. Jessie, on the other hand, has that maternal-instinct thing going. She’s going to go and get the cash, but her baby will stay here.”
She gasped, cupping the boy’s head against her shoulder.
“That makes her the only person in this room I know will come back. Isn’t that right? Even if you’re scared. Even if the cops tell you not to. Even if you have to smash down the bank-loan department chief’s door with a desk chair. You’ll do that, and you’ll come back here, won’t you?”
She nodded, with horror in her eyes.
Lucas winked at Theresa. “Motherhood. Never underestimate it. You can hold the kid while she goes on this scavenger hunt. Hand the kid to Theresa, Jessie. She’ll take care of him.”
The young woman couldn’t make herself relinquish her child, not until Lucas aimed the automatic rifle at her head. Then she shifted the small, warm body to Theresa with the solemnity of a death knell and an expression to match. Her