Pitch Black (Romantic Thriller, Completed)

Chapter 28

Once we hit the motorway, I scrolled through the phone's memory to the number I wanted, took a deep breath, and hit dial. The line crackled as someone on the other side of the world answered.

"Nate?"

"Emmy?" Surprise was evident in his voice, but also a tinge of something else. Anger? Relief?

"Yeah."

"Thank fuck. Why the hell didn't you answer the phone the other day?"

Yes, anger and relief, both present and correct. In truth, I hadn't expected him to be anything but pissed off. It was his normal demeanour, even when I hadn't done something really, really stupid.

"I was busy. Are you at home?"

Virginia was five hours behind, and any normal person would be in front of the TV at nine in the evening. But, like me, Nate wasn't normal and often slept in the office.

"Busy? Busy? I could see you were busy. What in the devil's name did you need all that equipment for? And no, I'm in the control room. Someone's got to run this company, and it sure as shit hasn't been you."

"Uh, there was a small situation. Actually, there still is. I could use some help."

"What kind of situation? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Someone else is in trouble, and I'm trying to fix things."

"If you're 'fine,' where the fuck have you been for the last three months? You vanished without a trace and left some cryptic fucking note. I've been monitoring hospitals and morgues the world over."

Yep, he definitely had a scowl plastered across his not-so-pretty face.

"I'm sorry. I was messed up."

"That's it? You were messed up? You've put us all through hell, and now you phone one night out of the blue asking for help?"

I stared at the road, barely seeing the way ahead. I deserved his anger, but that didn't make it any easier to take.

"Please, Nate, I'll explain later. I promise. Right now, a girl's been kidnapped, and her life's at stake. Could you put the animosity aside and lend a hand?" I thought of Tia, bound and gagged on the floor. "Please?"

"You know we'll do whatever you need. But, Emmy, we will talk about this later."

Hurrah. That gave me something to look forward to, but I'd deal with it once we'd resolved the Tia situation.

"I need manpower. The girl's been gone thirty-two hours now, and the ransom drop just got botched."

"Got it. Now you've turned your phone on again, I can see where you are. You going to Albany House?"

"That's the plan. I need you to get a team together at the office, and I'll go and brief them. Can you pull in everyone not working on a priority level one case?"

"Everyone? Do you have any damn clue what that'll do to the running of everything else?"

Yes, I was perfectly aware of the havoc it would create with the scheduling of all the other jobs for weeks afterwards.

"Everyone," I confirmed.

Nate gave an exasperated sigh but didn't try to argue. He knew I wouldn't pull a stunt like this lightly.

"Fine." He sounded more like me than he'd ever admit. "I'll make the calls and speak to you when you get back to London. By the way, Nick and Dan flew over to the UK when we spotted you in the house. They'll be waiting for you to arrive."