Page 110 of Final Approach

She backed up and his gaze sharpened.

“I have to go,” she said. “Andrew and the others are expecting me. I need to process all of this. Think about things I almost can’t even understand.”

He stepped around from behind his desk, gun in his hand. He aimed it at her. “No, I don’t think you’re going anywhere. You’ve disobeyed me over and over and over with no consequences. But now there has to be some and I know exactly what those are. You’ve just moved the timetable up a little bit.”

Kristine spun and ran, pulling her phone from her pocket. Something slammed into her right shoulder and a sharp pain radiated from the hit, sending her to her knees next to the kitchen door.

Her muscles went sluggish. She’d been hit with a drug, not a bullet. Which meant time was short.

She shoved the phone into her sock and hiking boot and pulled her pants leg over it.

Everything slowed.

Her father appeared in front of her and she had no way to fight him. Now she just wanted to sleep.

“Come on, Krissy-girl. Time for us to fly the friendly skies.”

“Wha—?”

He laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m going to take care of you. Very good care of you. So good you’ll never have to worry about anything ever again. And I’ll never be lonely again. Emily is next.” He raked a hand down his face and blew out a sigh. “Thank goodness she didn’t die in that wreck. I never meant for her to be hurt, you know. That idiot Dana was going way too fast.” The familiar anger tinged with the mental instability that had always been there flared in his eyes, and Kristine wanted to weep. “But that’s neither here nor there. It’s water under the bridge. Then it will be Ethan’s turn. I’ll have to figure out how to get him incapacitated. Shouldn’t be too hard. At least he’s extended his stay and isn’t leaving so quickly.”

“No...” Why did her voice echo in her head? “He left yesterday.” Didn’t he?

He picked her up, carried her to his car, and slid her in the back seat. Then patted her down. “Where’s your phone?”

“Car...” She struggled to sit upright, but it was like fighting quicksand.

“Then it can stay there. Be a good girl and stay put until I get back. I have to hide your vehicle.” He pulled back and shut the door.

The darkness was swirling, just beyond her reach. It took every ounce of concentration, but she managed to get her phone and type a message to Andrew. The driver’s door opened and she hit send before her fingers lost strength, and she closed her eyes. The last thing she heard was the device bouncing on the floorboard.

ANDREW COULDN’T DOIT.He couldn’t let her handle this by herself. Whatever this was. But she’d obviously lost sleep over it and washaving a tough time dealing with it. He’d told her he was on the way to her father’s, and she wasn’t answering his texts.

He tapped the wheel while he drove. So why wouldn’t she respond? Unless she’d been right and her father had—

His phone pinged. Kristine sharing her location.

911 help follow me Dad bad hired hijacker. Drugged me. Don’t call follo—

What kind of message was that?

A desperate cry for help for sure. She was in trouble and the last place she’d been was her father’s. Her father had hired the hijacker? Could that possibly be what she meant?

He pulled over and sent a group text to everyone. It was faster than calling.

Kristine’s in trouble. She went to see her dad, but I got this text.

He copied and pasted it.

Someone tell me what this means.

She was in trouble. He knew it in his gut. Andrew read the message again.Follow me.He could do that. He knew exactly where she was and the little dot was moving toward Lake City, so Andrew simply watched it. When it turned off the main road about ten miles from his location, he made a U-turn and headed after her.

He called Nathan, who answered on the first ring. “I’m following her. She sent me a location ping on her phone and I’m headed after her.”

“Can you tell what the destination is?”

“Not yet, but they’re on the outskirts of Lake City. What’s there?”