Page 106 of Lawbreaker

They all stared at Tony. His face was like stone.

“It’s not a real package, right?” Heather asked.

Tony nodded. “It’s something our friend likes very much.”

“Should we ask what it is?” John asked.

Tony smiled and shook his head. “We don’t want too many accessories, now do we?”

John laughed.

The sound of the grandfather clock grew louder and louder. It was only a few minutes, but nerves were at breaking point.

Suddenly, the phone rang insistently. This time Tony let it ring five times before he answered it.

“Hello,” he said.

“You give him back! You get him back...where you found him...right now! I’ll call in every damned agent east of Memphis...!”

“For a package?” Tony asked lazily. He toyed with the doily on the telephone table. “Why would you do that?”

“He’s all I’ve got,” the other man said through his teeth.

“Yeah. And she’s all I’ve got,” Tony said, and his voice chilled to the bone.

There was a long silence. “What do you want?”

“You get one of your boys to bring my package to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport,” Tony said quietly. “When it arrives, I’ll stay with it, and I’ll call to have your package put back where it was found. I won’t leave the airport until you’ve confirmed that your package is intact. Then your boy goes back to DC.”

“So simple,” James spat.

“One more thing,” Tony said, and his voice softened and deepened. “If my package is damaged, in any way, your package will be delivered to you in a shoebox. Do you understand me? Say it!”

He could hear the other man swallow. “I understand,” he said in a ghostly tone.

“Furthermore, if any of the Everetts are ever persecuted by you or any of your agents, ever, you will receive any number of shoeboxes with the same package, divided, inside.” He paused. “And I’ll be watching.”

“I understand” came the defeated reply.

“We’ll wait for the package at the international concourse in the airport. I assume you won’t be stupid enough to send more than one agent on this assignment. I’ve told you the possible consequences.”

“I’m sending one agent,” James said heavily. “Just one.” His voice shook. “He’ll call you...when he gets there.”

“Same number,” Tony said. And he hung up.

“What was all that about packages?” Cole asked.

“If you say it’s a person, all sorts of troublesome laws stand up and scream at you,” Tony told him.

“As in kidnapping?”

“Bingo,” Tony said.

“Well, I’m never playing poker with you,” John chuckled. “Damn, what a bluff!”

Tony looked at him with an odd expression. “It wasn’t.”

“Wasn’t what?”