Page 49 of The Chain

“Give it to me!”

Pete hands her the .45 and she puts it in her lap. “You know how to use it?” he asks.

“Yes. We’re agreed on what we’re going to do if we’re stopped?”

“Yes,” he says and holds his breath.

27

Friday, 6:57 p.m.

The cops tailgate them for thirty seconds, slowly come alongside, and then zoom by in the passing lane.

Of course they do.

Rachel has done nothing wrong.

She drives straight to the Appenzellers’.

Amelia is either dazed or terrified. It doesn’t matter which—she’s compliant, and that’s what counts. “You get her inside and I’ll make the phone calls,” Rachel tells Pete.

When the street is deserted Pete takes Amelia out of the Dodge and down into the basement.

Rachel stays in the cab and pulls up the Wickr app on her phone.It’s done,she types to her contact.

What’s done?a message comes back.

I’ve kidnapped Amelia Dunleavy. I’m holding her right now.

Rachel’s phone rings. “Good. Very good,” the distorted voice says. “I will call her family now. You will then call and ask for a hundred thousand dollars, payable in Bitcoin to the same account as before.”

“A hundred thousand! That seems—”

“That represents only half the amount they have in their savings account. They can pay that easily. It’s not about the money, Rachel.”

“I know. It’s about The Chain.”

“That’s right. I will call them and tell them to get a pen and paper. You will talk to them five minutes from now on a burner phone. They will be waiting by the telephone for your call.”

The line goes dead.

Rachel calls Pete on a burner phone.

“Hello?” he says.

“Is everything OK?” she asks.

“She’s freaked, obviously. Scared. I’m saying that we’re friends of the family. She sort of believes it and sort of doesn’t.”

“Keep her safe, Pete. Keep her away from nuts. I don’t know how sensitive she is, but we have to err on the side of caution. Let’s not be the stupid babysitter in one of those movies.”

“We won’t be.”

“We have to read all the labels of everything we give to her and we’ll need to get an EpiPen.”

“We will. I’ll look into that. I think you can get them on eBay. Have you called the family yet?”

“Doing it now.”