Falling Awake

was dressed in an apron emblazoned with the logo of a local floral shop. Her red hair was bound up in a scarf.
    She had a gun in her hand.
    “Hello, Isabel.” Amelia smiled her very bright, very shallow smile. “I assume you’re talking to Cutler? Give me the phone.”
    Isabel hesitated, so cold now she could barely feel the phone in her numb fingers.
    “Give it to me.” A strange look flashed in Amelia’s eyes.
    “Do what she says,” Ellis said softly in Isabel’s ear. “It’s okay. Remember, she needs you.”
    Isabel tossed the phone to Amelia, who caught it quite deftly in her free hand. She did not take her attention off Isabel when she spoke to Ellis.
    “Hello, Ellis. You remember me. You knew me as Dr. Maureen Sage when I worked at Frey-Salter. You’ll never know what ashock it was to see you in the hallway at the center this morning. It was just dumb luck that I happened to spot you first and managed to avoid you. I realized at once, though, that I had no choice but to move very quickly.”
    There was a short, tense pause. Isabel could not hear what Ellis was saying to Amelia but she could see that Amelia did not like it.
    “That’s bullshit and you know it as well as I do,” Amelia said, suddenly violently furious. “When this is over Lawson will be finished. Do you hear me? Finished .”
    There was a freakish stillness following the outburst. No one moved. Isabel was pretty sure that, on the other end of the connection, Ellis was not saying a word.
    In the next moment Amelia regained control just as quickly as she had lost it, her face smoothing back into an attractive facade that belied the gun in her hand.
    Oh, boy, talk about mood swings, Isabel thought.
    “Now then, if you want to keep your little dreamer alive,” Amelia said, sounding calm and in control again, “you will do exactly what you’re told. I know precisely where you are because before I left the center today I put a GPS bug on your precious Maserati. I am tracking every move of that car. I’m sure you could find the locator given enough time, but time is one of the things you no longer have, Cutler. Start driving back to Roxanna Beach. If you’re not precisely where I tell you to be two hours from now, your irritating little dreamer will be dead five minutes later.”

38
    e llis let the Maserati have its head when he reached the freeway. This is it, he thought. Always wondered what my worst nightmare would be like. Now I know.
    He intended to use the same route back to Roxanna Beach that he had used earlier in the day to drive to the center. It was a mix of freeways and old roads designed to avoid the centers of towns and other congested areas.
    He forced himself to concentrate on his driving and on making plans. Isabel would be safe at least until he got there. Amelia would not risk killing her until she was certain that he was in her control. He was just beginning to put together the pieces of the puzzle that would tell him why Amelia had risked snatching Isabel but the outline of the big picture was finally starting to take shape. Should have seen it three months ago.

    He punched out Dave’s number.
    “What’s happening?” Dave demanded.
    “She’s got Isabel.”
    “She kidnapped her right out of Kyler headquarters?” Dave was stunned.
    “Amelia Netley, aka Maureen Sage, doesn’t have any problem with taking a few risks.”
    “Why grab Isabel?”
    “She says she’ll release Isabel unharmed in exchange for me.”
    “You believe her?” Dave asked, incredulous.
    “No. But that’s another issue. I’ll deal with it later. Right now I’m working on the fact that Amelia has given me a two-hour window to get to Roxanna Beach. That’s just barely enough time to do it within the legal speed limit, assuming the fog isn’t too bad.”
    “You’re not going to worry a whole lot about the speed limit, are you?”
    “There’s a complication. She’s got a GPS bug hidden somewhere on my car.”
    “Bad news. With one of those gadgets she can track you every inch of the way in real time right on her personal phone.”
    “I’m familiar with the technology,” Ellis said dryly.
    “Sorry. Just meant that making like a Formula One driver to buy yourself some time won’t do you any good. She’ll know if you get to Roxanna Beach ahead of schedule. Hell, she’ll know where you are at any given moment. She’ll know if you even stop to take a leak.”
    “Like I said, it’s a complication.”

    “What about