Remember When

a private place, not a hotel. He'll contact you, or me. He'll-shit!"
    He fumbled for the phone.
    "Give it to me. You kill us, we can't help her." Jack snatched it away, punched for the voice mail.
    "You have two new messages. First new message received May eighteenth, at five-fifteen P.M.
    They heard Laine's voice, dead calm. "Sixty-eight East is a long road. Are you adding interstate abduction to your list?"
    "Smart," Max breathed. "She's very smart." He shot the Porsche like a bullet onto an off-ramp, spun it like a top and rocketed to backtrack toward the interstate.
    He listened to every word, blocked the fear. When the call ended, he had to order himself not to tell Jack to replay it just so he could hear her voice. "Get Vince back, give him the vehicle description and the destination. Alleghany Recreational Park. Tell him we're en route and that Crew is armed."
    "But we're not waiting for the cops?"
    "No, we're not waiting for them."
    He flew toward the forest.
    ***
    Laine stepped into the cabin, looked around the spacious living area with its stone fireplace and dark, heavy wood. It was time, she concluded, for a change of tack.
    Stalling was fine, it was good. Anything that kept her from getting shot or beaten was fine and good. But it never paid to depend on a last-minute cavalry charge. Smart money depended on yourself.
    So she turned, offered Crew an easy smile. "First, let me say I'm not going to give you any reason to hurt me. I'm not into pain. You could, of course, hurt me anyway, but I'm hoping you've more style than that. We're both civilized people. I have something, you want something." She strolled over to an overstuffed checked sofa, sat, crossed her legs. "Let's negotiate."
    "This"-he gestured with the gun-"speaks for itself."
    "Use it, get nothing. Why don't you offer me a glass of wine instead?"
    He angled his head in consideration and, she thought, reevaluation. "You're a cool one."
    "I've had time to settle down. I won't deny you scared me. You certainly did, and still could, but I'm hoping you're open to a reasonable dialogue here."
    She flipped quickly through her mental file of what she knew of him and what she could observe.
    Towering ego, vanity, greed, sociopathic and homicidal tendencies.
    "We're alone, I've got no way out. You're in the driver's seat, but still... I have something you want."
    She threw back her head and laughed, and could see she'd surprised him. Good. Keep him off balance, keep him thinking. "Oh God, who would have believed the old man had it in him? He's been second-rate all his life, and a serious pain in my ass. Now he comes along with the score of a lifetime. Hell, the score of ten lifetimes. And he drops it right into my lap. I'm sorry about Willy though, he had a sweet nature. But, spilled milk."
    She caught of flicker of interest on Crew's face before he opened a drawer, took out a pair of handcuffs.
    "Why, Alex, if there's going to be bondage fun, I'd really appreciate that wine first."
    "You think I'm buying this?"
    "I'm not selling anything." And maybe he wasn't buying, but he was listening to the pitch. She sighed as the cuffs landed in her lap. "All right, your way. Where do you want them?"
    "Arm of the couch, to your right hand."
    Though the idea of locking herself up had her throat going dry, she did what he said, then sent him a sultry look. "How about that drink?"
    With a nod, he walked over to the kitchen, took a bottle out of a cupboard. "Cabernet?"
    "Perfect. Do you mind if I ask why a man with your skills and tastes hooked up with Jack?"
    "He was useful. And why are you trying to play the hard-edged opportunist?"
    She pretended to pout. "I don't like to think I'm hard, just realistic."
    "What you are is a small-town shopkeeper who has the bad luck to have my property."
    "I think it's remarkably good luck." She took the wine he offered, sipped. "The shop's a nice, steady game. Selling old, often useless items at a nice profit. Also gives me entry into a lot of places that have more old, often useless and very valuable items. I keep my hand in."
    "Well." And she could see that while he hadn't considered that angle before, he was now.
    "Look, you've got a beef with the old man, fine. He's nothing to me but an albatross. And if he ever taught me anything, it was to look out for number one."
    Crew shook his head slowly. "You walked out of that shop with me without a sound, primarily to protect the clerk."
    "I wasn't going to argue with the gun you