Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 12

convinced that she was not going to get free of her bonds, she did the only thing she could do: She whistled. Holly had learned, as a little girl, how to whistle very loudly. She could still bring cabs to a screeching halt in New York City with that whistle, and sound carried well over water. She was probably in a boat moored in the harbor, so somebody ashore might hear her. She whistled, then rested, then whistled some more.
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    BACK AT THE STONE HOUSE , Dino was looking once again at the satellite thermal images that had been sent to Lance from Langley. “Lance, Stone, come look at this,” he said.
    Then Daisy, who had been sleeping before the fire, suddenly jerked awake, scrambled to her feet and barked.
    Everyone turned and looked at her.
    â€œWhat is it, Daisy?” Ham asked.
    Daisy ran to the door to the terrace and began clawing frantically at it.
    Ham got up. “What’s the matter, girl?” He opened the door, and Daisy was gone. Ham ran after her and stopped on the terrace.
    Everybody else poured out of the study onto the terrace and stood, watching Daisy run.
    â€œShe’s headed down the dock,” Ham said. “Come on!”
    The group ran after the dog. Suddenly, Stone could hear a whistle. Daisy had obviously heard it a lot sooner.
    â€œIt’s Holly!” Ham yelled and jumped into the picnic boat, where Holly lay bound but not gagged.
    â€œHam,” Holly was screaming, “is it you?”
    Daisy was dancing around her, yelping, trying to lick her face, while Ham dug into a pocket for his knife.
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    HOLLY SAT IN FRONT of the fire, trying to eat a bowl of soup. Finally, she gave up, picked up the bowl and drank from it until it was empty. “That’s better,” she said. “All I’ve had to eat for days is chocolate bars…Snickers, I think.”
    Stone spoke up. “Jesus, I saw Caleb buying a whole box of Snickers in the Dark Harbor Shop.”
    â€œThat makes him the guy,” Holly said.
    Everyone was gathered around her, watching. Even Seth and Mabel had come in from the kitchen. “What else can I get you, Holly?” Stone asked.
    Holly stood up and stretched some more. Apart from being sore after being restrained in one position for a long time, she felt remarkably well. “A drink,” she said.
    Dino went to the bar and got her some Knob Creek on the rocks, her favorite.
    â€œAre you ready to talk now?” Lance asked.
    â€œReady? All I want to do is talk; I’ve had my mouth taped shut for…how long has it been?”
    â€œYou’ve been gone a little over four days,” Stone said. “Was it the twins who took you? Did they put you in the boat?”
    â€œTwins? The Stone twins? No, not them. It was one man, and he was very clever. The only time he spoke to me was through some sort of voice-altering device. I never saw him. I have no idea what he looks like. But the Snickers bars makes me think it’s Caleb.”
    â€œWhy did he let you go?” Stone asked. “Do you know?”
    Holly nodded. “Oh, God. I need a computer.” She got up and ran toward Dick’s little office. The computer was already on. She went onto the Internet and started typing.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Lance asked.
    â€œI bought my way out,” she said. “I transferred a million two to his Singapore account.”
    â€œWhat are you doing now?” he asked.
    â€œI’m wiring the money back to my account,” she said. “I memorized the account number, and he gave me a password of PE65000, like the old Glenn Miller recording, Pennsylvania 6-5000, but I entered EE65000, so he won’t be able to access the account until he figures that out. I’m going to send the money back to my account.”
    Ham stood in the door. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Where did you get a million two hundred thousand dollars?”
    â€œJackson left it to me,” she lied. Jackson was her dead fiancé.
    â€œOh,” Ham said.
    She typed a few more keystrokes. “There,” she said. Then she started typing again. “I think I’ll change the password back to PE65000,” she said. “That way, when he accesses it, he’ll find it empty. I wish I could be there to see his face.”
    Responding to calls from Stone, Sergeant Young arrived simultaneously with Ed Rawls, and they were brought up to date. “Do you have any idea who this man is,