Stolen Omnibus – Small Town Abduction Read Free Page B

something.”
    Hope lifted her off the bed. As she rushed to the hallway she imagined Kaley sprinting through the living room. But when she stepped from her room the only thing she saw was a plastic bag that Jake clutched wearily. “What is it?” Lena felt her skin flush cold, and she shivered uncontrollably.
    “We found this on Deputy Keen’s body. It looks like it was left by the kidnapper.”
    With a shaking hand Lena grabbed the evidence from her brother’s fingertips and flipped it over in her palm so she could read the message written hastily on the strip of paper. The demand was short and simple. Kill the bill in thirty-six hours, or I kill the girl. She re-read it a few more times, the flood of anger thawing the icy grip of fear. By the time she lifted her head her cheeks were flushed red. “You know who did this, Jake.”
    Her brother was never much of a talker, but he shared the same stoic rage of their father when he was upset. The muscle along his jawline twitched as he ground his teeth. After a moment he turned to his deputies. “I want a unit over to New Energy’s headquarters, and I want a search warrant for the facility. Now!”
    The deputies scattered at his order, and Lena once again felt the twitch in her idle hands. She curled her fingers into fists and lowered her voice. “They don’t care about warrants.”
    “I can’t storm in there after what happened last night,” Jake said, though his tone wasn’t convincing. “Tensions are still high from the riots, and the last thing I need is a standoff between my deputies and a bunch of pissed-off oil workers. We’ve got a lot of eyes on us right now.”
    “I don’t give a shit about who’s watching us!” Lena dropped the whisper, and a few heads in the front of the house turned from the outburst. Jake reached for her arm, but she yanked it out of his grip. “They have my daughter.” She lifted the note and then flung it to the ground. “Who else wants the bill dead more than they do? You and I both know they’ll do whatever they have to do in order to win.”
    “Lena—”
    But before he finished she stormed back into her room. She flung away clothes, checked under sheets, and sifted through open drawers until she found Mark’s spare car keys. She smacked her shoulder into a few of the techs in the hallway on her way out.
    Jake’s footsteps followed her through the living room and out the door. The sedan’s lights flashed as Lena unlocked the car and ignored the awkward stares of the officers on the lawn. She climbed into the driver’s seat then locked the doors shut before Jake could open one.
    “Get out of the car, Lena.” Jake pounded on the window then screamed something at his deputies, which she didn’t hear over the engine as she floored the gas pedal.
    Tires kicked up and trailed dust down the dirt road. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Her idle hands needed something to do.
     

Chapter 2 – 35 Hours Left
     
    Ken Lang leaned back in his chair, his dark-brown eyes glued to the speaker on his phone. The blue-checkered tie he wore drifted lazily to the right. He drummed the tips of his fingers together in the air, his elbows on the armrests of the chair, his shoulders tucked high next to his ears, offering the illusion that he had no neck.
    “We hired you to do one thing, Lang, and you failed miserably.” Mr. Alwitz’s voice resonated in the room. The phone on the desk sat next to the morning newspaper, where the front headline read, “Hayes Passes Bill, Riots Ensue.”
    Ken leaned forward, straightening out his back and running a hand over his slicked-back jet-black hair. “The win was by the smallest of margins. And we can spin the town riots in our favor. We’ll attack Hayes’s leadership. If we can convince enough representatives that they’ll have the same riots in their towns if it passes, we can kill it in the state assembly.” Ken shifted his eyes from the phone to Scott Ambers, who sat in the