She's Positive

“What do you want?” Boyd growled. But it wasn’t overly emotional. More the tone of a man who’d been inconvenienced than one who was angry.

“I just want to talk. And I want to know how Luke’s doing.”

“The kid’s fine. For now.”

Colin wasn’t immune to that threat, but he eased it aside. “Good. That’s good, Boyd. Now, I need to know how we can keep it that way. You must have demands, but so far you haven’t let anybody know what those are.”

“I want time to finish up some things in here.”

“Time?” Luke repeated. That sent an uneasy feeling through him. “For what?”

“Nothing to do with the kid,” Boyd readily answered. “I’m looking for something. When I find it, I’ll let you know. But for now, I want all you badges to back off and go back down the mountain.”

“We have backed off.” What they couldn’t do, however, was leave the area. “But Luke’s parents are worried about him, and I’m sure Luke misses them. He’s a good kid and has no part in this. Why don’t you let him go and then we can talk about giving you that time you want?”

Boyd made a sarcastic grunt. “If I let him go, you’ll just storm in here and kill me. Not gonna happen. As soon as I find what I’m looking for, I’ll get back to you.”

“Wait,” Colin said, since it sounded as if Boyd were about to hang up. “I want to talk to Luke. I want to make sure he’s okay. Before you say no, think about it this way. We badges will be a lot more cooperative if we know the boy hasn’t been harmed.”

Silence.

The moments crawled by.

Oh, yeah. Waiting was the hardest part.

“I’ll get back to you on that, too,” Boyd snapped, and he hung up.

Colin turned off the recorder, jotted down the end time of the call. Just a little under two minutes. It was a start, even though he doubted Boyd would call back any time soon.

“Any idea what Boyd’s looking for?” Colin asked Tom.

“We think he’s after fifty million dollars. The previous owner might have hidden the money in the estate or in those tunnels I told you about.”

Fifty million? Whoa. So, this was a crime of greed, not passion. In some ways that made it easier. Boyd likely wouldn’t harm Luke because the child was the very thing that would give him the time to search for all that money. But Colin had to wonder—what would happen if Boyd got his hands on the cash? That, however, was an issue for later.

First, he had to settle another concern before it went any further.

He turned to Danielle. “This isn’t going to work,” he let her know.

Her chin came up. “I can help.”

Maybe she could. She was a darn good psychologist, but Colin couldn’t do his job if he had to sit side by side with her. Too bad he couldn’t just tell her that, but that would mean admitting that she’d slashed his heart to bits. No way did he want her to know that. Better to let her believe that the only thing left between them was the bitterness.

And not this ridiculous attraction.

“Danielle,” he started. It was his negotiator’s voice. Calm, friendly, but with just a hint of detachment. “This standoff could go on for days. Weeks, even. You don’t want to be here with me for that length of time, do you?”

She opened her mouth. Closed it. Repeated the process, adding a defeated sigh, before she shook her head and prepared to exit the van. “I need to talk to Callie.”

Colin scowled. She was giving up with hardly a fight. Yep, she didn’t want to be there. It was really over between them.

He gave a crisp nod and was about to tell Tom to locate another psychologist, but the phone interrupted him. On the caller ID screen, he saw that it was Boyd.

“Boyd,” Colin answered, turning the recorder back on. “You’ll let me speak to Luke.” He tried not to make it sound like a question.

Boyd didn’t answer. There was a shuffle of movement on the other end of the line. Colin listened, trying to make sense of every sound. After several seconds, Colin realized the person now on the phone had a different breathing pattern than Boyd’s.

“Luke?” Colin said. “Are you there, buddy?”

“I’m here,” the boy answered.

God, he sounded so little.

And scared.

Colin’s pen snapped under the pressure of his grip, and he grabbed another so he’d be ready to write. “Luke, are you okay?”

“I guess. But I wanta see my daddy and my mom. Please.”

Danielle pressed her fingertips to her lips, and Colin saw her blink back tears. He’d never seen her break on the job. Never. But the little boy’s plea would have gotten to anyone.

Well, anyone except Boyd.

There were more muffled sounds, and Boyd returned to the line. “He’s still whimpering,” Boyd complained.

“I’ll talk to him,” Colin insisted. “I’ll calm him down.”

“No. You’re done talking to him. I want somebody else. Somebody that knows how to handle kids, and I don’t mean his parents. Don’t want to talk to them. Put Dr. Danielle Connolly on the phone.”

Colin’s heart went to his knees. Apparently so did Danielle’s. She froze, and her eyes widened.

“Dr. Connolly,” Colin repeated. “What makes you think she’s here?”

But Boyd ignored that. “Dr. Connolly?” Boyd said in a much louder voice. “I know you’re in that white van. Get on the phone now.”

Danielle stared at Colin. Waiting. Her eyes pleaded with him to do something. And since he had no choice, he gave her the nod to go ahead.

“I’m here, Boyd,” Danielle immediately said. “How can I help?”

“You can calm down this kid for me, that’s what you can do. You can make him understand that his whining is making me crazy.”

“Of course, I’ll talk to him. Please put him on the line.” Danielle swallowed hard, and the waiting began again.

Colin mentally groaned and cursed a blue streak.

This shouldn’t be happening. They were in a blind spot. Boyd shouldn’t be able to see them or monitor what they were doing, though Tom had said barely.

His gaze fired toward Tom. “How did he know she was here?” Colin mouthed.