My Hero: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S77IPBE
EXCERPT
There was so little noise outside, it was
almost peaceful. No car horns. Barely any city traffic. No screaming people. Just
the rustling of a slight winter breeze that wove its way around the tall
buildings nearby. I closed my eyes and briefly took in the quiet. As great as
it was sitting in the safety of Matt’s comforting warmth, it wasn’t long before
my mind wandered back to George and Richard. They were out there somewhere.
“I’m going up to have a shower, okay?” I
told Matt.
“Sure. You’re worried about them, aren’t
you?”
“Yeah,” I answered. I pulled out of his
embrace and stood up to go back inside.
“You go ahead,” he said. He looked at his
watch. “I’ll wait until after dinner.”
I leaned down and kissed him, then went
inside and up to my room. I heard the elevator chime just before I closed my
door. It meant Matt would be busy, so I had some time. I took out the phone Matt
gave me, and the piece of paper I had used to scribble down the phone number. I
knew that eventually, Matt would find out what I was about to do. I looked at
the two items in my hand, and briefly wondered how much of Matt’s trust I was
about to strip away.
I thought that he’d just have to understand
that I had no choice but to do this. I opened the text application of the phone
and keyed in the number. I sent the simple text message.
This is Kate Samuel. What exactly do you
want from me? Do you have George and Richard Wilkinson? If you do, please let
them go.
I looked at the message and hesitated for a
short time. I quickly hit the send button and hoped I wasn’t making things
worse. There was no reply right away, so I tucked the phone and piece of paper
into my purse and went to the next room to find some clothes to change into
after my shower. I picked out a simple, two-piece cotton pajama pant set, and a
sweater and jeans to wear the next day. I took the things back to my room and
undressed in the room before going into the shower.
*********************
I left the bathroom and wore my towel to
get dressed in the bedroom. Fuck, I
thought as I walked into the room. I
really fucked up now. Matt was standing beside the bed. My purse was open
on the bed and the phone he gave me was in the hand he held up to me.
“Why did you take out the phone?” I asked
as I towel-dried my hair. I was doing my best to be nonchalant.
“I came up here to call you down for
dinner,” he said. “The phone was ringing, so I answered.”
“Why did you do that?” Inside, my stress
was mounting. I was in deep shit.
“I just gave you the phone to use an hour
ago, Kate. I thought it was one of my staff or my assistant. I wasn’t going to
answer at first, but it kept ringing, so I did.”
“So who was it?” I asked, pretending to be
innocent.
“You know who it was, Kate,” he did nothing
to contain any of his disappointment or anger. “What have you done?”
“What did they say?” I could deal with his
anger another time. If they took the time to call back, there was a chance we
could bargain with them.
He could barely look at me.
“You just put us and your friends in more
danger, Kate.” So much for diplomacy and mincing words.
Hero
contempt.
“What do you mean?”
“The person on the other end said, ‘You can run but you can’t hide. You and your
bitch are dead,’ then hung up and sent us a text with a picture of an
amputated finger.”
I gasped in horror. “You don’t think
it’s... ”
“I don’t know if they hurt your friends. I
called Bateman. Get dressed. He’s on his way over. I requested that he send
some officers to come and help my team keep watch.” He sat on the bed,
exasperated.
“I…I’m sorry, Matt,” I admitted.
All my hope was deflated. And I felt brand
new waves of guilt from my most recent transgression. I put on the sweater and
jeans, knowing I would probably not be sleeping anytime soon. I sat beside him,
hoping the proximity would help him understand why I did it.
“I thought I could help by trying…”
“You were wrong, Kate,” he said as he stood
and began pacing the floor. “You didn’t help. You did exactly what you promised
not to do only hours ago. Now they know where we are. And you’ve probably
compromised whatever the police may have intended to do.”
Matt’s own phone rang and he ignored it the
first time. When it rang again, he tilted it to see who was calling. It was his
security team leader. Detective Bateman
was downstairs.
DREAM
CAST
Kate Samuel – Shailene woodley
Matt Lewis – Chris Hemsworth
Detective Bateman – Chris Evans
George Wilkinson – Bruce Greenwood
Richard Wilkinson – Karl Urban
Chad Bridges – Chris Pine
Joy Carrington – Scarlett Johansson
