1501143182 (N) by Lorinda Stewart

Author:Lorinda Stewart
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

• Does not speak for either families

• He has no money

• He is an opportunist trying to take advantage of the situation

• Nairobi speaks for both families

• Their number is xxxxxxxxx

• If they don’t answer, leave a message

• Ask about Nigel. Where is he? Can you speak with him?

Then there was one added message directed to me:

• Only one call back—NO more calls answered after that!

• If beating etc.—hang up phone

I sent out a silent plea to the universe: Please, no bad call. Please no “beating etc.”

When Bob and I were set up, I dialed the phone and a male voice answered. It was not Adam.

“Hello, can I speak to Amanda?” I heard shuffling as the phone was passed.

“Mom, I don’t have long. You have to listen to what I’m saying and take it seriously.”

“Okay, Amanda. I have some important information for you, too.”

“Mom, we have three minutes. I have been told that Mike is telling these guys that he has nothing to do with me. That he is taking care of Nigel.”

“Amanda, now I need to you to tell them that Mike does not speak for either Nigel’s family or your family. He has no money to offer them. He is trying to take advantage of the situation. He does not speak for either of us.”

“Mike doesn’t?” She sounded surprised by this news.

“No.”

“They want to speak with somebody different. They don’t want to speak with Mike.”

“Amanda, I—”

“Mom, Mom, I, I, I can’t hear you.”

The call kept cutting out, and we couldn’t understand each other, so I hung up and called back. “Hello? Hello? Hello?” But I could hear only a male voice echoing the same response.

“I need to speak with Amanda,” I demanded, and after a few fraught seconds I could hear her voice again.

“Mom, the line is not good, so speak slowly and very clearly.”

I thought the kidnappers must be listening and that was her way of telling me they needed to hear and understand what I was saying.

“Mom, do you understand what I am saying about Mike?”

“Yes, Amanda. I need you to tell them that Mike is working on his own. He is not—I repeat—not working for us.”

Amanda was speaking to someone else there with her. “Mike is not working for them—for his family or my family. Okay?” Then she spoke to me again. “So they need to speak to somebody in Nairobi? They need to speak to somebody else?”

“Yes!” I said. “Yes, I have a phone number for you.”

She turned from the phone again to deliver the message; then as I gave her the phone number she wrote it down and asked, “Who are they speaking to?”

“The people in Nairobi working for us. Ah, Amanda, it’s very important that if they don’t answer, to leave a message.” Once again I didn’t have a name, so I tried to be vague without sounding as though I was withholding any information.

“Okay? These are the people working for Nigel and me?”

“Yes, they are.”

“Who is Mike?”

“Mike’s trying . . . Tell them that Mike has no money.

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