The Games by James Patterson

Author:James Patterson
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2016-06-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 50

I HEARD THREE sharp knocks on my door at the Marriott. Despite the disaster of the previous evening, I’d been in desperate need of sleep, and around ten that morning I had gone there rather than to Tavia’s flat.

The knocking came again. I groaned, forced my eyes open, and looked at the clock. Six thirty p.m. I’d slept eight solid hours, the longest stretch I’d gotten in a month.

“Jack?” Cherie Wise called through the door. “Are you there?”

“Two seconds, Cherie,” I yelled back.

After throwing on sweatpants and a hoodie, I went to the door, looked through the peephole, and saw Cherie standing there, trembling, still wearing her clothes from the night before. I yanked the door open. “Cherie?”

“What am I going to do?” she asked, and burst into tears.

“Come inside,” I said, taking her by the elbow. “What’s happened?”

“Nothing,” she blubbered. “That’s the point. They’ve had him more than twelve hours and nothing!”

“Andy’s a big coup, and they know it,” I said, leading her to a seat. “They’re going to be extra careful before they contact us. And after the gunfire, they have to know there are federal police involved too. You’ve got to take a lot of deep breaths. Live in the moment until we know more.”

Wiping at her tears, Cherie said, “I’m sorry, Jack, I’ve just never been through anything remotely like this.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” I said. “Anybody in your boots has the right to cry.”

“Not very Jackie O. of me.”

“I’ll bet Jackie O. had more than her share of moments like this, times when she hadn’t slept and felt like she was all alone in the world.”

Cherie sighed, blew out her breath, and slumped in the chair.

“I suppose you’re right,” she said. “It’s just left me feeling so burned, so cheated. One minute I get the girls back and the next Andy’s gone.”

Cherie paused, tensing again, acting as if she were far away and contemplating the unthinkable.

“We’d been having trouble in our marriage, Jack,” she said. “I won’t bore you with the sordid details, but the truth is…I’ve been up all night because I want Andy back. I really do. I want to tell him that all is forgiven. I want to hear him say it to me.”

The billionaire’s wife looked tortured and forlorn as she drew her feet up, hugged her knees, and whispered again, “I want to hear him say it to me.”

Cherie seemed to grow in dimensions I had not imagined just a few moments before.

I said, “The fact that the girls were released in return for the ransom is a very good sign. I think if we cooperate, you’ll see him—”

My cell rang. It was Tavia.

“We were just contacted,” she said.

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