The Witness by Josh McDowell

Author:Josh McDowell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781414338118
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

35

“My cell phone is in my office. That’s the number he’ll recognize,” Kadeen slurred through his swollen mouth. The rest of his face felt just as bad. Blood dripped to the floor as he stumbled down the narrow hallway. The silencer-extended barrel of Lemieux’s gun felt cold on the back of his neck.

Lord, help me to do the right thing, he prayed. Please watch over my family. Do what you will with me, but please protect Rania and the girls.

Upon reaching his office, he stumbled through the door. One of his eyes was almost completely closed, but through the other he saw his phone. Is this the only way? Can I think of no alternative?

He stopped in the middle of the room and turned toward Lemieux. “I can’t believe you’re a police officer and you’re doing this. Can’t we even discuss this?”

“Tick, tock, Mr. al-Wadhi,” Lemieux answered, raising the gun so that it was between Kadeen’s eyes.

Kadeen reached for the phone, and the inspector lowered himself onto a wooden chair in the corner of the room.

“Before you call, let’s make it clear what you are to say. You will tell Accad that your family is in great danger and he must return. You must not mention my name! Are we clear on that?”

Kadeen nodded, but in doing so the room started spinning. He leaned against the edge of his desk.

“If you mention my name, your family will die. If you try any tricks, your family will die. And you’ll want to be sure to be persuasive, because if Accad refuses you, your family will most certainly die.”

The thought of his little girls in the hands of this monster was all the motivation Kadeen needed. Cradling the phone in his hands, he tried to focus his vision on the small numbers. When they began to clear, he started pressing buttons.

Lifting the phone to his ear, he waited.

“Marwan? This is Kadeen. . . . Yes, I know my voice is strange. You’ve got to help me. Remember how you said there might be people coming? You were right. . . . It’s really bad, Marwan. You must come back. . . . Please, my friend, you must. . . . But Rania and the girls—he’ll kill them if you don’t. . . .”

Kadeen watched as Lemieux leaned forward in the chair. He knew time was short before the inspector blew again.

“But, Marwan, you must come back. After all we did for you . . . I don’t know what to say. I thought—”

Suddenly Lemieux was off the chair. He snatched the phone from Kadeen’s hand.

“Listen, Accad, you better get back here, or I swear I will make those little girls die slow deaths! And what I’ll do to the woman, you don’t even want to know! Do you hear me, Accad? Accad?”

Lemieux held the phone away from his face and saw that the screen was black. He redialed the last number, and a moment later the house phone began ringing.

A painful smile

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