LITMIR.BIZ

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The girl in his head.

      She’d said they’d known each other years ago. Had they been lovers? Was that why her face was the clearest memory he’d managed to glean from his battered brain?

      She’d called him Johnny. Implied he’d come from serious money, and that he’d been kidnapped and presumed dead. Obviously whoever had wanted him dead back then still did, and they’d kidnapped an innocent child to find him.

      Kidnapped.

      Clenching his jaw against the panic that washed over him, he forced himself to think about it, testing the idea in his brain. It made sense. Was that why he was so damned afraid of the dark? Why the headaches that assaulted him yielded up such a suffocating claustrophobia?

      He wiped sweat off his face, tongued his split lip, and waited for his pulse to slow as the panic finally eased.

      Maybe he should have taken the woman to the police. Maybe he should have left her there with the thugs. It wasn’t impossible that she’d deliberately led them to him.

      Shaking his head he pushed damp hair off his forehead; neither of those choices were an option. He’d recognized her the instant he opened the door, as soon as he’d looked into her eyes. He’d always known those eyes were green and gold. He’d known her chin stuck up pugnaciously when she was mad.

      Somehow, somewhere, in his malfunctioning brain, he knew she had once been the most important person in the world to him.

      She still was, because if she’d known him seven years ago, then she was the one person who could help him regain his lost memories, the one person in the world he might be able to trust.

      A cell phone rang. He jumped, startled, the car swerving under his unsteady hands.

      “What the hell?” It must be hers.

      She whimpered and stirred.

      Jay tried to ignore the phone, but he couldn’t. If he was going to make any sense out of what was happening, he had to have every bit of information available, including who was calling this mysterious woman from his past.

      He reached out and felt around for the phone, doing his best to ignore her rounded woman’s body. His mouth quirked and he shifted uncomfortably as he searched blindly, keeping his eyes on the road. It had been a little too long since he’d touched a woman.

      The ringing continued. She moaned, saying something, but didn’t wake.

      He pulled over to the side of the road and took the car out of gear. He searched her pockets. Finally, on the fourth ring, his hand closed around the hard plastic case in her jacket pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it. The caller ID was blocked.

      After hesitating for a brief second, he pressed the answer button and listened.

      Just then Paige stirred and lifted her head. She blinked and moved, then froze, gasping with pain. Her wide, terrified eyes glittered, pleading with him in the darkness.

      “Give me the phone,” she whispered, her words strained and breathless.

      “Who is this?” the voice on the other end of the phone demanded.

      He didn’t speak. There was something in the background, some sound that seemed familiar. He listened intently, his head beginning to throb, as the voice spoke.

      “Paige? Don’t play games with me.”

      Paige reached into her pocket with her right hand, moaning involuntarily as she moved. She pulled out a minitape recorder and turned it on, then tried to take the cell phone with her left hand, but she couldn’t manage it.

      She had a tape recorder. He was impressed.

      The voice from the phone called her name again.

      Without a word, Jay held the phone up to her ear.

      “Katie,” she sobbed dryly, pressing her head tightly against the phone. He held it steady for her.

      “I’m sorry. I…dropped the phone. Where’s Katie?” As if just remembering the tape recorder, she held it close to the cell phone. She listened for a moment, then cut her eyes over at Jay, looking away when he met her gaze. “Yes. I found him. You should know. You had me followed.”

      She listened, breathing in short bursts. She was obviously in pain.

      He pushed away the easy compassion that rose in him. She was negotiating with these people, using him as a bargaining chip.

      “I swear. I will. You just tell me where and when. But I have to talk to Katie. I won’t do anything for you unless you prove to me she’s all right.”

      Jay glanced at her pale, pinched face. He was surprised at the strength of will in her voice. She was obviously in pain, judging by the way she avoided moving her left arm. He was pretty sure she had a dislocated or broken shoulder. He hoped to hell it wasn’t broken.

      “Katie, honey? Hi.”

      Jay held the phone, feeling her inner struggle. He could tell she wanted to drop the tape recorder and press the phone as close as she could to her ear. He had to give her credit for having the presence of mind to record the call.

      He didn’t look at her, offering her as much illusion of privacy as he could. Her voice was thick with tears, and at the same time deliberately and pitifully cheerful.

      “Are you okay, sweetie? They’re being nice to you?” She paused, and took a long, shaky breath. “It’s dark at night? Oh, Katie. I know you don’t like the dark.” Her voice quivered. “But remember what I told you? God wraps us up in the soft dark night to keep us safe.”

      Jay winced. They were holding the child in the dark. An echo of the panic that had seized him earlier rippled through him again. He rubbed his temple where a headache was starting.

      “You have Ugly Afghan? I’m so glad. Keep it wrapped tight and pretend it’s my arms, okay?”

      Jay heard her voice almost break. She swallowed audibly. “Be brave, okay?” Paige continued. “No, I know you don’t like canned soup, but you eat it and stay strong. We’ll have p-pizza real soon, okay, hon—”

      She stopped abruptly, listening. Jay glanced at her. Her face was still pale, her lips white with tension. “I understand,” she grated. “If you hurt her, I swear I’ll—”

      She slumped. “They hung up.”

      Jay glanced at the phone. Nothing showed on the display window except the battery indicator and the digital clock.

      She took it away from him.

      After he’d pulled back onto the road, Jay glanced at her. “So your plan is to trade me for your daughter?”

      She looked at him, her eyes dark and haunted, but her chin held high. “What do you think? You’re a grown man. She’s just a baby.”

      Jay allowed himself a wry smile at his earlier thought that he might be able to trust her.

      “They told me they’d kill her. They’re keeping her in the dark. Katie hates the dark.” Her voice broke. “Will you help me?”

      “How do you think I can help? I don’t know you. I sure don’t know them. What do you want me to do, offer myself to them?”

      She met his gaze. “The Johnny I knew would have done anything in his power to protect a child.”

      Jay’s heart slammed into his chest with the force of a blow. The Johnny she’d known.

      “And you think I’m that man?” he asked. The effort of holding hope at bay inside him harshened his voice.

      She held his gaze for a moment, her eyes wide and haunted. Then she shook her head. “I don’t know.”

      An odd pang of hurt and disappointment sliced through his heart at her words.

      It wasn’t hard for him to imagine how frightened and alone

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