“Land line is down, too,” said Mazie, slamming the handset down on the ‘All circuits are busy’ recording.
Chuck ran into the kitchen. “I checked with the neighbors, they think it’s the storm.”
Mazie snorted. “They’re idiots, it’s been cloudy like that for weeks, and it hasn’t even rained or anything.”
Chuck glanced out the patio door. “Yeah, but it’s worse lately. And windy.”
“Whatever, Chuck.”
We were in the kitchen, waiting impatiently for Greg to come back downstairs. Anne checked for a signal on her phone for the tenth time, and then turned it off with a vicious stab and jammed it into her pocket. “I hate this. If we go after Peter or Piotr or whatever his name is, he kills Henry and Leon. If we stay here, he wins. No matter what we do, we lose.”
“I don’t think so.” Everyone turned to look at me. “In fact, I think the whole purpose of that phone call was to get things started. He wants us to engage and come to him.”
Chuck snorted. “Seriously? Dude, the man said he’d turn your buddies into worm pinatas if we so much as stepped outside. Yeah, I can totally see how that means to step outside.”
“Why call at all? He dangled a trail in front of me, dragging me halfway across the country, and now that I’m here, am I some kind of threat? Of course not. I have no more idea where to find Piotr than I did two weeks ago, and even a small town is too big for me to search, especially with the way the bag population is throwing Anne off track. The only thing that call accomplished was to give me a chance to follow the hostages to Piotr.”
Chuck wasn’t convinced. “Or, he wanted to you stay out of his way. You know, like he said.”
“Chuck, he didn’t have to call me for that. If I didn’t know that he was about to move hostages, I would have missed it. In fact, I’m betting that instead of putting people in cars that would blend into the normal traffic, he’s going to use something that stands out, just to make sure I don’t miss it.”
Mazie said, “If he wants you so bad, why not just send a bunch of the coerced to get you?”
“Because he has no idea where I am. All he has is Anne’s number in Henry’s cell. He can talk to me, but he can’t find me.”
“Besides,” said Anne, “I doubt Piotr thinks his bags are up to kidnapping Abe. He’s a lot tougher than he looks.”
“Uh, thanks?” I figured that Chuck would make a comment, but instead he just looked thoughtful. He was probably remembering being tossed around back at the hotel. Even strong people have some give to them when you push back, especially if pushed by a guy with Chuck’s size. I don’t, which probably made an impression.
I changed the subject. “In any case, if Piotr is ready for me to follow his hostages to him, then we need to figure out a different way. The worst thing we could do is to come in when and how he expects us. Besides, if I’m right, he can’t do anything without me anyway, so he has no choice but to wait for us to make a move.”
“You hope,” said Mazie.
“I hope.”
“You know,” said Chuck, “there’s no way that Saint Peter is going to let your friends go. Hell, they’re probably loading up on wigglers as we speak.”
“I doubt it. He’s going to need some kind of leverage for when I do actually show up. It’s one thing to lure a bear into your house, it’s another thing entirely to survive the experience.”