Free Gone Black by Linda Ladd Page B

dialect.
    Claire began to feel the rage blasting up inside her again, harder and faster than before, so much that she could actually feel heat burning through her blood. “You bitch,” she gritted out, so breathless with hatred that she could barely speak. “You hit him again and I’ll kill you. I’ll find you and I’ll kill you. I swear I will.”
    The redhead laughed as if very pleased at Claire’s reaction, and then she wrinkled up her nose. “You mean like this, Claire?”
    She hit Black again. A glancing blow to the side of his head, and then Black was completely out, knocked unconscious, his head hanging down, his chin touching his chest.
    â€œStop it,” Claire gritted out. “Stop it. I’ll do whatever you say. What do you want?”
    â€œI think maybe I’ll just hang up. You’re not being very nice to me. I heard you were headstrong. I don’t like headstrong women.”
    â€œNo, wait,” Claire said quickly, realizing that she had to remain calm. For Black. Whoever this girl was, whatever she wanted, she got off on hurting him. That was plain to see.
    â€œYou should think twice before calling me a bitch like that,” the girl said. “Because, you know what, Claire? I can just take Nick’s gun here . . .” She held up a black Colt .45 revolver. Black’s weapon, the one he always carried. “And just shoot this guy of yours between those very, very blue eyes of his. You can watch if you want to and see his brain splatter all over the place. You do realize that, don’t you? That I am in control here. Not you. Not Dr. Black. Me. And me alone. I can do anything I want to him, anything that I damn well please, and you cannot do a damn thing about it. I am holding all the cards, as they say in the old Western movies. So you better listen, and you better be a good little girl.”
    Claire held her breath, tried to control her fury, which was on the edge of exploding again. Because everything the woman said was true, every single word. She could kill Black at any moment. Then the camera turned back again to him. The picture focused on his battered face, and Claire watched as the girl grabbed a handful of his black hair and pulled his head back. Then she pressed the nose of the gun against Black’s forehead. “Or, maybe, I’ll just kill him now. Less bother for all of us.”
    When the girl pulled the trigger, Claire went absolutely stiff, every muscle in her body as rigid as steel. But it only clicked on an empty chamber. Claire wilted, but was so affected by the ruse that she almost fell to her knees. Oh, God, oh, God, she kept thinking. Then she struggled very hard to steady her voice but didn’t quite make it all the way. Her words trembled with residual reaction and the realization that the woman could put a real bullet in that gun at any moment.
    â€œWho are you?” she asked, her voice shaking. “What do you want? A ransom? Is that it? You want money? Well, you can have it. Name your price. Anything you want, any amount of money, and I’ll make sure you get it. Just don’t hurt him anymore.”
    The despicable woman found all that amusing, and let out another shrill of sadistic laughter. “We don’t want your stupid money. We have all the money we’ll ever need. We just called to let you know that the doctor here is alive and well. Well, he’s sort of well, at the moment, anyway. But you probably need to know that we are going to kill him soon in the worst way imaginable, if you don’t do exactly what we say, when we say it, and how we say it.”
    With that terrible threat, Claire instantly stilled and became deathly calm. Okay, now she had to get a grip on herself. She had to talk this crazy woman down, and right now. No telling what she was capable of. Claire had to reason with her in a coherent manner. Black’s life depended on it. “No, please