Free Ransom by Erica Sutherhome

 
     
     
     
    Ransom
    By
    Erica Sutherhome
     
     
     
     
    This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictiously and are not to be construed as real.  Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
     
    LULU BOOKS
    3013 Hillsborough St.
    Raleigh, NC  27607
     
    Copyright © 2012 by Heather Crouse.
    ISBN:  978-1-300-44528-9
    Cover Art:  Cougawoman, Photobucket
    All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.  For information address Lulu Press.
     
    First Lulu Books printing:  December 2012
    Second printing:  2013
    Printed in the U.S.A.
    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Ransom
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 1
    “Lance, wait!”
    Lance Redding turned and held back, decided not to pull his black truck away from the curb.  The man running toward him was one of his cousins, one he hadn’t seen in years.  An alarm rang inside his head.  Quinn wasn’t the type to be that concerned with family.  It had to be important.  “What is it?  What’s wrong?”
    The man gasped when he reached Lance, and he worked on trying to catch his breath.  They both had similar familial features, but that was really where the similarities ended.
    “What happened?”
    “It’s about Louis.”
    Lance grimaced.  His other cousin was always notorious for getting into questionable situations.  Louis had spent the night in the slammer a few times.  “What about him?”
    “He’s in trouble, Lance.”
    He groaned.  “Really,” he said dryly.  “What did he do this time?”
    “It’s not like that.  It’s the kind of situation you can’t get out of…it’s real trouble, Lance, and he’s not telling us anything.”
    “Wait just one damn minute.  You know he’s in trouble and he hasn’t told you the details?”
    “No, he hasn’t.”  Quinn sighed.  “We’ve been out of contact for awhile.  He’s nowhere to be found.”  He shook his head.  “You know that’s not like him.”
    “And you haven’t done anything about it?”
    “What did you want me to do?  Call the cops? Like they’d believe me after what he’s done before?  I don’t think so.”  He sighed.  “I thought it was better if I went to you. You can handle things like this. You have…connections.”
    He scoffed.  “Yeah, good ole’ Lance will do anything for family, right?”
    “That’s right.”
    With a grim look, he said, “Where do I find these people, huh?  Do you even know that?”
    “Louis left some information behind.  Maybe you can find out?”  He handed over a card with a number and address.
    Lance took it without hesitance.  “Quinn, I’ll do what I can.  That’s all I can promise.”
    “He’s my brother, man.”  The concern there in Quinn’s eyes was hard to mistake.
    His respect for the man deepened, that he could be this worried about Louis’ situation.  “You have my word.  I’ll do what I can.  But, I wish you had done something sooner.”
    “You have no idea how much I regret that.”
    It wasn’t until Lance had gotten back to his apartment that he saw the name scrawled across the note along with the address.  A bit of refreshing rage swept over him, and he slammed the flat of his hand on the coffee table.  He barely noticed the sting. 
    Yeah, Sanson had a reputation in town.  He was little more than a small time mobster.  But, he wasn’t a man you crossed either. 
    And Lance would do anything for family.  Quinn was right about that assumption.  He owed them all.  His aunt Dinah, Quinn and Louis’ mama, had taken him in when his own mother had abandoned him.  Quinn and Louis had been like his brothers. 
    Louis was in deep this time though, and Lance had to do something