They Have Her

Ben

“I’ll contact you the moment I know something,” David said. The line went dead without a goodbye. Either his cash had run out on the payphone or he’d had nothing else to say. David didn’t exactly stand on formality.

From where I sat in my office in New York, I couldn’t do anything about Mila being missing. I felt helpless, and I hated it. I tried to focus on work again, but there was no way I could concentrate when I knew that something was wrong.

I felt like I was going to burst out of my skin. So, I left the office. I didn’t know what I was going to do once I went back home, but I couldn’t just sit here and pretend nothing was wrong.

My phone rang when I walked out of the building. Another unknown number. Maybe David had managed to reconnect.

“We have your girl,” a voice said on the other side of the line when I answered. The voice was deep, gravelly, and my stomach clenched. “If you don’t do what we say, you’re not going to have a girl anymore.”

I should have been terrified for