In Desperation Read Online Free PDF Page A

Cora!”
    â€œYou don’t know anything! Stay out my life! I’m almost eighteen!”
    â€œPlease, honey, listen! We love you!”
    â€œI’m leaving to live my own life! I’m never coming back!”
    Cora left, all right. And no matter what they did, or how hard they searched, they never saw her again.
    She’d become a ghost.
    Now that ghost was pleading across a lifetime, over a phone line between Phoenix and Juarez, Mexico.
    â€œJack?”
    â€œYes, I got your email.”
    A long crackling filled the chasm that yawned between them.
    â€œJack, they took my daughter! Help me!”
    â€œYour daughter? You have a daughter?”
    â€œYes, and two men dressed like police officers came to our house last night and took her!”
    â€œCall the police.”
    â€œ No! They said they’d kill her if I went to the police!”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThey said the man I work for owes them a lot of money.”
    â€œWho do you work for? What the hell are you involved in?”
    â€œListen, I think the kidnappers are drug dealers. It’s like the stuff you’re writing about now in Mexico.”
    â€œDamn it, Cora, are you still screwed up with drugs after all this time?”
    â€œNo, Jack, I’ve put that behind me. I’m a secretary for a courier company. Jack, I don’t know why they took my daughter!”
    â€œWhat about your husband? What’s he doing to help?”
    â€œI’m not married.” Cora released a great sob as she continued. “I don’t know why they took Tilly. That’s her name, Tilly. She’s all I have!”
    It was their grandmother’s name.
    â€œShe’s my little girl. She’s eleven years old and they said they’ll kill her if I don’t help them get their money back. Help us, please! I don’t know what to do, or who to turn to!”
    Gannon hesitated.
    â€œJack, she’s your niece!”
    My niece .
    Gannon’s breathing quickened as he looked out at Juarez, trying to comprehend what was happening. In a matter of minutes, he’d gone from being alone to having two people in his life.
    Two people who desperately needed him now.
    It was a ninety-minute flight from El Paso to Phoenix.
    He could be there in a few hours.

5
    Phoenix, Arizona, Mesa Mirage
    F our hours after Cora’s call, Gannon’s Southwest flight landed in Phoenix. Now, as his 737 taxied to the gate, he resumed questioning the wisdom of setting aside his story in Mexico to rush to Arizona.
    Am I making a mistake?
    He had tried to reduce his risk. Before lifting off, he’d called Isabel Luna at El Heraldo, telling her that he had to leave Juarez for an urgent personal matter in the U.S. Now, in the seconds before the pilot cut the engines, Gannon emailed Melody Lyon in New York, informing her that he’d temporarily left his assignment to fly to Phoenix. He knew that wouldn’t go over well and by the time he stepped from the jet, Lyon had called him to confirm it.
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing in Phoenix? Your assignment’s in Juarez.”
    â€œSomething came up.”
    â€œWho authorized this trip?”
    â€œI’ll pay for it.”
    â€œI don’t care. I want you in Mexico. That’s your story.”
    â€œI know, but—”
    â€œI was under the impression that you were working on securing the assassin’s profile. The WPA needs thatstory, Jack. The Associated Press and Reuters have been killing us. Why are you in Phoenix?”
    He couldn’t reveal the truth—damn it, not yet. Hard-pressed, he searched the terminal for an answer.
    â€œI have an inside lead on a possible kidnapping.”
    â€œA kidnapping in Phoenix? I haven’t seen anything on it.”
    â€œNo one knows. It’s just emerging.”
    â€œDid you alert our bureau there?”
    â€œNo. Not yet. Melody, don’t tell anyone anything yet. Let me follow