Paying The Piper Read Online Free PDF Page A

don’t have that kind of money,” Scott interrupted. He wasn’t employing one of Sheils’s hopeless delay tactics; it was just the truth. Regardless, the Piper hung up.
    “Dammit!” Scott shouted and threw the phone down.
    “Stay calm, Scott,” Jane pleaded. “He’s doing this to irritate you.”
    “Well, it’s working.”
    “For Sammy, please try.”
    And for Peter , he thought. The poor kid was clinging to Jane. He looked petrified. “Okay.”
    The Piper called back thirty minutes later. Scott reported for punishment.
    “Two million dollars in nonsequential bills. I will call in twenty-four hours to confirm you have the money.”
    Having learned his lesson, Scott kept quiet.
    “Do you understand?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good. Good night.”
    “Sammy…” Scott paused for a second, expecting the line to go dead at his interruption, but it didn’t.
    “What about him?”
    “I want to speak to him.”
    “When you have the money. Start breaking open your piggy banks.” The Piper hung up.
    The Piper wouldn’t be calling back tonight. Scott felt his tenuous grasp on the situation slither out of his hands. He surveyed the agents entrenched in his home. They’d yet to come to this realization. They were surplus to requirements and didn’t even know it.
    “You did well,” Sheils said. “Okay, we need to discuss the ransom. I’m assuming you don’t have two million.”
    “No,” Jane said, shaking her head. “Even if we sold everything, we wouldn’t come anywhere close. He hasto know we don’t have that kind of money.”
    “I’m sure he does. This is where our negotiator will come into play. He’ll bargain the price down.”
    “Wake up, Sheils,” Scott said. “The Piper purposefully picked a figure out of our reach. This isn’t a normal Piper kidnapping—or haven’t you gotten that yet?”
    “Can’t the FBI lend us the money or something?” Jane asked.
    “Sorry, no. It’s against government policy to fund ransoms, but we have connections with banks that can assist you.”
    Scott looked over at the clock. Time had slowed. He would have sworn it was deep into the night, but it wasn’t even nine p.m. Scott knew the Feds were doing their job, but it was starting to get claustrophobic. Their house had never seemed so small.
    “I’d like to speak with my family—alone.”
    “Sure. Good idea.” Sheils got up and directed his agents into the dining area.
    “Time for bed, buddy,” Scott said to Peter.
    “Okay, Dad,” Peter said, almost in a daze. For once, there was no argument about bedtime.
    He hopped off the couch, and Jane took his hand as they climbed the stairs. Scott and Jane helped Peter change into his pajamas and watched over him while he brushed his teeth, like they had done when he was small. Scott expected difficult questions from his son that he wouldn’t be able to answer, but Peter said nothing about his brother. Like all of them, he needed a break from the nightmare. Scott found himself wanting Peter to ask him about Sammy. He needed the pain. Pain gave him drive.
    Scott and Jane walked Peter to the room he shared with his brother. Without Sammy, the room seemed cavernous. His empty bed was a nasty reminder of his absence.
    “Are you going to be okay in here?” Jane asked Peter.
    The boy stared at Sammy’s side of the room.He nodded and climbed into his bed. Scott and Jane sat by his side.
    “Do you want to talk about anything?” Scott asked.
    “No.” He rolled over, and within minutes, he was asleep.
    Scott led Jane to their bedroom and closed the door.
    Jane fell into his arms. “Where are we going to come up with two million dollars?”
    He’d been totting up their assets in his head, converting their possessions into dollar figures. They had savings, stocks, bonds, and pension funds. Their cars were only a couple of years old. Their house was a million-dollar asset in the current housing market, but the mortgage ate into a large chunk of the equity. The plus