CARRIE'S PROTECTOR by REBECCA YORK

dad’s car when we were both fifteen.”
    “What happened when your dad found out?”
    “He didn’t. We covered for each other.”
    “You like him?”
    “He was as close to me as a brother.” Memories flooded her. “We hung out together, because Dad was usually busy. You could say he was the kind of father who didn’t have a lot of time for his kids, but I knew he loved me.”
    “We were talking about Patrick, not your dad.”
    “I was trying to explain why Patrick and I were so close.”
    “And he loved Patrick?”
    She hesitated. “That might be too strong a word. I know he’s fond of him. And he’s certainly come to rely on him.” Again she paused before continuing. “Patrick didn’t have to come back and work for Dad, but he did that on his own.”
    “Okay.” Wyatt checked the rearview mirror. “What about your mother?”
    “Dad never talks about her.”
    “When’s the last time you saw her?”
    She thought for a moment. “When I was maybe six. I went into her room, and she was packing.” The pain and confusion of that long-ago moment came zinging back to her again. “She said she loved me, but she needed to leave. She said she’d be back to see me, but she never came back.”
    “Why?”
    “At the time I thought she’d abandoned me. Now I think my dad kept her away. I heard him and his lawyer talking once. Dad said that he’d given her a lot of money, and he wasn’t springing for any more.”
    “Why do you think she left?”
    “I think Dad was more wound up with his work than he was with her.”
    “Like with you and Patrick?”
    “Yes.”
    “Could she be holding a grudge? Could she be angry enough to...try to hurt him?”
    Carrie turned her head toward Wyatt. “Wait a minute. What are you trying to say? That my father wasn’t kidnapped because of a terrorist plot?”
    “I’m trying to look at every angle. Were you ever romantically involved with Patrick?” he asked.
    The question startled her. “What business is that of yours?”
    “I’m trying to understand the family dynamics.”
    “Patrick and I were never close that way,” she clipped out, hoping he’d drop the subject, but apparently, he wasn’t ready to do that.
    “Did he ever try anything—and you rebuffed him?”
    She sat perfectly still, remembering.
    “From the look on your face, I take it the answer is yes.”
    “Once, at the pool, he came up behind me and put his arms around me.”
    “What did you do?”
    “I swam away.”
    “How did he take that?”
    “He never...tried again.”
    “How old were you?”
    “We were teenagers. Would you drop it now?”
    “Okay,” he said, although she gathered from the tone of his voice that he wanted to keep interrogating her.
    * * *
    T HIRTY MILES AWAY , things were unraveling for a key player in the unfolding drama.
    The phone rang. And the caller ID said the number was unpublished.
    Just let it ring, an interior voice advised. But that could turn out to be worse than picking it up.
    Still, the hand that lifted the receiver wasn’t quite steady.
    “Hello?”
    “You know who this is?”
    “Yes.”
    “You’re late on your payment.”
    “I’ll have it in a few days.”
    “That’s what you said last time.”
    “I swear I’ll have it.”
    “You can’t keep relying on our goodwill.”
    The line went dead, and the hand that replaced the receiver was shaking so hard that the instrument rattled.
    Was there any way out of this? There had to be.

Chapter Five
    “Tell me why someone else besides the terrorists could have kidnapped my father,” Carrie said.
    She watched Wyatt heave in a sigh and let it out before answering.
    “It’s all over the news. Someone could have taken advantage of the plot to go after him when he’s vulnerable.”
    “Why?”
    “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. What do you know about his enemies?”
    She didn’t like the way he’d put that. He’d flat-out assumed that there were people who wanted to hurt her father.
    “He