REDEMPTION
by Debra Lee
EXCERPT
CHAPTER ONE
They had been watching her for eight days. They were meticulously
discreet in their comings and goings, so as not to draw attention
to themselves. After today, the cloak-and-dagger part of the
surveillance would end.
They had one lens focused on the front door of the two story
brick house. Another gave a wider view of the outside perimeter.
Yet another angled toward her first floor office window. They
had watched her fingers peck at the computer keyboard the
biggest part of the day, every day, except the day before,
when after her daily morning walk, she had spent the rest
of the morning pacing near the telephone and popping M &
Ms into her mouth.
They had known the outcome of the call she was expecting
before they had listened to her caller give her the incredible
news.
They knew everything of importance about Kay Diggs’
past and future. They did not know how or from whom she had
acquired the catastrophic information. But they would know
that too before the morning ended.
On this Wednesday in late June, the rich little college community
in central Pennsylvania would become dimly lit within the
hour. The weather forecast called for rain by midmorning.
After Kay’s walk . . . after they snatched her.
* * *
“Ouch!”
“You told me to pinch you.”
Kay Diggs rolled over in bed and went nose to nose with her
husband. “I’m not dreaming, am I?” She giggled.
“I really pulled it off this time, didn’t I?”
“You did. And probably broke the record for advances
on a first book.”
Kay flung herself onto her back and closed her eyes, enjoying
the feel of another rush of adrenaline that made her tingle
from head to toe.
Once the exhilarating sensation settled down, she flipped
back toward her husband. “Just how many zeroes are behind
that five?”
Bill Diggs’ answer was an amused chuckle. Then he wrapped
his powerful arms around his wife and eased her close to him.
They cuddled and kissed for the next thirty seconds before
the alarm clock buzzed and Bill reached over to the night
stand and tapped the button to shut off the annoying sound.
“We can play hooky today,” Kay suggested.
Sky blue eyes looked down into darker ones. “You can.
You deserve to. But this old man has a house to get under
roof.”
A short kiss and Bill tossed back the sheet with the intention
of getting up. That is until Kay’s fingers tiptoed along
his firm, tanned chest, then downward, getting the response
twenty-five years of marriage had taught her to expect.
This round of lovemaking was without the foreplay the earlier
one had, but the result was just as sweet.
Kay lingered in bed, watching and admiring her husband as
he pulled on faded jeans and a tee shirt. When he sat on the
edge of the bed to pull on his work boots, she ran her hand
up and down his spine.
Bill twisted around and gave her a quick kiss. “Gotta
go, babe. We’ll celebrate some more tonight.”
Kay waited until he was through the bedroom doorway to call
out to him. “One more thing.”
Bill poked his head inside. “I’m listening.”
“You’re not an old man, lover boy.” She
winked and sent him off with a smile.
Once Kay heard Bill’s pickup engine groan before kicking
on, she flung off the sheet and got to her feet.
If she was going to cram everything she wanted to accomplish
into the day, there wasn’t time to lie around thinking
about what she was going to do with all that money.
They were listening for the truck to start too, and watching.
It wouldn’t be long now. After they saw the beat-up
truck back out of the driveway and rattle down the street,
they made contact.
Approximately ten miles northeast of their stake out, inside
an unoccupied stable, their boss was getting things ready
for her arrival when his cellular phone rang.
He waited for the third ring before unfolding the pocket-sized
portable.
“She should be leaving the house in twenty minutes.”
“Bring her to me.”
Kay stood in her bathroom, stark naked, looking at herself
in the full-length mirror attached to the back of the door.
She decided she looked pretty darn good for a woman approaching
forty-five, who’d given birth twice.
Her schedule for the day was so full she decided to pass
on her routine morning walk. But when her fingers pinched
more than an inch of flab from the spot above her right hip
bone, she changed her mind.
In the bedroom, she pulled on a pair of spandex shorts and
one of her husband, Bill’s, extra large tee shirts.
Slipping on a pair of worn sneakers, she tied them and was
ready to roll.
On her way down the stairs, she nearly missed a step, as
she remembered something she’d forgotten.
Her glasses were on the night stand beside her bed, right
where she’d left them the night before. She put them
on and wished she had waited until she was outside. At least
then she wouldn’t have noticed the layer of dust covering
the dresser on her way out the bedroom door. There was no
way she had time to squeeze cleaning into her day. Even if
it meant just a swipe here and there with the dust rag. On
second thought, she didn’t have to worry about keeping
the house clean anymore. That would be up to the cleaning
lady she could finally afford to hire.
This time Kay made it all the way down the stairs before
she was stopped again. It was by the sound of the telephone
ringing this time.
She hesitated just long enough to hear the answering machine
in her office click on before going out the front door.
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