Read Sealed with a Lie for Free Online

your task. Your deadline is midnight on Day Ten. For every hour past midnight that you are late . . . you will receive a small gift from us: one of Charlie’s fingers.”
    I can’t help my swift, audible intake of breath.
    “Do you understand?” the voice asks as I lean weakly on the sink.
    “Yes,” I manage.
    “Good.”
    Then the caller gives me an address in Murnau am Staffelsee, Germany. He suggests that I arrive there by tomorrow evening. He suggests that “I bring my A game.”
    I have a suggestion for him too. But I am smart enough not to voice it. And to be honest, I’m too desperately afraid to make threats.

    I’m tossing random clothes into my battered blue duffel when I hear the front door open and close, then Evan’s footsteps on the stairs. Agent Morrow’s are lighter, and she wears heels a lot. Evan takes the steps two at a time, with a heavy, masculine tread.
    He stops on my floor and pokes his head into my room. “Hi.”
    “Hi,” I say, my voice taut. My back is to him; my laptop is open on the bed; on the screen a message flashes that my e-mail has been sent.
    “I’d ask how your day was, but . . .” He laughs ruefully.
    “Worst. Day. Ever. Now, if you don’t mind . . .”
    “Bugger off?”
    “Pretty much.” I won’t even look at him.
    “Why are you packing?”
    “Going on a trip.”
    “Where’s Charlie?”
    I don’t answer.
    “Kari?”
    I toss a jacket, a climbing harness, and my set of lock picks into the duffel.
    “Hey.” He crosses the room, puts a hand on my shoulder, and forces me to face him, to look up into his level gray eyes. His perfect hair is dark with sweat—he’s probably done an extra workout this evening. Anda muscle jumps at his jaw. “What’s going on?”
    “Nothing.” I jerk away and pull open a dresser drawer, tossing three pairs of socks into the bag.
    “Damn it, Kari. Talk to me!”
    But I’m hearing that horrible, distorted voice again in my mind. You will not tell the authorities. You bring cops into this, Interpol, any type of law enforcement entity, and we will send you Charlie’s head in a box.
    Pressing my lips together, I slam the sock drawer closed, then open the one containing jeans and toss two pairs of those into the duffel.
    “Where’s Charlie?” Evan asks me again, his eyes narrowing.
    “I don’t know.” My voice breaks, to my shame.
    “What do you mean, you don’t know?” Evan’s own voice is brittle.
    “Someone has him. That’s all I can tell you. Or they’ll kill him.”
    Evan’s eyes widen. “Who? How? Why?”
    I shake my head. Then I open yet another drawer and throw a pair of black pants and a black turtleneck into the duffel, followed by a pair of black sneakers. “All I know is that one minute he was in the backyard, and the next he was gone. Then I got a phone call.”
    “They rang the house? We can trace it,” Evan says. “I’ll call Interpol.” He pulls his cell phone out of his pocket.
    “No!” I yell, knocking it out of his hand and jumping on it.
    “Bloody hell, Kari.” He stares down at me. I’m still hunched over on the floor, my body shaking. He crouchesdown and puts his big, warm hand on my back. “You’re upset.”
    “No, really?” I shrug off his hand.
    “Look, we’ll call Rebecca. She’ll know how to handle this.”
    “We won’t !” My voice has become a scream.
    Evan looks as if I’ve slapped him. “But—”
    “They said they’d send me his head in a box . In a box , Evan. Oh, God . . .”
    He sits down on the floor and pulls me onto his lap, into his arms. Tucking my head under his chin, he strokes my back and rocks me.
    Is this really the guy who choked me out this morning? Humiliated me and dropped me to the floor?
    Part of me wants to sob, but I can’t—I’m too much in shock. Part of me wants to hug him back. But I also want to flatten him, because I don’t have time for comfort. And he’s not Luke . . . and even though I’ve broken up with Luke,