Worst Case

“Imagine that,” I said. “And all my Vanity Fair interviews always go so swimmingly.”

I let out an angry snort a moment later as we turned off Broadway onto Prince.

Half a dozen news vans had beat us to Hastings ’s cast-iron building. Cold-eyed camera lenses swung on us as we double-parked. I swung my cold-eyed Irish face right back at them.

“No goddamn comment,” I yelled at them as I got out. “And get that goddamn eyewitness van away from that fire hydrant if you ever want to see it again.”

“Now, that’s what I call media savvy,” Emily said with a grin as we waded through the newsies on the sidewalk. “If you ever make it down to DC, you should toss your résumé into the ring for White House press secretary.”

“You thought that was bad,” I said. “I was being restrained. I usually just empty a magazine into the air.”

It actually turned out that the ride we had taken downtown was for nothing. The luxury building’s handsome but seemingly stoned concierge stifled a giggle when we asked to speak to Gordon Hastings.

“C’mon. Where you been, man? I thought everyone knew that only Mr. Hastings’s second wife and new baby twins get to live in the penthouse duplex during the divorce proceedings.”

“Could we speak to the soon-to-be ex-Mrs. Gordon Hastings, then?” Emily said before I could ask the guy for a urine sample.

“I wouldn’t think so,” the spaced-out model look-alike said. “Unless, of course, you’re pla

The only useful thing we learned was that the mogul’s mail was being forwarded to somewhere called Pier Fifty-nine, at Twenty-third Street and the Hudson River.

It turned out to be the Chelsea Piers Sports Center. We stared at the kids Rollerblading and the men with golf bags on the sidewalk in front of it.

“That kid was even higher than he looked. How could this guy live at a sports facility?” Emily said as we pulled up.

“That’s how,” I said as I pointed to the yacht-filled marina beside the netted driving range.

Chapter 42

OVER TWO HUNDRED feet long, Gordon Hastings’s yacht, the Teacup Tempest, turned out to be the largest one at the marina. Ten minutes later, we sat waiting to meet the mogul at the rear of its massive cherry-paneled forward salon.

There were antiques and paintings. There were also row upon row of flat-screen TVs. Smaller computer screens on scattered desks showed investment graphs. In addition to the ship’s crew, there were eight or nine businesspeople, Hastings ’s corporate team that actually worked from the ship. Like us, they were just standing around waiting, with stressed-out looks on their faces.

The captain of the vessel, John McKnight, who’d escorted us on board, told us about the accident that had crippled the abducted Columbia freshman.

“It was on a mountain-biking trip in Asia that was all Mr. H’s idea,” the captain said in a low voice. “He completely blames himself. That’s what led to his divorce, if you want my opinion. Now with Dan being abducted, it’s just unbelievable. Unbearable. For all of us. Dan was the most down-to-earth, lovable kid you ever met. He took the accident like it was nothing. He was inspiring.”

“He still is inspiring as far as we know, Captain,” I said. “You can’t forget that.”

A barefoot figure in a Hawaiian shirt and khakis finally emerged from one of the rear staterooms. The wiry, deeply ta

“Thank you so much for coming,” he said with an unexpected thick Scottish burr. With his bald head and mustache, he actually looked a little like Sean Co

“There’s been nothing so far, sir,” Emily said. “I can’t imagine what you must be going through.”

He stared at Emily a moment and then a vicious look crossed his face.

“Maybe that lack of imagination is the reason why the first two victims ended up dead, Agent Parker,” he said with a sneer. “I just bought the New York Mirror a few weeks ago, you know. One hears these things.”

Wow, I thought. Looks like James Bond, acts like Attila the Hun. And make that drinking heavily. I understood that Hastings was hurting, but his nastiness was inappropriate and completely uncalled for.

“The pattern of the man who kidnapped Jacob Du

“I guess…,” Hastings said, brooding.

“Thank you, sir,” Emily continued with a grin. “You wouldn’t happen to know either the Du

“Of course not,” Hastings spat at her again. “What kind of question is that? Do you think we’re part of some billionaire cabal? Don’t they have any actual professionals who take care of kidnappings?”

“Right here, sir,” Emily said with an even wider, lovelier smile. “You’re looking at them. Thank you again for your cooperation.”

“Way to handle that jackass, Parker,” I said as the millionaire left.

“I’ve learned from the best, Mike,” Emily said, gri

Chapter 43

OUTSIDE, EMILY AND I huddled with our own team and got busy bringing in the phone-tracing gear from the FBI and NYPD tech cars in the marina’s lot. In addition to recording the conversation, the tech guys were going to run it through voice-analysis software, a kind of high-tech lie detector and emotion indicator. We hooked up my phone to the equipment as well this time.

We’d just finished setting everything up when something sounded from one of the computers in the luxury salon’s corner.

“You’ve got mail,” it said in an inappropriately cheery tone.

“I didn’t know they actually still said that,” I said to Hastings ’s secretary.

“They really don’t, but Mr. Hastings insists. He finds it nostalgic,” she said in a way that implied it was one of many nutty insistences that came from Emperor Hastings.

We rushed over. Mr. Hastings’s personal assistant quickly brought up the mail page.

From: [email protected] /* */

Subject: Whether I live or die

The secretary bit her lip as she opened the e-mail.

Hastings,

If you want to see your son alive again, you’ll get five million dollars in hundred-dollar denominations ready for delivery. You have three hours. The faster we wrap this up, the faster you can get back to your greedy, decadent life.

I do not think I need to remind you what I am capable of.

“What is it?” Hastings said, emerging from his stateroom. He banged a shin on a settee as he rushed over and stared at the screen. Everyone jumped as he emitted a primal moan.

“Oh, Da

We watched as Captain McKnight lifted Hastings from the floor. It looked like something he’d done before. He spoke to him soothingly as he guided him to the back of the ship.

Vivid freeze-frame images of Jacob Du