The Target

"You heard everything he said, didn't you?"

He jerked to a sitting position. "Molly? Why are you here, in the dark?"

"Waiting for you. I saw you lift him off the ground and hit him in the jaw."

"Between the two of us pounding him, just maybe he might dredge up a bit of humanity, although I doubt he can. Why did you ever think you loved him?"

"I was nineteen years old and stupid."

"And he was the big rock star."

"Yes, and I was super-impressed. A friend of mine who knew him introduced us. You heard him. The only reason he asked me to go out with him was because I was Little Miss Sweet Innocence. I didn't go to bed with him that first night, and that was probably why he asked me out again. I didn't go to bed with him at all until one night I smoked marijuana, drank too much- Oh God, that sounds pathetic. Anyway, I just floated off with him to his bed." She shuddered with the memory of it.

"Just leave it be, Ramsey. At least he gave me Emma. I would have danced with the devil if the result was Emma."

"Of course you would have," he said, and rose from the bed. He could see her now, standing by the open window. There was a quarter moon, sending just a sliver of white light into the bedroom.

She turned to face him. "You did hear everything he said, didn't you?"

"Yes. It felt good to hit him, Molly. He's a miserable human being."

"Do you really think he had something to do with Emma's kidnapping?"

"Maybe. If he did, you hit it right on the head. He wanted his money back. But you know, I keep coming back to the same questions. Why all the professionals? Who was tracking us? Remember, the ransom note arrived after we'd gotten Emma back. I got the distinct impression that if they'd found us, we'd all be dead. Why? That wouldn't give them any ransom."

"I know."

They heard a scream, a high piercing cry that had them out of his bedroom in an instant and down the hall into Emma and Molly's bedroom.

Ramsey stood back while Molly gathered Emma to her and rocked her. "It's all right, baby, really, it's all right. That's right, just breathe deeply now for Mama. You're okay. I'm here. Ramsey's here too."

He sat down on the other side of the bed and rubbed Emma's back, saying nothing.

"Was it that awful man, Em?"

Emma nodded against her mother's shoulder. "I woke up when there was this noise. I looked over. He was at the window. He was staring in at me. He was grinning. He had bad teeth, just like before."

Ramsey went immediately to the window and stared out. He didn't see anything. He unlocked the window and raised it. They were on the second floor. There was a ledge out-

side, wide enough for a man to stand on. He looked and looked but there was no movement in the bushes or trees, no shifts in the shadows, no sounds. He didn't see a single one of Mason Lord's guards.

He turned to Emma as she said in a small broken voice, "He won't go away. He's always there, waiting for me. I knew he'd come back for me, and he did. He followed us all the way from California. He's here now."

Molly looked up at him. He shook his head.

"You sure you saw him at the window, Em?"

"Yes. He was grinning at me. I was so scared."

Molly pulled her tightly against her again. "I know, sweetheart. But you're all right. Both Ramsey and I are here with you."

Ramsey said, "He won't come back again, Emma. And he won't be there for much longer, I promise. Now, I'm going downstairs and we're going to look for this character."

He was at the door when Emma called out his name. He turned to her. "Yes, Emma?"

"Thank you for believing me."

He just smiled. "If he's still out there, we'll get him."

She didn't look as if she believed him. Actually, he didn't either since he believed she had indeed dreamed him up out of a nightmare, but he and the guards would all look anyway. He couldn't imagine that anyone could sneak onto the estate without one of the guards seeing him. But it couldn't hurt to look around, to talk to the guards, to make sure they were on their toes.

Emma was sucking her fingers, hiccuping. Molly said, "I'm going to come to bed now, Emma, we can play spoons. We can snuggle real close."

"Can Ramsey come, too?"

He didn't even hesitate. "Sure, Emma. Tell you what, you get settled with your mom and I'll be in soon. I'll hug you both until you fall asleep. I'm going to go look for that