Turn Back Time (The Full Circle Series Book 1) Annette Anders (shoe dog free ebook TXT) 📖

to me and couldn’t see me. He yelled at two women and gestured farther down the tunnel. They refused to go, and when he reached for one of them, she stumbled and fell backwards. The other woman rushed to her and shouted at the guy, but I didn’t understand what she said. It was all in rapid French.”

“Can you describe how the hostage-taker looked?”

“He looked bulky, like someone who works out a lot, and he was wearing dark blue cargo pants, a wind jacket, and something like combat boots. Similar to tactical gear. He also wore a safety helmet with a light.”

“Where was the third hostage?”

Kai took a quick swig from a water bottle. “A man was sitting on the floor of the tunnel. His hands and feet were bound with duct tape and it looked as if there was blood trickling down the side of this face. I can only assume it was blood. It looked dark.”

“What happened next? Why didn’t you try to help the people? It sounds as if they could’ve used it,” Leo said.

“Listen, Leo,” Kai said, shoving his fingers through his hair again, making it stand up in a few spots. “True, there were three of us, but Bulky had a gun. And we might’ve been brave—or stupid—enough to stay overnight, but we hadn’t signed up for a gunfight. Plus, we didn’t know if he was alone or if there were more. We figured we’d be of more help if we alerted the authorities.”

“How long were you there? How did you manage to leave without him noticing you?”

“We couldn’t have been there more than a minute or two. You’d be surprised how much can happen in only a minute. I signaled the guys to retreat,” Kai demonstrated his hand signal while he talked, “When we backed away from the scene, the man on the floor must’ve sensed us and gave us a slight sideways jerk of his head. As if he was telling us to get the hell out of there. And the woman who yelled at Bulky made enough noise to cover any sounds we might make. We left the tunnels as fast as possible and went straight to the police. You know the rest.”

“And you didn’t hear anything at all during the night or early in the morning?” Leo asked.

“Man, I don’t know how much effort you put into the research of these tunnels, but there are hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, and hidden caves you can only access by crawling. The sewer pipes make noise, and the subway rattles above those tunnels. I can assure you, we took the fastest way out, and it still took us about forty-five minutes. Our nerves were kind of stretched thin by the time we saw daylight again.”

“Were your friends able to contribute anything to help the police?” Leo asked.

“They were behind me and couldn’t see anything, but they were able to confirm what we heard.”

“Thank you, Kai,” Leo looked into the camera again, straightened his tie, and finished, “reporting from Paris, this is Leo Wu.”

“Oh, my God, how terrible,” Jenna said. “I hope there’s a way to provide those poor people with food and fresh water. They must be freaking out.”

Stella had paled while watching the recorded interview. She shook her head and looked at Naomi, who had been silent through the interview.

“We should’ve tried to stop Kai,” Stella said, wringing her hands.

“Nobody knew this was going to happen. And why should he have listened to us?” Naomi asked and reached for her coffee.

“Wait, you know this man?” John asked.

Naomi explained, “We stayed at the same hotel in Paris and had a drink together on Sunday afternoon. He told us he had a night tour of the catacombs planned.”

Caroline joined them and said, “I watched the press conference last night, where a spokesperson from the organization in charge of maintaining the tunnels, the Inspection Générale des Carrières, verified the names of the two scientists, who entered the tunnels to take material samples and check the walls and ceilings for possible water damage which can impact the stability. They also confirmed their approval for a non-employee to accompany the women. His name and the purpose of his presence haven’t been shared.”

“Why would they keep it a secret?” Karen asked.

“It’s possible the authorities haven’t been able to reach his family yet,” Caroline said. “I can’t imagine they’d want his relatives to hear about it on the news first.”

Suddenly, Stella and Naomi had a vague connection to the hostage situation. Granted, it was far-fetched, and they didn’t even know Kai well, but three days ago they had laughed with him. She was also amazed at how calm he appeared on TV. She wouldn’t have been able to say one coherent word, let alone rehash the whole story. And the reporter was a schmuck. Kai held his ground very well. Stella wished she could tell him so.

Caroline said, “Did you all have breakfast yet? We need to get going if we want to make it to the Loire Valley in time to visit a few of the châteaux.”

All six of them shook their heads.

“Well, it’s eight o’clock now. Let’s get something to eat and meet at the bus in one hour. I’ll let François know we won’t leave at 8:30 as planned but at 9. Sounds good?”

“Sounds good,” six voices answered, and everybody got up.

Thirty minutes later, on the way back to their room, Stella asked Naomi, “How are you doing it?”

“Doing what?”

“You just polished off a hearty breakfast with all the doings, while I had to force myself to nibble on a croissant and a yogurt.”

“You know I never lose my appetite. Would it change anything if I don’t eat?”

“I guess not,” Stella admitted.

Before they reached their room, her phone rang. “It’s Luca! What does he want?”

“Pick up and find out. Put him on speaker!”

Stella greeted her brother by saying, “Did Mom or Dad ask you to check on me? Making sure I’m staying out of trouble?”

“Damn, Stella,