“What, you think I’m some little twit? I’m a woman with a degree in computer science. I work in the IT department of a software company.” She swallowed, readying herself for the real negotiation. “We’d better get down to business. We don’t trust each other, but we each have something the other wants.”
The man made another snorting sound. “Do you have the information from Arnold Blake’s office?”
“Yes.”
“You’d better bring it to me.”
“I won’t unless I know you’re going to bring my brother.”
His tone turned derisive. “You don’t have much of a bargaining position.”
“Neither do you.”
Again there was a long silence. He finally said. “All right, what do you propose?”
“We drive to a location that we both agree on. You bring my brother and I’ll bring the information you want. We’ll make an exchange.”
“And your friend Shane Gallagher will be there to kill me.”
“No.”
“And how will I know you’re telling the truth?”
“I’ll come alone.”
“And he can put a tracking device on your car.”
She sucked in a sharp breath.
“That’s what you were planning, weren’t you?”
“No,” she answered, fighting the urge to scream, because that’s exactly what she had known Shane would do.
Chapter 27
“Call me back in fifteen minutes,” the man on the phone said. Then the line went dead.
Elena looked at Shane in panic.
“Will he be there when I call back?” she asked.
“Of course,” Morgan answered. “You have something he needs. Desperately, I’d say, from the way he’s behaving.”
Elena nodded, struggling for calm and glad a psychologist was judging the guy’s reactions. “You were going to track my car, right?” she said to Shane.
“Yeah, but we were going to let him think that he’d fooled us by defeating the tracker.”
“I’m not following.”
“There will be a tracker and another one he won’t find.”
“All right,” she answered, ordering herself not to freak out. Shane and his friends knew what they were doing.
She stood up, paced to the window, and stared out at the cars whizzing by on Rock Creek Parkway, then paced to the other end of the room.
Shane looked at his watch, keeping track of the time.
As the minutes ticked slowly by, Elena fought not to scream—or make the call early.
“He knows how to get to you,” Shane muttered.
“Unfortunately.”
Finally he gave the go-ahead.
With fingers that felt like they had lost their nerve endings, she punched in the number again, and the man picked up on the second ring and got right to business. “Here’s the deal. You come alone or your brother is dead.”
“All right.”
“You meet me at the following location.”
She was ready with a pen and notepad. He gave her an address, which Max started checking out the moment she’d written it down.
“I want to talk to my brother now.”
“You’re not in a position to make demands.”
“Neither are you,” she shot back. “Not if you want that program.”
“You know it’s a program?” he asked with an edge in his voice.
“Yes, I looked at it,” she lied.
He sighed and covered the phone, but she could hear him speaking to someone else.
Again the seconds ticked by, and finally she heard sounds from the other end of the line. Then her brother’s shaky voice.
“Elena?”
“Alesandro. Are you all right?”
He gave a harsh laugh. “Not really.”
“They hurt you,” she whispered, expecting him to start berating her for disobeying his directions, but he didn’t do it.
“I guess I deserve it,” he said instead.
She couldn’t believe his answer or the way his voice sounded. The last few times they’d talked, he’d been angry with her. Now his tone was completely different. He’d always acted so sure of himself and so sure that he deserved every good thing in the world. This time he was telling her that he knew he’d made a mistake.
“I’m going to trade the information for you,” she said, feeling her chest tighten as she said the lie. Although she didn’t have the SIM card, she had something that looked like it. The important point was that Shane and the other men from Rockfort Security would get to her before Mr. Big realized he’d been tricked.
“Gracias,” Alesandro said, making her feel even worse. If this plan got messed up, he’d be dead. And maybe she would be, too.
She pushed those thoughts out of her mind and prepared to say something reassuring. Before she could get the words out, she heard her brother make a strangled sound.
“That’s all for now,” Mr. Big said.
“Please.”
“We’re wasting time.”
“Who are you and why are you doing this?” she asked.
He laughed. “Just meet me at the place I told you. At nine p.m.”
Before she could ask any questions, he had hung up.
Shane looked at his watch. “That doesn’t give us much time.”
“I guess that’s what he wanted,” Max said.
“Do you think he’ll bring my brother?” Elena asked.
“Not to that location,” Shane said.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s going to make you go somewhere else when you get there.”
“How?”
“There will probably be a cell phone waiting for you. Or written directions. I don’t know exactly. But I know he’s not stupid. He knows we can follow you.”
“It’s a warehouse in Gaithersburg,” Jack said. “In a run-down industrial park.”
He brought over the laptop and showed her a map of the area plus a Google Earth picture of the building. “See the street number at the upper right-hand corner of the buildings?”
“Yes.”
They studied the map. “You’ll take I-270 out of town.”
He printed out the directions, which she studied.
“Any problems?” Jack asked.
“I think I can find it.”
Shane looked at his watch. “We’d better get ready.”
She gave Shane a direct look. “Would it have been better to have gotten that SIM card from the safe house? You know, in case…” Her voice trailed off.
“He won’t know the difference until after you’ve got your brother,” Shane said.
She nodded, hoping he was right.
They’d already started preparations, and now they had to snap to it.
Elena went into the bedroom and changed into the clothes she was going to wear. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door.
“Shane?”
“Yes.”
He came in with two pistols. “I want you to take these.”
She didn’t protest. They’d practiced with these particular weapons at the firing range in the basement of the southern safe house, and she was comfortable with both of them. One went into her purse and the other into a holster. He also gave her a SIM card.
“Tell him the program’s on here. And tell him how you figured it out.”
She answered with a little nod.
“You have to leave,” he said.
“I know.”
“I don’t like sending you off alone.”
“I know. But you can’t exactly hide in the trunk of the car.”
“Unfortunately.” He pulled her into his arms, gathering her close, hanging on to her as though he never intended to let go. But of course, that was impossible. When he eased away, she saw that his eyes were shimmering.
“Be careful,” he said.
“You, too.”
He squeezed her hand, then stepped away. Her head was spinning with all the points they’d discussed. They both walked into the other room, where Max, Morgan, and Jack were waiting for them.