“The part about me.”
“Right,” she said. “Yet there you are with my gun, and here I sit cuffed in a chair.”
“What do you want from me, Alex? You want me to prove it to you?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I want. You’re very good at showing me coin tricks, but all I see is a guy hanging around with thugs and facilitating the transfer of some very dangerous information.”
He paused. Looked at her. “You want the codes, don’t you? That’s what this was originally about.”
“I don’t really give a damn anymore.”
“You would if you knew what they are.”
“All right, then. Illuminate me.”
He was silent, but she could see by his eyes he was considering the pros and cons of telling her.
He said, “They’re the key to a little secret your friend Munro would just as soon keep to himself. But your father knows, and so do I. I’m guessing that’s why Munro sent you to kill me. It’s exactly the kind of thing he’d do. There’s a certain symmetry to it.”
“You still haven’t told me what they are.”
“GPS coordinates.”
“To what?”
“To seven different strategic locations around the world. All highly classified. What Munro calls the Seven Wonders.”
“Locations for what?”
“Chemical storage facilities, containing an organophosphorus compound that makes sarin gas look like a household disinfectant. The US government thinks the inventory has been destroyed, but Munro knows better. And with those coordinates in the wild, he has quite a problem on his hands.”
“Yet you’re about to help Frederic Favreau sell them to Valac.”
“I’m telling you, I’m not what you think I am. It’s all illusion.”
“And I still don’t believe you.”
“Then maybe this will help.”
He got to his feet, took a key from his pocket, then walked around behind her and unlocked her cuffs.
Alex looked at the P380 on the bed but remained where she was.
“Go ahead,” he said. “I’m unarmed.”
She still didn’t move.
He went to the bed and picked up the pistol, released the magazine, and showed her it was full. After slapping it back into place, he offered the weapon to her, grip first.
“It’s what you came here to do, isn’t it? If you don’t trust me, if you believe the lies that Munro has filled your head with and you think I would kill the woman I loved, the woman my best friend married, then by all means, take it. Pull the trigger.”
Alex stood up, took the pistol from his hand, then kicked the chair aside and stepped back, pointing the muzzle at his chest.
“Tell me the truth,” she said.
Her hands were trembling.
“I’ve told you all I’m willing to, Alex. Everything else has to come from Frank.”
“And when is that supposed to happen? I haven’t seen him since I was a teenager.”
“He’ll come to you when he thinks you’re ready.”
“When he thinks I’m ready? You’re lying,” she said. “You killed her. He told me you killed her.”
“Did he? Did he really?”
She almost said, “Yes, he did!” but that would have been a lie. The accusation had come from Thomas Gérard. And while that poem and the story surrounding it had been a powerful convincer, how could she be sure others didn’t know about them? The people she was dealing with, the people she worked for, were all very good at extracting information by whatever means necessary. She knew for a fact that Thomas Gérard was a liar. No speculation there. He’d lied to her from the very beginning.
Had what he told her about her father been a lie, too?
Had the text message?
If it’s too much to ask, I’ll understand.
Her certainty crumbled as she realized that of course it was a lie. Her initial instincts had been right. Her father would never have asked her to kill Hopcroft even if the man had killed her mother. He would have never asked her to kill anyone.
“Make your choice, Alex. But think about one last thing before you do.”
“What?”
“Why would I be standing here if none of this were true?”
And that was the clincher, wasn’t it? Why would he bother to come here? For old times’ sake? That seemed unlikely. Why not have her shot and been done with it?
Yet here he was, trusting her with a loaded weapon in her hand.
She lowered the pistol.
“You’re your mother’s daughter, Allie Cat. I can’t tell you how much you remind me of her.” He gestured. “You even have her ring. She got that from her grandmother.”
“Stop, Uncle Eric. I don’t want to hear any more right now.”
“Then you’d better put that weapon in that holster strapped to your leg. It’s time for you to meet the man I work for.”
“But why?” she said. “Why do you work for him?”
“Because I want the truth, too. And the people he works for have it. The closer I get to him, the closer I get to them.”
She didn’t bother asking him what he meant by all that. He wouldn’t tell her anyway.
She said, “You know I didn’t come here just for you, or those codes. I came for Valac. That’s what I do. I’m supposed to take him back with me.”
Hopcroft nodded. “Then let’s try to make that happen.”
CHAPTER 37
Deuce emerged from the jungle and made his way under cover of darkness down a shallow incline. The loading dock was several hundred meters away, a CCTV camera mounted on the roof above it.
“Warlock, are you ready with that first loop?”
“Give me a mo. Almost there.”
“Hurry it up, will you?”
“Contrary to popular belief, I can’t work miracles, so hold on. In the meantime, watch yourself. There are two guards coming ‘round from the left, headed for the dock.”
Deuce stepped back and crouched, wishing he had something more than shadows to hide in. He heard voices a moment before he saw the guards round the corner. Holding himself very still, he followed their progress as they moved parallel to the dock and headed to the far right side of the house.
When they were gone, he said, “Come on, dude. Give me that loop.”
“It’s done. Go.”
Deuce lit out, running at a full clip across the yard until he reached the Gold Coast catering van that Cooper had arrived in. He looked past it toward a set of steps and an open door that led into a basement hallway. He knew there was another camera in there. It was next on the list.
“Tell me when,” he said.
“Now. Go.”
He scrambled up the steps, keeping the tranq gun at his side, and ran through the doorway into the hall. Up ahead the corridor angled to the right, where the security stop, manned by two guards, would be located. Another camera, mounted high on the wall, was pointed in their direction.
“Do your thing, dude.”
“Done.”
Deuce may have been a big guy, but he knew how to travel quietly and quickly. He made a beeline down the hall and turned the corner, raising the tranq gun as he moved.
The two guards looked up in surprise and he fired two darts—thock thock—dropping them to the floor. As rapidly as he could, he dragged one, then the other, out of sight behind the machine.
“Tell me where I’m going,” he said to Warlock.
“Down the hall and to your left, past the kitchen. But be careful, there are people milling about. Put the gun away and act as if you belong.”
“This should be fun.”
“I told you it was suicide.”
“Yeah,” Deuce said, “but who do I have to go home to? My goldfish is probably dead.”