“You’re a regular caveman, aren’t you? Threats are your first line of defense.”
“Answer the question.”
She downed the remaining coffee in the cup and dropped it onto the saucer, making a clattering sound.
“I stole his money.”
Smith couldn’t help it; he gaped at her. Her computer beeped and she slid her eyes to it, but didn’t reach for it. A million questions ran through his mind, but the beep reminded him of where he was, and that where they sat was not safe. They needed to keep moving. He stood.
“We have to go.” She shook her head, and the mulish expression he’d learned meant that she was going to refuse settled onto her face. Before she could respond he leaned over, bringing his lips close to her ear. “You’re sitting in the window. One shot to your brain and you’re dead.” Nolan glanced to the pane before returning to look at him. She raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not dead, you are. He won’t kill me.” She folded the computer back into its holder and shoved it into her tote. During the whole maneuver Smith noticed that she remained calm.
Misplaced calm, Smith thought. “What makes you think that?”
She rose and moved next to him, so close that he could see the lighter flecks of brown in her dark eyes and smell the perfumed scent of rose and something else that wafted from her.
“Because only I know where the money is. He kills me, he’ll never find it again. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about people like Dattar, it’s that money reigns supreme.”
Her audacity astonished him. And her foolishness. But she was right. Dattar wouldn’t kill her until he recovered his cash. He would kidnap her and torture her until she told him where it was. Smith decided to fill her in on the breadth of her stupidity.
“You’re right, Dattar won’t kill you. He’ll do to you what he did to a health minister of his who had the nerve to urge vaccination for the helpless children under Dattar’s control. He’ll arrange for his henchmen to kidnap you, then peel off your skin piece by piece.”
Nolan’s eyes widened in horror. “I’ve read everything I can about Dattar and I know he’s an animal, but I never heard a thing about any health minister dying. How come the media didn’t report such an atrocity?”
“Because the man was rescued before he died. By me. Let me know how long you hold out.” Smith snapped his fingers. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean that. You won’t be around to tell me, because once you explain to your torturer exactly where the money is, he’ll finish you off.”
Smith turned on his heel and headed to the door. He figured she’d follow him now. Even she wouldn’t be stupid enough to believe she could outsmart Dattar’s assassins now that she knew the full extent of the man’s depravity. As he swung the door open, he glanced back and watched her disappear through the door that led to the hotel.
She was gone.
21
SMITH FOUGHT THE URGE to run through the café, charge into the hotel, grab her by the hair and shake her. Instead he pulled out his phone and called Marty.
“I found her right where you said she was,” Smith said.
“I know,” Marty responded. He sounded peeved. “You made her stop trading, didn’t you?”
“You bet I did.”
“Two of her calls expired at a deficit. If you hadn’t interfered, I bet she would have covered the loss.” Marty’s voice sounded accusatory.
Smith turned onto Broadway and kept moving, his eyes sweeping the area for suspicious activity.
“Now you’re on her side? She needs to agree to protective custody until Dattar is recaptured.”
“They won’t let her trade from there, you know that. No phones and no Internet so she can’t be tracked. What would happen to her positions during that time?” Smith was starting to understand Nolan’s confidence in the power of money. Even Marty seemed to think it mattered more than her life.
“A lot less than what would happen if she died. Forget about the trading. She took off again. Can you continue to track her for me?”
“As long as her computer remains on I can.”
“That’s enough for now. Stay with her. I’ll call you back shortly.”
Smith hung up and called Russell. “I found her again.”
“Great. I’ll meet you both back at the safe house.”
“But she took off.”
There was a silence. “Let me get this straight. You lost her again?”
Smith sighed. “I’ll tell you all about it at the safe house. Twenty minutes.” Once again Smith hit the subway, this time headed uptown. Twenty minutes later he was back at the CIA’s brownstone. He found Russell in the living room sitting at the desk against a far wall, typing furiously at the computer placed there. She turned to face him, and he was shocked to see that she was paler than before and her face glowed with sweat.
“You look terrible. Are you getting sicker?”
Russell nodded. “I am.”
“I don’t like it. That swab must have gotten to you.”
She sighed. “I called the bomb detection expert. He was close to the swab while we analyzed the refrigerator’s interior and he’s fine. I think it’s the regular flu. At least I hope it is.” She gave him a wan smile and waved him to the couch. “Tell me what happened. How’d you lose her?”
“She bolted and I let her go. Marty’s tracking her through the GPS chip in her computer and can continue to do so as long as it remains on.”
Russell frowned. “And if she turns it off. What then?”
Smith snorted. “Trust me, she won’t. She won’t want to miss a moment of stock market activity. This woman lives to trade.”
“The market’s closed.”
“But Japan is opening. She’ll leave it on, believe me. And there’s more. I know why Dattar’s after her. She says she stole his money.” Russell remained silent, then a smile spread across her face and she started laughing.
“Oh my God, that’s great.”
Smith sighed. He had expected a lot of responses from Russell, but her enthusiasm for Nolan’s brainless act was not one of them. He was starting to wonder if everyone he knew was losing their minds.
“You know she’s as good as dead once he gets his hands on her.”
Russell sobered. “Why did you let her go?”
“She refused to cooperate, so I’ve decided to use her as bait. Track her through the GPS and stay back far enough until Dattar’s man makes his move. Then grab him, hopefully before he grabs her.”
Russell nodded. “It’s a worthwhile idea, but I’d take it one step further. Let Dattar’s man grab her and follow them both back to the hiding spot and monitor communications. Eventually the guy will contact Dattar to obtain instructions and we’ll be able to follow the transmission.”
Smith didn’t like Russell’s use of the term “eventually.” “He could decide to torture her first before calling Dattar. We can’t just let that happen.”
“Let’s worry about that once we’re in the situation. Are you going to track her?”
Smith shook his head. “I was hoping one of your agents could take the job. How’s Beckmann doing on the search for Howell? I need him more than ever if I’m going to locate Dattar and, frankly, Ms. Nolan and I don’t get along.”
“I’ve already put another officer in front of her apartment, but I can switch it up if you’d like. Do you think a CIA officer will have better luck convincing her to come in?”