‘A graduate student from Hong Kong attending the Delft University of Technology, focusing on computer sciences.’
‘And he’s a threat to you. He’s just a geek, a kid.’
‘His age is irrelevant. You’re going to find him and kill him before he surrenders to the CIA. You have two days.’
Jin Ming had walked in with August and the rest of the CIA team. If he wanted to turn against Novem Soles, would he turn to August? Perhaps this was why Anna was eager to use me. I could get close to August, and therefore close to Jin Ming.
‘Why hasn’t he surrendered to them already?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know. He set up a meeting with the CIA in two days. In New York. So get there and kill him.’
‘He has the goods on you. Poor, poor you.’
‘And we have the goods on you, Sam. Your child.’
I shut up.
‘Kill him before that meeting so it never happens and he never passes on whatever information he has. You do that, you get your son back. You don’t, your son is gone forever.’ She slid an iPhone to me. ‘This is yours. You do not tell anyone what you are doing. Anyone.’
Between her threat of a bomb in the club and my son, she had me pinned. I hate being pinned. Really, really hate it.
‘I’m going to leave now.’ She held up the remote control, another iPhone, with a call number selected. ‘You do not follow me. If you do, I call the cell phone attached to the C-4 and we have bits and pieces of drunken dancers landing in the parking lot. The signal has a five-mile range.’ She kept her thumb right above the number. One tap and we were all done.
‘Goodbye, Anna,’ I said. ‘I’ll see you very soon.’
‘No, you will never see me again. Do your job, earn your son, and then go on your way.’ She stood. ‘Don’t test that I’m bluffing.’ She moved toward the front door and a drunken guy bumped into her and for one moment I thought her thumb would hit the screen. She recovered and she pushed roughly by the drunk. I saw her go past the bouncer and out into the desert-cool night.
I ran toward the back of the club as Mila zoomed down the stairs. ‘Evacuate,’ I called to her. ‘Right now.’ Anna didn’t want me dead, but I couldn’t risk that there was a bomb here in a bar full of innocent people. Mila sprinted toward the DJ’s stand and before I reached the ladies’ room the lights were up and her voice boomed out over the loudspeakers, the music silenced.
‘People, hello, attention please. Please move to the exits in an orderly fashion. We need to clear the building immediately. There is no danger, no fire, but please move outside and across the street.’
I heard groans of dismay, but the staff moved quickly through the crowd, herding them.
I busted into the ladies’ room. Three women at the mirror, fixing make-up.
‘Hey, get the hell out of here!’ one turned and screamed at me, fueled by Cosmopolitans.
‘Evacuating the building, out now.’ There were six women total in the room and I hustled them out fast.
Where would she have put it?
The ladies’ room boasted a mirror edged with a fake lasso to continue the canyon theme. Stars to duplicate the night sky glittered on the tiled ceiling. I looked in each stall. Nothing. The air vents? It would have taken her minutes to unfasten the grates and put the bomb in; she would have been noticed, with a steady stream of customers.
I looked under the sink; nothing. Then I turned, my face level with the paper towel dispenser, and, beneath it, the metal disposal bin. You needed a key to open it, to access and pull out of the trash can. I peered down into the piles of dirty paper towels. Jammed my arm down as far as I could reach.
At the bottom I ran into a package. Rectangular. I felt a flick of wire along its edge.
Slowly, bracing myself against the wall, I pulled my arm up. The distant hum of people evacuating was growing quieter.
I pulled the package free from the pile.
C-4. It was wrapped in gift paper that read BABY’S FIRST BIRTHDAY . Four wires led off a cell phone, a cheap prepaid model, to curl into the packaging. I had no idea which wire to cut, no idea if the bomb was functioning.
I ran out the back door. Several patrons had gone out this way and I saw people getting into cars, leaving The Canyon now that the party had ended. I ran, holding the package, trying to find a deserted spot where I wouldn’t put anyone at risk. A small shopping center stood to my left and I arrowed behind it. Every store was in darkness.
Gingerly I unwrapped the package, careful not to disturb the wires. It was simple. Three of the wires were fakes, going nowhere taped under the paper, a blue one fed from deep in the explosive to the cell phone. I pulled out my pocket knife and I cut it.
I leaned against the building and then twenty seconds later the bomb’s phone rang.
When my heart settled back into my chest I answered. ‘You bitch.’
‘I don’t like being called names,’ Anna said. ‘You can tell how serious we are. You don’t deviate from the plan. You don’t cross us.’
‘You’re an idiot to give me a job and then risk blowing me up a minute later.’
‘There was no risk. You did exactly what we knew you would do. Just keep doing what we tell you.’ Anna hung up.
My hands wanted to shake and I wouldn’t let them, I fought the fear down. I walked back to the club.
Lots of the patrons had left but a good sized crowd remained in the parking lot, curious or optimistic. I took it as a compliment to The Canyon that they hung around. I was sure many had walked their tabs. It didn’t matter.
Mila met me at the front door. ‘Is everything okay?’
‘Yes.’
‘What happened?’
‘She knew who I was. The trap was on me, not Anna.’
‘Ah, Sam. I am sorry. What did she say?’
I took a deep breath. ‘Rough night. Let’s talk tomorrow. You have a place to stay?’
Her gaze burned like fire. ‘What are you not telling me, Samuil?’ Tension broke her voice; she only used the Slavic form of my name when she was upset.
‘There’s nothing you can do, Mila. Thank you for coming. This is my problem and mine alone now.’
‘If she knew who you are, then she had a reason to come meet you.’ Realization dawned in her eyes. ‘Daniel. She wants to make a deal for Daniel.’
‘This is now my problem,’ I said again. ‘Thank you for your concern.’
‘Do not do this alone. What is the ransom? God, let me help you.’
‘I can’t tell you. She’ll kill him.’ I kept my voice from breaking. Just barely.
‘Sam.’ So much in that one syllable. Pain for me, desperation to help, a simmering fury.
‘I play by their rules, and that means no you hanging around. Go, Mila. I’m sorry.’ The approaching whine of police sirens sliced through the night. Now, empty, the bar was quiet. The air weighed like steel between us. ‘I have to go. I have to be on a flight in two hours. If you want to help me, deal with the cops. Oh, and there’s a pound of C-4 explosive behind a Dumpster in the shopping center. Get rid of it. I’m not really inclined to leave it lying around.’
‘Sam.’ Her mouth worked. ‘What do they want you to do?’
‘It has nothing to do with you,’ I said, my voice rising. Her face was stone. This was the woman who had helped ensure the CIA didn’t find me while I hunted for my wife’s kidnappers, the one who had given me every support in my new life. She deserved better than my silence. ‘They want me to kill a man.’
‘Who?’
‘Someone who is a threat to them.’
‘You commit one murder for them to save your son, they can ask for a thousand more. They can tell you a thousand lies, make a thousand promises, give you a thousand orders, and you will be their slave to save that child.’
I couldn’t breathe. ‘I don’t need you debating me. I do what I have to do.’
‘Then go. Go before the cops want to talk to you.’ Mila didn’t wait for me to answer. She bolted past me and out the door toward the arriving police cars.
I stood in the mess of knocked-over chairs, and half-full drinks, and the eerie serenity of a bar that has been emptied of people in a matter of minutes. The light machine kept playing and gleaming dots danced along my face, my skin.