A Harmless Little Ruse (Harmless #2)(53)

“No. Oh, God, Harry. No.” I groan over the rest of the newscaster’s words. This is a joke, right?

No. It’s not.

It’s dead serious.

Deadly.

Mark lets out a big puff of air, eyes nervous and darting. To someone who doesn’t know him, he looks pissed.

A thread of fear tugs inside me, because I do know him.

He’s scared.

“The scarves set you up one hundred percent, Drew. Now it’s your fingerprints on Lindsay’s brake lines. You sent the threatening texts to her phone. And Jane’s on the record that you broke into her apartment last night -- ” He gives me a vicious look. I flinch.

“Jesus, Drew,” he groans. “Tell me it’s not true.”

I stay quiet.

“Fuck, Drew. I don’t know if I can undo this.”

“I broke in to talk to Lindsay privately! She said Jane disappeared because she knew I was there. Why would Jane lie like that?”

“Don’t tell me you seriously just asked that question, Drew.” He’s looking at me like I’m an imbecile.

“This is worse than I thought.”

“We have to figure out who the mole is. Right now, looks like it’s Jane.”

“Jane.” I shake my head, a drop of blood landing on my upper thigh. “No way. She’s too clean.” Something Lindsay told me about Jane pings in my memory. Computer science. Jane works as a developer for a start-up. Could she be Lindsay’s darknet contact?

No way. Jane’s not the type.

He reads my mind. “No one’s too clean, Drew. You of all people know that. Your best friends turned on you and Lindsay four years ago. What makes you think Jane wouldn’t?”

Considering Mark Paulson is the closest thing I have to a best friend, all I can do is stare at him.

“I get one phone call,” I choke out, coughing so hard blood appears at the corner of my mouth.

“You’re exercising that right now?”

“Better late than never.”

His face goes slack. “Depending on who, exactly, is orchestrating your arrest, never is a distinct possibility.” The bones in his face stand out with tension as he whispers, “If they move you out of here, I don’t know where they’ll take you. The longer we stall, and the more people I add to the chain of information, the better. Once you’re out of my sight, I -- ” His words break off with a frustrated halt and an angry shrug.

“One phone call. Senator Harwell Bosworth.”

“You have brass balls, Drew. Brass f*cking balls. The guy’s probably behind some of this!”

“I know he’s not. And he needs to know that any instructions from any entity to move Lindsay will only endanger her.” I recite a number. “That’s his private line. Get him on the phone.”

Mark hands me his phone. I dial.

“Bosworth.”

“Harry, don’t hang up.”

“You.”

One word can sound like a death wish.

“Listen to me. Don’t move Lindsay. Any transport puts her at risk,” I snap.

“You put her at risk, you sick little beast.”

“It wasn’t me. I’m being set up.”

“He said you’d say that.”

“Who?”

“Look, Drew. Get help. Go inpatient at a mental hospital, get whatever assistance you need. But stalking Lindsay like this isn’t healthy for you. She doesn’t love you. She doesn’t want you.”

I don’t take the bait.

“Do not send her to the Island.”

His silence confirms what I suspected.

“I know it’s not a coffee plantation.”

“It’s where she needs to be, Drew. No thanks to you. And stop with the death threats against me,” he adds, acid in his voice.

“Oh, come on. You don’t actually believe that’s me, Harry. I can tell you don’t.”

The sound of a palm rubbing against stubble peppers the phone line. He sighs. “I don’t know who has decided to make your life a living hell, Drew, but you pissed off someone very, very high and very, very powerful. I can’t save you.” His voice tightens, as if he’s reconsidering. “Not that I’d want to.”

He thinks the line’s being monitored.

He’s right.

Mark’s watching me. Someone taps on the door. He talks in a low voice, buying me time.

“Keep her at The Grove. Paulson and Gentian can keep her safe,” I plead. I’m not above begging. Not when it comes to Lindsay.

“That’s not the plan.”

“Then your plan will kill her, Harry.”

“Says the man who sliced her brake lines and threatened and -- ”

“You know this is all too convenient, Harry. I didn’t do any of that. You’re smarter than this. Don’t believe their bullshit.”

“Besides, it’s too late,” he says. My heart squeezes.

“What?”

Mark walks back to me, watching closely.

“She’s already on her way to the Island.”

“Does she know that?”

Silence.

“Fuck, Harry. You can’t -- ”

“Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do. Paulson just left on the helicopter with her.”