Extreme Danger (McClouds & Friends #5)(131)

“But I—”

“But if you do not succeed in bringing Solokov to me at the appointed place and time, you will receive a DVD in the mail, the contents of which will be most upsetting to you. I will use just one of them, for now. I will flip a coin to choose either your brother or your sister to star in it. I need not elaborate, no?”

“N-n-no,” she croaked. “Please, don’t.”

“Then, after you see this DVD, we will renegotiate,” Zhoglo said complacently. “Do we understand each other, my dear?”

It took several tries to get the word out. “Yes,” she said.

“Very well. I look forward to speaking with you again. Until then, my lovely Rebecca.”

Click. The line went dead.

The phone dropped from her numb hand, bounced on the carpet. Becca slid off the bed, down onto her knees, and curled around that awful hole of pure terror. Her entire body stuttered with fear.

She felt Nick’s big warm hands gripping her shoulders. “Becca?” he asked cautiously. “What’s up? Talk to me, babe.”

“He has Carrie and Josh,” she blurted out.

“Yeah?” He slid his hands under her armpits and lifted her up, setting her gently on the edge of the bed. She doubled over again, unable to bear the sucker-punch agony in her middle. “What does he want?”

Becca’s eyes overflowed with tears as she looked at him. It was the moment of truth. She could not betray him and deliver him up to Zhoglo. That was simply not an option. She didn’t have it in her.

The instant she told him, the instant she made that move and put Nick on his guard, Carrie and Josh would be lost forever.

So was she. Worse than lost. She was damned to hell for all time.

Nick shook her shoulders. “What does he want, Becca?”

Her lips formed the word, but could get only the faintest puff of air behind it to turn it into a tiny whisper. “You.”

Chapter

28

W ow. Amazing performance. He watched her weep and carry on with all his senses wide open, feeling for the vibe behind the vibe behind the vibe, and it rang perfectly true. She was a world class actress.

Or maybe she was just nuts. Maybe she’d psyched herself into believing the tales she told. That was how it worked under deep cover. Who knew better than him? You pumped the false persona full of life and juice and detail and emotion. Until it lived and breathed. It made you half-crazy, yes, but he’d been more than half-crazy to begin with.

There might even be a part of Becca’s splintered brain that sincerely believed that she loved him. Every instinct told him she was for real. That her evident distress for this sister and brother was real.

If only he hadn’t seen that footage.

Christ, he wished he could throw it in her face and examine how she reacted, but Davy and the rest were right. He’d lose every possible advantage the situation might give him, for the sake of a stupid, desperate hope. He would not permit himself to do that. No.

“He wants me?” he asked quietly. “Tell me.”

She mopped her face with a trembling hand. “I’m supposed to lure you into a trap, for him. When they have you, he says he’ll—he’ll give Carrie and Josh back to me. And if not…” She was gasping for air.

“Don’t tell me what happens if not,” he said. “I’ve seen it.”

Strange twist. He pondered it. Why alert him to the trap? She might have sensed that he smelled a rat. Maybe this was a salvage job. She was smart enough, intuitive enough. Games within games within games. It tied his brain in knots. This chick was seriously complicated.

“Where’s the trap?” he asked. “When’s the meeting?”

She shook her head “He’ll call with that info later,” she whispered.

He hesitated for a moment. “Why’d you tell me, babe?”

She looked up at him, wet-eyed, utterly bewildered. “Come again?”

“Why tell me about the trap?” he repeated. “Why not just do the trade?”

Her back straightened. She wiped her eyes. “You son of a bitch. How dare you say that. If you have to ask me that question, then you don’t deserve a goddamn answer!”

He shrugged. “Don’t take it personally. I just figured, hey, your first responsibility is to Carrie and Josh, right? Goes without saying.”

“And you think I’d be capable of doing that? Of turning you over to that monster after what you did for me? I love you, you stupid jackass!”

He thought about how he’d felt, staring at the blank fa?ade of that town house today. “And what about Carrie and Josh?”

Her face crumpled. She sagged into herself.

Huh. He was not sure what, if anything, he’d learned from this touching melodrama, other than the fact that her performance remained watertight. The backstory was so believable. The dinky apartment, authentic-looking photos of the little brother and sister. That f*cking phone call from Josh, at just the right moment—how the hell had she organized that? She must have had visual monitoring already in place. She must have been so sure Nick’d crawl back, begging for more, after the island. He didn’t blame her. He’d have been sure too, if he were her.

The heart-wrenching tale that they’d bonded over: dear old Dad, Mom eating the pills, Becca raising little bro and sis all alone. That vibe of stoic endurance, tinged with stubborn good humor. Such a likable, masterful touch. He’d eaten it up with a spoon.