There was a pop of annoyance on his face. “Why do I do what?”

I saved my eyes on him as greatest as I might. “Any of it,” I mentioned, not bothering to elaborate. “Your organization has one of many longest-sustained contracts with the federal government, and you’ve got non-public shoppers all around the world. You make more cash legitimately in every week than most do of their complete lives. Why isn’t that sufficient? Why do you want extra?”

Surprisingly, Hayes took his time to consider it. I watched him pour whiskey right into a glass from the bar tucked neatly to the facet, not bothering with ice or a garnish. He introduced it again and sat down throughout from me once more. “Why would anybody restrict their potential to realize energy?” he requested. “I’ve the power to affect governments. Why wouldn’t I?”

“So, it’s simply concerning the cash, then?”

“It does make the world go ’spherical, Nataliya.”

You disgust me, I assumed as he sipped his drink. “Some folks may lie,” I mentioned, “to make themselves look extra altruistic.”

His eyebrow cocked upward. “Do I seem to be an altruistic sort of man?” He threw the remainder of his drink again. “I’ve by no means cared for taking part in video games.”

I motioned round us. “So, what’s all this, then? Should you don’t like video games, why are you doing this with me?”

“This isn’t a sport,” he assured me. “It’s a enterprise assembly. You’re an impediment to my skilled future. I regarded into you the primary time you gave my males the slip. You have got a powerful academic background.”

“So?”

“So, I feel I can resolve a number of issues abruptly. Come work for me, and I gained’t have to fret about you any longer. I’d just remember to and your son had a cushty life.”

“However I’d need to look the opposite method while you dealt in human trafficking or bought secrets and techniques that obtained folks killed.”

He shrugged. It was a fragile motion that made my abdomen roll in on itself. “Consider it as the worth of admission,” he mentioned.

The best way he shrugged every thing off, as if it had been simply one other day, was disgusting. “I don’t know what world you reside in, nevertheless it’s not the true one,” I mentioned. “I might by no means do what you’re asking.”

Hayes sighed. “I assumed that could be your reply,” he mentioned. “You’re going to give me again what you stole, or I’m going to kill you. Do you perceive? There’s nowhere so that you can run—no method out of this for those who proceed to defy me. This home is the one one for miles. It’s as much as you whether or not you stroll out of right here with a brand-new job or are carried out in a physique bag.”

A shiver ran down my backbone, however I compelled myself to sit up and take a look at him as if his phrases didn’t completely terrify me. “I gained’t cooperate, it doesn’t matter what you say.”

“You’re actually not afraid?” he requested.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m or not,” I mentioned. “I’m nonetheless not doing it.”

“Ought to I ship Peter after Elias then?” he requested. “Or your FBI pet?”

My fingers balled into fists once more. “Depart them alone.”

He laughed, flat and impassive, and that was extra terrifying than something. “You’re a kind of sentimental varieties. I ought to have began with that.” He picked up his telephone. “Peter, come gather Nataliya for me, will you? Then, I’ve an errand so that you can run.”

I used to be screaming the entire time Peter dragged me again to my cell. Don’t panic, I informed myself once more. Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic. Adrian was coming. He wouldn’t go away me right here like this.

TWENTY-TWO

ADRIAN

“Ineed data on Ian Hayes, and I would like it now,” I barked into my telephone. “Every bit of property he owns. I don’t care if it’s a home, a condominium, a fucking telephone sales space. Simply get me one thing so I can discover him, Shep.”

“On it,” Drake confirmed. “I’ve obtained this, man. Take a breather.”

I nearly laughed. I used to be so wired that I didn’t suppose I might relaxation if I attempted. I wasn’t going to have the ability to shift out of “excessive alert” mode till we obtained Nataliya again. I used to be primed and prepared for motion—however there wasn’t something for me to do. Not but. And the ready was driving me up the wall.

I wasn’t thrilled concerning the anxious appears Zach saved capturing me, both, like he anticipated me to snap. He’d refused to stick with Gabe, who was within the hospital underneath statement for his concussion, as a result of he’d insisted I wanted somebody to regulate me.

“There’s no use speaking to him,” Zach mentioned. “He’s going to be in commando mode till he will get Nat again.”

“Cuddy unhealthy?”

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