Ten
Winslet
I stretched as the luxurious sheets caressed my skin. Smiling with my eyes still closed, I rubbed my cheek on the smooth pillowcase. I didn’t know how long I had been asleep, but it had been wonderful. However, thinking about having to go back to the basement made me want to weep. Maybe if I kept my eyes closed, I’d go back to sleep, and he’d forget I wasn’t a guest. He’d let me stay here.
“Get up.”
The deep, husky voice made my eyes snap open, and I scanned the room to see Oz standing at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest. The sunlight wasn’t as bright, and it was drawing closer to setting, meaning I’d slept all day.
Sitting up, I prepared myself to be marched back down to the horrid underground. At least I was clean and well rested. I was going to see if he’d let me use the toilet and brush my teeth again before I was taken back down there.
“He’s left the country. On a private plane from a private airstrip, owned by Samson Zephyr,” he informed me.
I blanched.
Perry had left the country? He hadn’t tried to come get me?
Betrayal stung worse than I could have imagined.
I said nothing. My throat felt clogged, as if I might cry if I opened my mouth. This man was not going to get my tears. The small cloud of bliss I had gotten a taste of had evaporated so quickly.
“I need ideas. Where could he have gone? Has he mentioned going anywhere with Samson Zephyr before? Has he mentioned any out-of-the-country trips? Is there anyone else he has spoken about?”
His demanding tone only made the wave of emotion that I had been struggling to tamp down worse.
I had told him everything I knew. I started to say no and stopped.
Perry hadn’t mentioned going with Samson, but he had wanted to take me to somewhere in Morocco for my birthday this year. He’d talked about it and planned it, then had to cancel it. But would he go to some tourist place if he was running from the Feds?
“Where? I can see it on your face, Winslet. Tell me, and you can stay in this room tonight. I’ll even let you come downstairs and eat whatever you want. But rewards require information.”
I licked my bottom lip. Perry was in trouble. The longer this took, the more he ran, the angrier they got. The Feds might not kill him, but I wasn’t so sure that the Southern Mafia or whatever wouldn’t. There was a very slim chance that he had taken off on a trip to Morocco. He had gone on Samson’s private plane. They’d have gone somewhere safe. My telling him about the birthday trip would get me a meal and a night in this room. I could sleep in a bed, and I would get another shower, and it wouldn’t lead them to my brother.
As hurt as I was that he hadn’t come to get me or sent someone, I couldn’t let them kill him. That was my line I wouldn’t cross. It was getting clearer to me that this wasn’t some crazed psycho making threats. This was an expensive home. It might not be his, but whoever it belonged to had money. Which meant they probably had power.
“My birthday.” The two words felt heavy on my tongue.
“Go on,” he urged.
I sat up straighter, crossing my legs and clasping my hands together in my lap. “He was going to take me to Morocco. But he had to cancel the plans. He had been there earlier this year and loved it. He wanted me to go see it.”
The spark of interest in his eyes did not make me feel better about this. When this led them on a wild goose chase, they weren’t going to be happy with me.
“Where in Morocco?” he asked me.
Ah crap. Perry had told me, but I didn’t know much about Morocco—actually, I knew nothing about it.
I shook my head. “I can’t remember.”
“Think harder. You want this bedroom for a night, then you’ll remember.”
The threat in his tone made me anxious. I had to tell him where if I was going to sleep in here tonight.
“Can you like, maybe, list some cities in Morocco? I will remember it if I hear it.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “If you’re lying to me, you’ll regret it.”
I shook my head. “I’m not. I just honestly can’t remember the name of the place. I never considered going to Morocco. It was his idea. It has a weird name. I just need my memory jogged.”
He continued to stare at me for a moment, as if he was trying to decide to believe me or not. I wanted to plead my case some more, but I waited.
“Casablanca,” he said.
I scrunched my nose. “That’s where Casablanca is?” I asked, not realizing that it was in Morocco, although it had been since high school when I watched that movie.
His expressions became more severe.
Jeesh. Temper much?
“Tangier,” he said tightly.
I shook my head. That wasn’t it either.
“It starts with an M , I think.” Actually, I was almost positive.
“Marrakesh.”
I nodded before he got the full word out. “That’s the one! Marrakesh. He knew someone in his software world who had a house there.”
As soon as that came out of my mouth, I stopped. Understanding dropping on me like a five-gallon bucket of ice water. Samson—it could have been Samson’s house.
I blinked as horror clinched me. Had I just sent them to kill my brother?
Oz jerked his phone out of his pocket with a determined gleam in his eyes. I was right. He was thinking it too.
“I doubt he went there,” I blurted, trying to think of anything to save Perry. “He wouldn’t go to a tourist city if he was hiding.” Although I wasn’t positive if that was a tourist city or not.
Oz leveled me with his gaze. “You really don’t know much about Morocco, do you?”
I was an idiot. What had I done?
I shook my head.
“Morocco is one of the countries that does not have an extradition treaty with the US.”
What was an extradition treaty?
“I don’t know what that means.”
He frowned. “You’re a fucking teacher.”
I threw up my hands. “For second graders. We don’t discuss treaties the US has with other countries!”
His gaze softened some, but only a minute amount. “It means that US criminals can live in Morocco without fear of the US government. Their law enforcement will not collect you and send your ass back to the US. It happens to be one of the top five countries white-collar criminals flee to.”
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. My heart began to slam against my chest as images of my brother being tortured and left for dead flashed through my mind.
I jumped out of the bed, panicked. “No, he wouldn’t have gone without me. If he was going to flee there, he’d have taken me with him, not canceled the trip. You’d be wasting your money and time, going there.” I was spewing words that didn’t even sound believable to me.
Oz put the phone to his ear, ignoring me and heading for the door.
“Marrakesh,” he said to whoever had answered. “He was going to take her there for her birthday to stay at a business associate’s house.”
I followed him, stopping at the door he’d left open as he walked out.
“He canceled their trip.” Pause. “Yep.”
Yep. Was that the response to, Do we go there and find him and kill him?
Please, Perry, do not be in Morocco , I pleaded silently.
Why didn’t I know more about other countries? Why hadn’t one of the crime shows I watched have anyone flee to Morocco?
I ran a hand through my hair, then fisted my heavy strands tightly. I had to think. I could not let them hurt Perry.
Oz turned when he reached the end of the hallway and looked back at me. “Come on. Time to eat dinner.”
I’d won a meal and a bed for the night. All it had cost was my brother’s safety. Possibly his life.
The heavy weight inside my chest went all the way to my stomach, as if I had just swallowed the private plane that had taken him there. I thought about telling Oz no, but if I stayed up here, I might miss something. A call or a decision. If I stayed close, I could at least know if Perry was safe or not.
“I need to brush my hair and use the bathroom first,” I told him. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
He didn’t respond, but continued on until he was out of sight. I went back into the room, no longer feeling the joy from my surroundings.
If something happened to Perry, I would never feel joy again. He was so gullible. Whoever this Samson man was, he had used my brother and his intelligence. That had to be what had happened. Perry wasn’t who they thought he was. I could not believe that he had used counterfeit money knowingly and taken even ten dollars, much less four million, from anyone. I just didn’t know how to clear his name.