Chapter 45
GAbrIEL
One hour earlier…
“She’s been here forty minutes,” Alexei says quietly. “Interview room two. They’ve been gentle with her. So far.”
“Of course they have.”
“She’s been crying.”
“Of course she has.”
I’ve been in police stations before. Many times, in fact. I know how they work—the deliberate discomfort of the plastic chairs, the fluorescent lighting designed to put you ill at ease, the freezing cold temperature.
Alexei cancelled his flight back to Moscow after he heard about Thea’s kidnapping. He’s offered his help, and I’m in no place to refuse it.
I’m standing in the area adjoining the interview room, watching Amanda through the two-way mirror.
Amanda Reed is many things. But stupid isn’t one of them, which is exactly what’s made the last few hours interesting.
Alexei turns to me with worry in his eyes, his brow knitted.
“You ready for this?” he asks.
“More than ready.”
The door opens, and Sgt. Sharrock steps in. He’s one of many CPD officers who takes a little on the side from me for certain favors. He wears a weary expression.
“You still want to talk with her?” he asks.
“That’s why I’m here.”
“She already gave her statement. I should’ve sent her packing an hour ago.”
“She wants to appear the picture of cooperation,” Alexei says. “Hell, I’d believe her if I didn’t know any better.”
“But I don’t,” I say and turn to the sergeant. “I need thirty minutes.”
He winces. “I can do ten, then I’ve got to cut her loose.”
“Fine.”
He nods toward the door.
“I’ll join you,” Alexei says. “You get actionable information, and my people are ready to move.”
We follow the sergeant into the hall. He opens the door to the interview room, and Alexei and I step inside.
Amanda’s seated with both hands wrapped around a paper cup, her hair slightly undone. She’s wearing the same expression I recognize from boardrooms and dispositions, controlled vulnerability precisely calculated to make her appear sympathetic.
She’s a good actor.
She looks up when I enter the room, and for one unguarded half second, I see her flinch. It’s raw and involuntary, as if she’s certain that I’m there to kill her.
Then the mask goes back on.
I glance over my shoulder at Alexei and nod. He takes the cue, leaning against the back wall with his arms crossed.
Time to go to work.
“Gabriel,” she says. She rises from her seat, rushes over, and throws her arms around me. “God, it’s good to see you.”
I place my hands on her shoulders, guiding her gently off my body.
“Likewise.”
“It was…” She looks down and shakes her head. “It was horrible. One second I’m sitting in the waiting room, and the next men are flooding in with guns. They killed those two guards.”
“Horrible, indeed.”
She squares her shoulders and nods once. “But I helped Thea get out of there. Is she okay? Is she at home?”
I can’t keep up the charade any longer. I glace at the camera in the corner of the room and nod. The red light on the unit turns off.
“Sit, Amanda.”
She furrows her brow and cocks her head to the side. “What’s going on? Please tell me Thea’s alright. Please.”
“Sit.”
She opens her mouth to speak but thinks better of it, closing it before saying a word. Then she does as I ask, turning and sliding back into her seat. I take the one on the other side of the table.
“I’m here because there are some things I need confirmed. Details. Timing.” I place my hands on the table, folding them. “And you’re going to help me with that.”
There’s a flash in her eyes, my first indication that she knows something’s wrong.
“I don’t know what you think happened, Gabriel. But I was attacked—”
“You were in the clinic waiting room for twenty-two minutes before the men arrived.” I watch her carefully. “During that time, you took out a second phone and sent four text messages. And don’t even think about lying to me. I watched the footage myself with my own two goddamn eyes.”
Silence. The paper cup crinkles slightly in her grip.
“I know what happened.”
She stares at me.
“The Max Fedorov meeting,” I continue. “You want to tell me how Kolya knew exactly where I’d be?
I swept my own offices down three days prior.
That means the leak was human. You were close when it happened—too close.
I didn’t want to believe that you were behind it; I couldn’t believe that someone I let so close to me would betray me like that. God, what a fool I was.
“But I didn’t think that you’d be reckless enough to move on Thea directly. I didn’t think that you’d be so stupid. I thought you might feed information but otherwise keep your hands clean. The clinic was ambitious.”
I lower my eyes.
“I miscalculated. And that’s my failing. But it won’t happen again.”
Silence. Alexei shifts his weight. It’s a small movement, but Amanda’s eyes dart toward him and I see the thing I’ve been waiting for.
Fear.
“Who the hell is he?” she asks.
“Alexei Petrov. He’s Thea’s cousin.”
She narrows her eyes slightly.
“He runs a private security firm that operates in twelve countries. Some of those operations are… what’s a good word Alexei?”
“Extrajudicial.”
“Extrajudicial,” I echo. “Alexei flew in when he learned that Thea is alive. And he’s quite motivated to keep her that way.”
I glance over my shoulder. Alexei doesn’t say a word, just watches Amanda with those dark eyes, the slightest hint of a smile on his lips.
Amanda’s composure is cracking. The paper cup is now completely crunched in her hand, the muscles of her neck tense.
I can sense her mind frantically searching for the right thing to say that will let her walk away from this.
“Let me explain something,” I go on. “Two of my men are dead, and the mother of my child is missing. And there isn’t the slightest doubt in my mind that you were the one who delivered her right into the arms of my enemy.”
“I—”
“Where is she, Amanda?”
“I can’t tell you. If I do, Kolya will—”
“What Kolya will do to you is theoretical. What I’ll do to you is guaranteed.
” I don’t raise my voice. I don’t need to.
“You know me. You know what I’m capable of.
But you don’t know what Alexei is capable of.
If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I’ll be the one escorting you out of here, to the mansion, right to the basement. ”
She blinks hard, her lower lip shaking. She knows what that means.
“I don’t need to tell you what happens in the basement, in those stainless-steel rooms. Alexei will accompany you down to one of them.
And I’ll let him take his sweet time. Then, if there’s anything left, I’ll come down and finish the job myself.
And you know me, Amanda. I don’t make threats—I make promises. ”
Something behind her eyes gives way, and when she speaks again, her voice is flat, without hope or resistance.
“Please don’t kill me, Gabriel,” she says quietly.
I wait a long moment before responding.
“Information. Now.”
She swallows. “Kolya has a nightclub. It’s in Elizabeth, over in Jersey. It’s called Zoloto. He uses the basement for meetings, private things. That’s where he took her.”
“What’s the security like?”
She shakes her head. “No idea. Five or six when I was there, probably more now.” Her words come out erratically. She’s trying to keep it together.
“What was the arrangement?”
I already know the answer. I just want to see if she’ll tell the truth.
“I deliver Thea. He takes her out of the equation. And then he guarantees your safety. Gabriel, you have to understand that this was all for you, about keeping you safe. There’s no way you can go up against Kolya and live. I was trying to stop a war that you’d surely lose!”
“And the money?”
Her face drains of color. No doubt she hadn’t been expecting me to know about that.
“Four million,” I say. “Wired three days ago to a numbered account in the Caymans through a shell corporation. Alexei’s people aren’t just good for wet works, you see.”
Her hands are trembling now.
“I needed something for it! I was putting my life in danger, betraying you! It was for your own good, but still!”
I snort. “Something I’ve never failed to be amazed by over the years is how people can do the most self-centered things imaginable yet somehow manage to dress them up as altruistic.
It’s really quite something.” I narrow my eyes.
“Let’s cut the bullshit. You wanted the money, and you wanted Thea out of the picture. ”
She shakes her head. “No. That’s not it. I—”
“I said, cut the bullshit. You wanted Thea out of the picture, and Kolya not only gave you the opportunity to do it but added a little hard cash on top to sweeten the pot. So you delivered a pregnant woman to the man who murdered her family.”
“That’s not… it wasn’t just—” She presses her palms to the table, sweat beading at her hairline. “Gabriel… I love you.”
Precisely the words I’d been expecting her to say.
“I’ve loved you for years. What the hell was I supposed to do, watch you throw everything away for this girl?”
“This woman is carrying my child.”
“And she’s going to get you killed! You’re putting everything on the line for this Fetisov girl.
Not only is it putting your life at risk, but it’s also putting the entire Camorra at risk.
I’m giving you an out. Kolya takes her, finishes what he started, and that’s the end of it. I was trying to save you.”
I lean forward. “You honestly think that would be the end of it?”
She nods. “Kolya promised me that he’d let you live.”
“He’d let me live after he took every last goddamn thing I have,” I say. “And if you don’t see that, you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”
“Gabriel, I—”
“Enough.” The word cuts through the air like a sword, cold and final.
She quiets.
I stand.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to be released.
Alexei’s people will be waiting for you outside the station.
They’re going to take you to a location where his people—and mine—can keep an eye on you.
I’m going to check your information. If it leads to Thea’s location, and I’m able to bring her back safe, we’ll talk again to determine your future. ”
I button my jacket and straighten my cuffs.
“But if you’re lying, if anything happens to her—if she’s been hurt, if the baby’s been harmed, if there’s so much as a goddamn hair out of place—you will be praying for death. And I’ll make sure that prayer goes unanswered for a very long time.”
I turn and walk toward the door. Alexei pushes off the wall to follow.
“Gabriel…” Amanda’s voice cracks. “Gabriel, please.”
I don’t stop.
Alexei falls into step with me in the hallway. As we step through the doors out onto the city streets, I catch sight of two black SUVs down the block.
“Those are my people,” Alexei says. “They’ll make sure she cooperates.”
I nod. “Elizabeth, New Jersey. Club Zoloto. That’s our target.”
“You’re certain she’s telling the truth?”
“Amanda’s many things, but she has a strong sense of self-preservation. She knows well what would happen if she were to lie to me.”
“Very well. I’ll have a team in place within thirty minutes. I’ll gather building plans and come up with a strategy for attack.”
“Do it. I’ll bring my own men, too. It’s going to be a show of overwhelming force. Whatever Kolya’s planning, it ends today.”
“I like the sound of that.” Alexei pulls out his phone and begins dialing.
I stand on the precinct steps and look out at the city. Somewhere in Jersey, in some shithole nightclub, Thea is waiting. She’s afraid and she’s alone, and she’s unsure if I’m coming.
But I am.
And God help anyone who stands in my way.