CHAPTER 37
I pretend to not have heard the threat. Ignore the way the back of my neck prickles like dozens of fire ants have latched on and bitten as I make myself turn my back to him. Take several steps toward the nearest stack of crates.
It’s clear by the way the nails have started to rust on the ones with weathered wood, while others are bright and shiny and still smell like pine, that some of the containers are older than others. The dates on the labels affixed to the sides confirm this. I turn back to face him.
“This is a nice place you’ve got here. Janine must have been stealing for a long time to have gathered so much product.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. These containers all hold merchandise for local tourist shops. It’s all completely legal.”
“I wonder if the cops would agree?”
“Is that your plan? To come here and threaten to turn me in?”
“No. I’m aware that you have people on the inside. Chances are, even if the police seized everything in these crates, you’d have it all back in your possession soon enough.”
“You’d be correct about that.”
“I know.”
“So then why are we here?”
“I came to make you an offer,” I say.
He takes another step closer, effectively blocking me off from the door behind him. Lets his eyes slowly drag across my body as he looks me up and down.
“Not that.”
His grin, the one that’s a bit too much like Jake’s, slides off his face. His voice is sharp as he asks, “Then what?”
“I invited you here today to give you a chance to live.”
He laughs. “Maybe you aren’t as smart as I gave you credit for. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m the one with the gun.”
“Mmm. True.”
“And yet you expect me to take you seriously?”
“I do.”
“Even though I could just shoot you now and end this whole thing?”
“Killing me wouldn’t solve the problem.”
“And how’s that?”
“Because if you shoot me, this entire place, and everything in it, goes up in flames.”
“How do you figure that?”
Reaching into my pockets, I pull out a glass vial from each and hold them up for him to see. “In one hand, I have some regular old glycerin. In the other, some potassium permanganate. On their own, they’re inert. You can buy them at most hardware stores.”
I transfer them both to the same palm and smile.
“But when they’re combined, they cause fire.”
He points toward the ceiling. “That’s why we have a sprinkler system.”
“And that’s why I picked an accelerant that water will just make worse. And since I have them in these fragile glass containers, should they drop, like if I was injured, well, that would mean we’re both in very big trouble.”
For the first time, Garrett looks unsure of himself. He shakes his head. “There’s no way that’s true.”
“I’ll wait while you google it, if you’d like?”
He pulls his phone from his pocket, glances at the screen, but clearly realizes he’ll have to take his attention off me longer than is wise in order to perform the search.
“Yeah, no. I’m calling BS. You’re just trying to distract me.”
“I assure you, I’m not.”
“So I’m just supposed to believe that you know this stuff?”
“You are aware that I’ve spent the last fifteen years working for the FBI, aren’t you?”
The concern creasing his face eases, a small smile appearing on his lips. “So? I’ve got plenty of friends there. I know that’s not something they’d teach you.”
“You’re right, it’s not. But you see, I spent fourteen of those years analyzing data, looking for connections between crimes. That means a lot of reading. A lot of research. I’m sure you heard about the Tampa Torcher. That serial arsonist several years back?”
The way his gaze goes wary, the skin of his throat stretching as he swallows tells me he has.
“Well, I’m the one who discovered the links that proved the fires were started by the same person. And who was able to predict his next move, enabling the FBI to catch him. Learned all kinds of interesting things in the process. So rest assured when I tell you, if I drop these vials, you’re dead.”
Pulling at his shirt collar, he says, “There’s no way. I mean, if you did that, you’d die first.”
“True. But if I don’t do something to stop you, I’m dead anyway, right?”
“I’m closer to the door. How do you know I won’t escape?”
“You might. From me. But all Janine’s hard work here”—he winces as I gesture with the hand holding the vials—“won’t.
I’ve already taken the liberty of mailing her a letter letting her know that if this happens, it was your choice.
On your watch. And something tells me she won’t be too happy with you if this all goes up in smoke. ”
“What do you want?”
“World peace. But I’ll settle for you backing off and making sure Janine does the same. Which means no more snipers. No more hitmen. No more attempts to kill me, or Jake. He and I get to live the remainder of our natural lives together without having to worry about what she’s going to try next.”
“She won’t go for that.”
“She’s in prison. And I hate to break it to you, but she’s going to be there for a very long time. So without someone on the outside to orchestrate things for her and arrange payment, she’ll have to.”
His lips purse, jaw jutting forward while he thinks. “By the same reasoning, wouldn’t that mean I’d be safe from her, as well?”
“No.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because if I die, Jake will take over and do your job for you. Just long enough until you’re gone. And I’m betting that with Janine’s connections and support that won’t take long.”
It’s a lie. He’d have to know about Garrett’s existence and involvement first. But Garrett doesn’t need to know that. All he needs to believe is that Janine’s insatiable appetite for vengeance might be hereditary.
“And you’re just going to take my word for it, if I agree? I simply tell you that you’re safe and we both leave here today and go our separate ways?”
“I have several contingency plans already in place. Your car, your home, that cute little restaurant that you’re using to launder money… Trust me when I say it will take much longer for you to discover all the little presents I’ve left for you than Janine’s patience will extend.”
“How do I know that you won’t trigger them anyway, once we leave here?”
“Because I don’t want—”
We both freeze, our attention shifting toward the front of the building in unison as a noise comes from outside.
Garrett returns his eyes to me, holds a finger up to his lips with one hand while keeping the gun aimed at me with the other as he skitters backward, disappearing into the shadows by the door. A second later, it opens.
And just like that, all my hard work and effort and planning vanish in an instant. I no longer have the upper hand. I no longer have a hand at all. And Garrett knows it.