end.”
An FBI agent stepped up behind him. “Do you need anything?”
“Yes, to leave.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“So we’re, like, prisoners now?”
“Not exactly. You are not a prisoner. We’re here to protect you. This is for your own safety.”
“No, we’re prisoners by every definition.”
The FBI man stared without speaking.
Darwin shut the door. “What are we going to do? We’ve been in Toronto all of six hours and we’re already going stir crazy.”
The phone rang.
They looked at each other.
“No one knows we’re here but the police,” Darwin said before he answered.
“Darwin?”
“Yeah,” Darwin said as recognized Greg’s voice.
“Good. I was hoping it was you who picked it up. I couldn’t tell Rosina what I have to say.”
“Go ahead.” His stomach dropped. What now?
“It’s Rosina’s parents. We had them protected. Six officers on the detail. Four of them are dead and two are missing. There is no sign of her parents. I’m sorry, Darwin, we did everything we could. We lost good men today. I’m sorry.”
Darwin hung up the phone and turned to look at his wife.
Chapter 10
No one had visited them since dinner, the phone hadn’t rung again, and now it was midnight. Rosina had fallen asleep on the bed, after crying for two solid hours. He’d waited until she’d fallen asleep. He was wide awake from his long rest on the plane, and he was bent and bound to do something about the threat that had befallen his family, his wife.
He got up, put on his shoes, and walked to the door. When he opened it, a new FBI man stood there.
“Do you need anything?”
Darwin stepped out into the hallway. “Actually, yes,” he said, and closed his door behind him.
“Sir, don’t do that. You’re not supposed to be in the hallway. Can I have your room key please?”
“Oh, damn, I left it inside.”
“Okay, stay here. Don’t move. I’ll radio down and have another one brought up. In the meantime, I’ll keep you behind me while I watch the hall.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Sir?”
“I’m leaving.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that.”
“Well, you don’t really have a choice, do you? I’m not a prisoner. I’ve broken no laws. Well, at least none that I’ve been charged with. So that means I’m free to go. Now, please step aside.”
The FBI man crossed his arms. “Sir, I have orders to keep you in your room with your wife.”
“What’s your name?”
“Special Agent Trent McMahon.”
“Listen, Trent. How did they get to Rosina’s parents? They were under police protection too. Six officers, as far as I understand it. How many do we have here? Now, of course, I appreciate the thought, but there’s been enough bloodshed. It’s time I meet with these people and end this. I won’t stay in the same room with my wife, endangering her further, while these people are free, running around, conspiring to kill me and everyone I know. Are we clear?”
Trent stood back. As Darwin delivered his speech, his voice had grown more and more intense. The Rome side of Darwin was coming out. He didn’t mean it, but what had happened in Rome had changed him, and he could never go back to the way he was pre-Rome.
“I understand what you’re saying, and I sympathize. But I have orders. I intend to follow them.”
Darwin had been prepared for that, but he also knew the FBI man wasn’t going to shoot him.
He looked past the cop’s shoulder, widened his eyes, and pretended to see something horrible. He ducked and yelled, “Look out!”
It was beyond the oldest trick in the book, but Trent ducked anyway and spun on his heels, reaching for his weapon. By the time he turned back around, Darwin was running down the hall, halfway between Trent and the door to the stairwell.
When he hit the stairs, he looked back and saw Trent speaking into his wrist.
Darwin ran down the stairs two at a time. Fourth floor, third, second and finally the ground floor, his shoulder wound aching a little at the raised heart rate and extra movement.
Instead of running outside through the exit door, he headed into the lobby. He walked past the front desk to a sliding door on the left. It opened as he neared it.
As soon as he walked outside and into the dark night, it seized him. He hadn’t thought enough about it. It was just after midnight. It was dark. What was he going to do? Run around Toronto in the dark? How effective was he going to be for anybody?
The familiar stirrings of anger began to surface. An image of his stepmother’s face flashed in his mind.
A car raced up and squealed to a stop in front of him. Two men in suits ran toward him, before he even realized what was happening. They flipped open badges and grabbed his arms.
He winced and pulled his left arm away.
“Shit, that fucking hurts,” he grunted, his teeth clamped together.
“Sorry,” the agent on the left said.
They guided him to the car and put him in the center of the backseat. Both men got in on either side and shut the doors. A second later, the vehicle was under way.
“Turn on the interior light,” Darwin said.
“What?” the driver asked.
“I said, turn on the interior light. Now.”
“Sir?” the driver said, looked in his mirror for approval.
The agent beside Darwin nodded and the light flicked on.
No one said anything as the driver pulled out and turned right. He went through the green light and turned into a Park-N-Fly lot, grabbed a ticket and then raced to the back where it was relatively empty.
When the vehicle was parked, the agent next to Darwin said, “We need your help.”
Darwin nodded. Anything to being cooped up in a hotel room for months or years. “Shoot.” That’s funny. Oops.
“We feel the kidnapping of Rosina’s parents had inside help.”
Shit.
“I’m not surprised,” Darwin said. “Without knowing more, I’d say I believe you.”
“You already know the man.”
Darwin frowned. “What?”
“Greg Stinsen.”
“No way. You’re joking.”
“Wish I was. We followed him when he left the Quality Suites before dinner was sent up to you. He drove to an adult store on Dundas and Dixie. He came out with a black bag. Now, normally those kinds of stores have black bags to protect what the purchaser just bought from the public’s eye. But the Fuccini family owns and operates a lot of these adult stores. They do a number of payouts through them. Men can walk right out in public with large sums of cash and no cop could ever see the drop-off taking place. The windows of these stores are covered up, so
