Just as I was a few feet from him, ready to say, boo, Kamal turned to me. Boo hung on my puckered lips, but never came out as he came right at me, a scowl on his face. I had to resist the urge to sweep kick him.
“Where did you get these?” He held up four drives. Three were tracked.
Caught off guard, I didn’t know what to say. In two moves I could have him completely disabled. Was it the right thing at this moment to give myself away? No. I had to ride this out. I had to find my way to the lost drive.
He rushed the remaining distance to me and pinned me against the alley wall, a knife against my neck. “I said, where did you get these?” His lips were only inches from my face and a light mist of spit coated me as he spoke. My eyes fluttered, trying to avoid the spray as dread spread through my veins.
I had to stay calm and think despite the abject fear that gripped my chest. Stay submissive. Stay submissive. “I lifted stuff from a hundred people, and you’re asking me where I got four drives? Are you crazy?”
He pushed me harder into the wall, and I felt the prick of the knife on my neck. I tried not to swallow, but in the end, I had to. The chances of me escaping his grasp now that he had the knife at my neck were slim at best, even with my excellent skills. Had I acted the second he came after me, he wouldn’t have stood a chance. But then I wouldn’t have had a chance of retrieving the missing drive.
I forced tears into my eyes, needing to appear weak. “The Louvre?” I eked out. “The Louvre.”
He released me just a bit. “Who do you work for?”
“I work for you,” my voice was raspy, dirty sounding.
“Who gave you those drives?”
“I took them from people in the Louvre. Please. What’s going on?”
“There were trackers on three of those drives. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
I shook my head—a slight motion—one that ensured my neck wouldn’t be cut.
He pushed hard again. I let the tears flow. I needed him to have compassion on me so it would be easier for him to believe me.
“What’s going on?” I whispered, my tears falling freely now. “Please. I don’t know what’s going on. Is this a test? Part of my interview?”
He backed up all of a sudden and brandished the drives in one hand and held the knife out with the other. “Some of these have trackers. Where did you get them?”
“Trackers?” I rubbed my neck and coughed. “I got them at the Louvre off different people, but I can’t remember who. I just can’t remember. I’m sorry.”
“Are you sure? Think, Eva. Think.” He moved toward me, and I shrank back, screeching, covering my neck like I was truly afraid. “Remember, you put one in your pocket, why?”
That’s when I figured out a lie that could save me. “You told me drives could be valuable! I looked for guys with laptops, not students but people who looked, I don’t know, business-like. There was a guy I got a couple off of, I thought I really scored. He was tall, in a suit, all official looking. I remember thinking he must be a government official or something. That’s why I went after him.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. One of his eyes narrowed.
“I’m sure,” I squeaked. “I’m sure.” I had to decide if I was going to stand up to him now or play the weak victim. In gang situations, it was important to be able to assert yourself so you weren’t picked on, but only when it came to your equals or lessers. With a boss, it was important to appear submissive and indebted if you wanted to last for a while.
“Are you sure no one gave these to you?” He waved the drives in front of my face and grabbed my arm. “Because I will find out if someone did.”
“I’m sure,” I said, shaking my head eagerly. “I stole them. No one gave me anything.”
He took a step back and looked off in the distance like he was thinking about something.
“What happened? Explain all this to me, and maybe I can help.” I furrowed my brow.
His rigid posture softened slightly and he took another step back, letting go of my arm. It burned as blood rushed back in. “These drives you gave me, they’re being tracked by someone, someone who wants to know where they are.”
“Why would anyone track their drives? That’s just crazy.” I wanted him to think I was totally naïve and couldn’t even think this through, but at the same time willing to help him out.
“Because wicked important stuff can be on a drive.”
“Right, right, that’s why they could be worth money. Like that Tom Cruise movie, uh…”
“Mission Impossible III. Yes.”
“What was on those drives I got? Was it something, you know, worth something?” I knew very well that nothing important was on those drives, but I made my voice eager.
“Nothing important. I’m guessing whoever you stole those from hadn’t had the chance to download whatever information they wanted to put on them.”
I stood with my shoulders slumped slightly forward in a way he would consider non-threatening. Little did he know that in three
