I shimmied down the rope and had to trust that he would follow. A part of me was surprised at his compliance. After the knife incident, I’d thought he would at least try to fight. We stayed close to the building and after jumping a fence to a neighboring yard, we headed out behind the apartment building. He followed me in silence to a park where we could talk in private.
We straddled table benches, facing each other. I checked my watch. Four a.m. In about an hour, dawn would hit and we would lose the cover of darkness. I had to hurry. As quickly as I could, I explained everything—the stolen drive, my place as an undercover agent on his crew, and how I’d been watching him from the beginning.
His eyes went wide when he heard that news, and I could tell it pissed him off royally, but he stayed still as his body tensed.
“There were…unforeseen circumstances, and I wasn’t able to get the drive before you delivered it to Marco. My director took over, and now she’s doing things her way.” I took a deep breath before telling him, “They found your girl. They’re planning to use her against you to get you to give up Marco.”
His leg bounced and a twitch developed over his left eye as he clamped his jaw tight. He was trying to stay in control.
“I’m here to get you to help me get the drive from Marco without involving my boss and your fiancé.”
Air burst out of his nose, and his posture became stiffer.
“I know how important this job is to you and why you need the money. I’m not asking you to help me for nothing. The man who was giving us the information on that drive was going to be paid for it. I will see that you get that money instead. You will be able to get Marni well and live comfortably while you build up your art clientele.”
His shoulders rounded slightly, but his eyes were narrow and his brow furrowed.
I waited. And waited. I was right on the edge of nudging him to speak, when he did.
“You mean to tell me that your boss has my girl. You mean here—away from her caregivers—the people who are keeping her alive until her surgery?”
I nodded.
He spoke through his teeth, the veins in his neck protruding. “She wasn’t to be moved for her own safety.” His Arabic accent seeped heavily into his French.
“I had nothing to do with it, but I’m sure they took every precaution possible and that she is safe and comfortable. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to use her as a bargaining chip.”
His eyes seemed to pounce on me. “Have you seen her?” Pain was etched in his face, his posture, his voice.
“No, when they told me they had her, I came straight here. I wanted to get to you first.”
“Why? Why? I never did you any favors.”
“You were kind to me when others weren’t, and you tried to help me stay safe. And even though I disagree with you choosing to become a pickpocket, I sympathize with your motives.”
He cocked his head to the side.
“It’s awfully romantic.” I gave him a slight smile.
He shook his head.
“Besides, I knew you’d flip a lid when you heard about Marni, and they’d have a heck of a time getting any help from you, since you don’t know or trust them. I thought my best chance was to come to you directly. Was I wrong?”
“No. You did the right thing. I’ll help you. But you have to guarantee that Marni and I will get that money and be able to disappear.”
“I guarantee it, but we need to move fast. They may have discovered my absence and have guessed at what I intended to do. We need to stay one step ahead of them.”
He was looking at his hands sitting in his lap.
I took a chance and put my hand on his. “Let’s end this.”
Chapter 20
Kamal nodded and looked me in the eye. “What do we do?”
“When did you get Marco the drives?”
“Yesterday, around six.”
“Why didn’t you do it in the morning like you planned?”
“He got held up at the airport.” He shrugged like it was nothing.
“What does he do once he gets the drives?”
“I don’t know.”
“You told me he tests them, runs some kind of a program on them…” I tried to make him think.
“Yes. He does.”
“Where does he do this?” I couldn’t understand why the signal from the drives had gone dead.
“I’m not sure, but maybe at his apartment near Versaille…” He looked off into the trees. “One time I gave him some drives and after he took off, I discovered he left one behind. I followed him, and he stopped at an apartment that I think is his. I don’t know for sure, but we could try there.”
“Good. We’ll go forward with that information. If we discover the drives aren’t there, we’ll have to improvise with whatever we find.”
“If anything happens to Marni, I don’t know what I’ll do, but it won’t be good for you or your gang of agents.” His body shook as he spoke.
I believed him. I’d ensure that nothing happened. I hotwired a small green Peugeot, and Kamal climbed in the passenger’s side, giving me directions as we drove to what he believed was Marco’s home. I called Halluis, hoping against hope that he’d recovered enough to give me some electronic support, but he didn’t pick up. He was probably still recovering in the hospital. Instead, I called Markay.
“Hello? Christy?” It was almost four thirty a.m., but surprisingly, his voice was not thick or groggy.
“Yes. It’s me.”
He started to speak before I could say anything else. “Tell everyone that I am working hard to get the tracker on the drive to give us the information we need. I’ve achieved a one-one-hundredth of a second pulse. From that information,
