Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
“You were in prison,” Devi pointed out.
“I had plenty of connections.”
She wasn’t sure what his prison connections would have done to a cartel that wanted to hurt his family, but she wasn’t going to argue. “Well, you certainly do now. You have Huisman. How did you meet him?”
Calm. She sounded calm. That was how she was going to play this whole thing.
She hoped Zach was calm. She needed him on his game because she knew without a doubt that he was coming for her. It would be up to her uncle to keep her brother and fiancé from running in without a plan. They would rush in and try to kill everyone when they needed to be surgical.
All she had to do was survive.
“He came looking for me.” Ray’s voice brought her back to the moment. “He knew I could bring Shannon in. I’ve been following that woman for most of my life. I can find her anywhere.”
She’d been in hiding for years, but again, she wasn’t about to argue with the criminal. Also, he hadn’t brought her in. Nell Flanders had.
She hoped her cousin was alive. She remembered something about Lucy taking out the other guy and locking them in, so she knew they’d made it at least that far.
Devi looked out the window. It was dark, and she had no idea where they were going.
Where was Zach? Was he okay?
“You found her today,” Devi agreed, leaning over to see if she could tell if Shannon was starting to wake.
“She’ll be out for hours. Unlike you. You’re being an awfully good girl.”
Oh, she didn’t like that, but she gave him a wide-eyed stare. “I don’t want to die. I’ll do what you ask me to, though I don’t know why I’m here.”
“You’re here because these men could not bring in the person I wanted,” a deep voice said.
Sure enough, every eye was now on a place behind her. Damn. She was about to meet the man, the myth, the terrorist dickhead.
Emmanuel Huisman stepped into her line of vision, putting a hand to the back of Ray’s chair. He was an attractive man in his early thirties with intelligent eyes that held a hint of his cruelty.
“I suspect the person you wanted was my cousin,” she replied quietly.
Huisman’s lips curled up as though he was remembering something infinitely lovely. “Well, that was for personal reasons. It had nothing to really do with the mission, though Ray here was smart enough to at least bring me someone. Yes, I did want to get my hands on the stronger half of Ms. Magenta. I will never understand why my dear friend Benjamin is fascinated with the other one.”
That was news to her. “I don’t think he knows.”
Now his smile was vibrant and bright. “Of course he does. I told him, but that’s a matter for another day. I simply don’t understand why my dear friend would want the bland and boring when he could have the extraordinary.”
Her gut tightened at the thought of Ben Parker working for this man. “He’s helped us.”
Huisman sank onto the seat beside Ray and wagged his finger her way. “You are not a part of us. You are not on that team. You are Ian Taggart’s much-indulged niece. Benjamin has not helped you. Now the question becomes has he helped the team? Or did he maneuver them into the position I want them in? Time and time again. I’m actually disappointed Taggart fell for it. I suppose I made him up to be far more than he truly is. Rather like that woman at the front of the plane. She doesn’t look like the person who can change the world.”
“I suspect that’s because you don’t believe women can.”
Huisman’s head shook. “Oh, not at all. I know women can change everything. For the worse. Women manipulate men. Like our friend here. Shannon kept his children from him. A child needs his father. I had mine taken from me. My father, that is. By your uncle. Look how I turned out.”
She was not about to go there. “Zach did fine without him.”
“Ah, Captain Reed.” Huisman’s voice turned silky smooth. “I tried to reason with him. When I captured him in Toronto, I meant to spend some time with him, get to know each other. I thought he, of all the people on that team, might see reason.”
She was pretty sure they had different definitions of reason. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have tortured the people he cared about and put him in handcuffs.”
“Well, he managed to kill all of my men while he was handcuffed, so I suppose I’m lucky he ran.” Huisman gave a negligent shrug like he wasn’t talking about life and death and trauma. He sobered. “Still, I would have preferred to bring him in. Or his brother. That was the original plan. I think Shannon Reed will do anything for her sons, but I can pivot. I can still make this happen.” He turned to Ray. “Does it bother you that neither of your sons has your name? Names are so important. It’s a man’s right to name his sons.”