Secretive (16 page)

––––––––

J
ACK tensed, but Sam trained the gun on Zoe’s head. Jack raised his hands. “Good choice,” Sam said. “Now, a few rules. No talking and no sudden moves. Got it?”

They both nodded, Jack a slow, deliberate drop of his chin. Zoe’s head bobbed jerkily as blood zinged through her body. She wanted to sprint away into the pool of darkness beyond the next naked light bulb, but the hall was so narrow, she didn’t have any doubt that Sam would hit her if he fired the gun. And his expression was so different, intense and focused. He looked as if he’d fire the gun without a second thought.

“Let’s make sure you didn’t bring anything dangerous with you,” Sam said as he patted them down.

Jack sent Zoe a warning look that conveyed,
don’t do anything stupid,
as clearly as if he’d spoken aloud.

She sent him a look back.
Of course I’m not going to do anything stupid. He’s got a gun
.

Somehow Jack managed to send her a smile with only his eyes. Yelp, he’d gotten the message and, weirdly, she felt reassured. Jack wasn’t going to pieces or panicking. She wouldn’t either, she vowed.

But it was hard to stay calm and focused when Sam pressed the gun to the back of her head and marched them up a set of circular stairs to a more luxurious area of the castle with drafty hallways lined with tapestries and faded rugs. He guided them to a room with an ornate wooden desk positioned between a massive fireplace and narrow windows set in a stone wall that overlooked the steeply curving road that ran down into the valley. The room looked like something out of
Architectural Digest
, the medieval issue. A fire crackled in the grate, the other three walls of the room were paneled in a dark wood and ringed with bookcases.

Sam shoved Zoe’s shoulder roughly, pushing her into a chair. “Hands.” He pointed to the arm of the chair, keeping the gun on her. Another man with a neck so thick that he probably couldn’t wear turtlenecks, slipped plastic zip ties around her wrists and tightened them.

“Very good,” Sam said pleasantly.

The guy with the oversized neck used the zip ties to secure Jack’s wrists and ankles to the chair beside Zoe. Then he wrapped a thick dishcloth across his mouth and tied it at the back of his head.

“So, you’re a liar, a thief, and you hold people against their will?” Anger at his lies and at the casual way he ordered them around simmered through her. Zoe tugged on her wrists, but the plastic held firm.

“I am a much more interesting person than you thought, aren’t I?” He grinned and said, “Now I will take care of your beautiful ankles.”

He was
enjoying
this, she realized. He liked having her restrained to a chair. A chill ran through her and it had nothing to do with the temperature in the room. Jack made a low growling sound.

Sam waved the other guy to the door, indicating he could leave. As the door closed behind him, Sam tossed her messenger bag on the desk then put down the gun and secured her ankles to the legs of the wooden chair. “Boots,” he said, clearly displeased that he couldn’t get to her ankles. “Ah well...later. No gag for you.” He stood. “It will get in my way.”

He leaned over her, his mouth inches from her ear. Zoe squished back against the chair. “I’ve been looking forward to this. It will be...” he leaned even closer and she could smell meat and beer on his breath as he whispered, “delightful.” Staying close to her face, he tilted his head to look at Jack as he spoke to him. “I think I will kill you last. That way, you may watch what I do to her.”

Cold fear washed away the surge of anger she’d felt earlier, and she broke out in a clammy sweat. This did not seem like the guy who’d flirted with her, who seemed so soft-spoken, and almost gentle. How could she have been so wrong about him? Her stomach churned. How had she ever thought he was attractive?

The door opened and Costa came inside. Sam stepped back, picked up the gun, and moved to the fireplace. Zoe recognized Costa from the pictures she’d seen in the news articles. He looked slightly older, a little more worn. He had a few more wrinkles around his eyes and on his forehead, but his lean, trim build was the same. “So, this is perfect. You arrived at just the right time.” He sounded as if he were welcoming guests to a party. He waved to Sam, indicating he should leave. Sam didn’t look as though he wanted to go, but he did, handing the flash drive to Costa before he left.

Above the gag, Jack’s gaze was locked on Costa. Jack didn’t even look tense. He held his hands loosely and his face looked calm. Zoe felt beads of sweat soaking into her clothes at her back and her armpits. How did Jack manage to look so cool, even gagged and tied to a chair?

Costa went to the fireplace and tossed another log on the blaze. “It’s a bit smoky in here,” he said as he used a poker to position the new log. “Must apologize for that.” He replaced the poker in the stand on the hearth and crossed the room to crack one of the tall windows open an inch. Zoe shot a look at Jack as Costa turned his back to open the window.

Jack shook his head, a warning, which Zoe interpreted to mean don’t say anything, which was fine with her. She was still trying to take in what had happened. She definitely had a down-the-rabbit-hole kind of feeling. Costa’s tone and manner were so easy and normal, conversational even, as if they had dropped by for a visit, but she and Jack were restrained with zip ties, and Jack had a gag in his mouth.

“These old homes, not everything is perfect.” Costa brushed his hands together and then checked his watch. “Now, let’s see what you brought.” Costa perched on the edge of the desk, flipped open Zoe’s messenger bag and spilled out the contents. He picked up Bent’s laptop and opened it. A few clicks and his foot, which had been swinging languidly, stopped abruptly.

He stood and closed the laptop then clasped it to his chest. “Well, this is certainly interesting. It shows you already know about my venture capital plan.” He picked up the flash drive. “I assume this is what drew you here?”

Jack’s face didn’t change.

Costa opened a drawer and removed a narrow leather satchel with a long strap, a man bag. When she and Jack were in Italy, she’d seen them a lot. Practically every guy had one. They put the strap over one shoulder and wore it across their chests, the bag on one hip, which left their hands free to drive their mopeds. The satchel was big enough that the laptop fit inside it. He added the flash drive to the man bag then put it on the desk chair. He removed a set of keys from the center drawer of the desk and set them beside the blotter.

He glanced at his watch again then moved to a grouping of two cracked leather chairs on either side of a small table set up with a chessboard. It looked as if a game was in progress. Pieces ranged across the black and white squares. Costa ran his hand down the side of the chessboard. “I suppose you think you are my opponent in this elaborate game.” He waved at one of the chairs. “I admit that dealing with you has been much more interesting than I’d anticipated. However, you are not my opponent.”

Costa picked up a knight from the game board. “You are merely a piece on the board.” He ran his finger over the ridge of the horse’s mane on the game piece as he crossed to the desk. “And, as exciting as the game has been, it is time for you to go back in the box.” Costa placed the game piece in a marble box on the desk and snapped it shut.

He did not look at Jack again. He walked to the door and stepped into the hall. Zoe caught a glimpse of Sam, waiting there before the door closed again.

“He’s talking about killing you,” Zoe hissed. The doors looked thick, but she wasn’t about to take a chance that Costa could hear her, so she kept her voice low. “And me, too, probably because I doubt they’re going to take you out and leave me around to talk about it.” Jack sent her a look. “I know that look,” Zoe said. “I know you’re telling me to keep calm and think and not lose my head, but he’s serious, Jack.”

Jack tried to speak, but the gag garbled his words into an indistinguishable murmur. He bent at the waist.

Had he passed out? “Jack, what’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?” He moved, twisting his neck around and mumbled some more.

“What? I don’t get it? You look like I feel when I try to do yoga. What are you doing?”

Jack threw himself back against the chair, panting around his gag, and sent her a look of frustration.

“I’m sorry. You know I’m no good at charades.”

Jack rolled his eyes. He used his hand to point at her wrist, then at his face. He gripped the arms of his chair then jerked himself up with all his strength. The chair hopped half an inch in her direction.

“I get it,” she said. If he could get close enough, he could lean over and she could untie the gag. The arms of the chair were too short and his upper body was too long for him to bend over and untie the gag from the back of his head, but she could do it, if he could get close enough. Then, maybe they could shift over to the desk and find something to cut the plastic ties. She grabbed the arms of her chair and heaved.

Her chair didn’t move. Its high back reached above her head and was decorated with thick grooves and pinnacles. The legs of the sturdy chair were embedded in the deep carpet. Jack managed to shift his chair another half an inch. Zoe blew out a breath and heaved. Her chair popped up a few centimeters, then settled into the deep indentions of the carpet. Zoe tried again, her hair flopping forward around her eyes.

The only sounds in the room were their ragged breathing and the popping of the fire. She felt her face flush with exertion. “This is an excellent workout,” she gasped. “If we get out of here, I think I’ll make an infomercial. Chair hopping cardio.” She could see Jack out of the corner of her eye, his head bobbing up and down. His cheeks bulged a bit above the gag, and she knew she’d made him smile.

Suddenly, a section of the wood-paneled wall swung open and a woman with a curvy figure and dark hair in an asymmetrical cut came into the room.

Jack and Zoe, who had both been in mid-hop, went still.

The woman didn’t make eye contact with them.

Zoe exchanged a quick look with Jack, and he shrugged one shoulder as if he wasn’t sure what the woman was doing. She went to the desk and set down a long cardboard tube she carried. She quickly picked up a leather tube that had been propped against the leg of the desk and put it beside the cardboard one. With a few swift movements, she switched the contents of the tubes, moving a roll of glossy poster-size paper from the cardboard tube to the leather tube and a roll of soft almost fabric-like material from the leather tube to the cardboard container she’d arrived with. She replaced the leather tube, propping it against the leg of the desk exactly as it had been, then she picked up the cardboard tube.

“Wait, don’t go,” Zoe said. “Please help us.” This had to be the secretary Jack mentioned. “You’re Anna, aren’t you?” Of course she was with Costa, but maybe Zoe could convince her to help them.

She didn’t reply, but did pause. “Please, Anna. Costa is going to kill us. We need to get out of here.”

Anna examined the man bag in the desk chair, tossing the flap back as she said, “Costa never kills anyone. He’s told Sam to do that.” She looked at the laptop, then extracted the flash drive. “He’s told Sam to arrange things for you. Of course, Costa doesn’t want to know the details. That way he has deniability.”

Zoe blinked at her matter-of-fact tone then found her voice. “And you’re okay with that? You’re going to stand by and let two innocent people be killed?”

Anna slipped the flash drive into the pocket of her jeans. “I won’t be here.”

“You’re still a party to this. You’re an accessory.” Zoe had no idea if that was true, but she had to do what she could. “Please, just hand me a pair of scissors. That’s all I need.”

Anna looked at Zoe for the first time, and Zoe’s heart sank. Anna’s gaze was cold and remote. There was no sympathy, no ambivalence at all. “If you’re involved with Costa, you’re far from innocent.”

Zoe licked her lips. “Then I’ll have to scream.” She felt Jack tense beside her. Anna ignored her, grabbed the tube then turned her back, but not before Zoe had seen a flare of fear in her face. “And even if you leave before they get here,” Zoe continued, “I’ll tell them what you did—that you switched something in those tubes and took the flash drive. I doubt you’d make it to the village before they catch up with you.”

Anna stopped, her free hand flexing into a fist. Zoe waited, her heart hammering as she watched Anna’s hand open and close. Had she made things worse? Anna whirled toward Zoe, her chin lowered with a look on her face that made Zoe wish she’d kept quiet.

“And how do I know that you won’t betray me, if I help you?”

Zoe sucked in a breath and hoped that Anna couldn’t actually see her heartbeat through the fabric of her coat. “You don’t. You’ll have to trust us. Just as we’ll have to trust you.”

Anna studied her a moment, then strode toward the desk. She ripped open a drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors. She slammed them down on the edge of the desk near Zoe, and Zoe couldn’t help flinching.

Anna kept her hand on top of the scissors. “We have a deal? We both keep quiet.” Her gaze flicked between Zoe and Jack.

“Yes. We won’t say anything,” Zoe said as Jack nodded his head.

Anna removed her hand from the scissors. “Then you better move quickly. I overheard Costa. He told Sam to make your deaths look like an accident—no guns or anything that would draw extra police attention.” She whipped around, strode to the door in the paneling.

The door slid into place. Jack and Zoe looked at each other for a moment, then both of them resumed their frantic chair hopping movements. Two heaves brought Zoe to the edge of the desk. She strained her fingers straight up and curled them over the tip of the scissors, then worked them around in her hand so that her fingers were through the grips. Zoe looked at Jack through the screen of hair that had fallen over her face.

He nodded at her. “Yes, I know it’s only a few more times,” Zoe said, “but I feel like I’ve climbed the highest wall at the gym.” She blew out a breath and shook her hair back from her face. “Okay. Now we just have to rotate so that we’re facing each other.” Jack nodded and set to work shifting his chair into alignment with hers.