Agent Njeim stood directly in front of me, watching my face. She had her gun in her right hand, pointed at the ground.
I turned away from her, back to the large map on the wall.
“We think they’re using the subway system to transport the warheads.”
Roger was silent for a beat, probably confused by my change of subject, and then he understood.
“Ah, yes. She’s there with you now, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“Is she armed?”
“Yes.”
“Are you armed?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s simple. Shoot her before she shoots you.”
I said nothing. Just stared at the different colors showing the different lines on the map crisscrossing Manhattan.
“Elijah, I can have men there within minutes, but there’s no telling what she plans to do in that time. Granted, I would prefer you take her alive so that we can question her, but I don’t want to take the chance. Not after everything that’s already happened.”
Behind me, Agent Njeim shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The soft swish of the fabric of her jacket as she moved. I watched her reflection in the glass. She kept still, the gun at her side.
“You need to take her out. Right now. There’s no telling what she plans to do with you.”
I continued to watch her reflection. Agent Njeim continued to stand still. The gun at her side. Very quickly she could raise the gun and put a bullet in my head. It would take less than a second.
“Goddamn it, Elijah, are you there? Do you hear me? She’s part of this conspiracy. She’s a part of the group who killed your son and his family. She’s with the people who came after you in Harper.”
Still I said nothing.
“My God, Eli, she’s with the people who killed your dog. You need to put her down before she puts you down.”
I watched Agent Njeim’s reflection shift again from one foot to the other. The gun stayed at her side. A simple flick of the wrist, a simple squeeze of the trigger, and a bullet would go straight through the back of my head.
I said, “I understand. I’ll do it now.”
Roger was quiet for a beat.
“Good. I have men on the way.”
I closed the phone but didn’t move. Just stood there, watching Agent Njeim’s reflection.
She said, “What’s wrong?”
I turned around and aimed the gun at her face.
She didn’t move. Didn’t even attempt to raise her weapon. A frown creased her brow.
“What are you doing?”
“What was my cat’s name?”
“Your what?”
“My cat.”
“I … I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Back in Harper, at my cabin, I had a cat. What was his name?”
Her face was blank. Her gaze shifted from my face to the gun and back to my face.
“I have no idea what you mean. I didn’t even know you had an animal.”
I stared at her for a moment, reading her eyes. Then I lowered the gun to my side.
“Exactly. Nobody did. But Roger somehow knew about my dog.”
“Wait—you had a cat and a dog?”
“Just a dog. And again, I never told anyone about her. But Roger knew. He tried to use it to play on my emotions.”
“To do what?”
“Kill you.”
She was silent, processing my words. Her head began to shake in short jerks from side to side.
“Why … why would he want you to kill me?”
“Because he says you’re the other mole.”
“He’s lying.”
“Yeah, I think we’ve established that point already.”
I flipped open the disposable, dialed the number I had memorized, and placed the phone to my ear.
Agent Njeim said, “Who are you calling?”
The phone rang and rang and rang, but nobody picked up. I counted ten rings before I disconnected the call.
“Sanchez isn’t answering his phone.”
“Do you think your daughter—”
“At this point I don’t know what to think.”
I glanced past the gate and turnstiles toward the two sets of stairs leading up to the street.
“Roger said he has men coming.”
Agent Njeim followed my gaze, then looked across the tracks at the opposite platform. Over there were two sets of stairs leading up to the street. Four ways Roger’s men could enter the station. Actually, no—there were six ways if you included the tracks themselves.
She said, “They’d be at a disadvantage. We could pick them off as they came down. It would be like a kill box.”
“Not unless they threw down tear gas first. Besides, Roger’s under the impression I’ve killed you by now.”
I glanced down at the phone in my hand.
“Roger said these can’t be tracked, but can they?”
Agent Njeim nodded, already pulling hers from her pocket. She clamped her gun beneath her armpit to free her other hand and quickly stripped off the back of the phone, tore out a tiny chip, tossed it aside, and then broke the phone in half.
“Give me yours.”
I considered trying Sanchez once more, but I knew there wasn’t any point. If he were able to, he would have answered the first time I called. Which meant he wasn’t able to. Which meant something terrible had happened.
I handed her the phone and stepped past her, the gun at my side. I stared up at the steps, then turned to stare across the tracks at the opposite platform. Any second, men would be swarming down the steps. Any second, we would be surrounded.
After withdrawing the tiny chip and breaking the phone in half and tossing the pieces aside, Agent Njeim looked at me.
“Now what do we do?”
I glanced at the large subway map. At those different colors showing different lines crisscrossing Manhattan.
“I’m going to head west and work my way toward my daughter’s place. I need to check on her.”
“What about me?”
“I suggest you head the opposite direction. Once they realize I haven’t killed you, they’ll be looking for both of us. Better to force them to put out a wider net.”
“They’ll know where you’re headed. You could be walking into a trap.”
“Most likely. But I can’t not do this.”
“What about Nate?”
I hesitated. Nate had the flash drive, what may or may not be the key to all of this. I didn’t want to give up on it, but there wasn’t much choice otherwise.
“Nate’s on his own for now.”
I walked to the edge of the platform. Dropped down to the tracks and held the gun up at my side.
Agent Njeim dropped down next to me.
“Good luck.”
I nodded.
“Same to you.”
We parted ways, and each hurried into our own tunnel of darkness.