51 |

Burj Khalifa, Room 142E
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

Acton stood with his back to the window, Laura beside him, Karlsson still in the next room, the sounds of the beating he was receiving gut wrenching.

“Please, stop!” cried Laura, tears streaming down her face. “You’re killing him!”

“Give us the code, and we’ll stop.”

Acton shook his head, struggling to control his own anguish. “If we give you the code, we all die.” He pointed at the crime being committed in the next room. “If he dies, then you’ll never get it.”

“Then you’ll die as well.”

“Like I said, that’s happening regardless.”

The man sneered at him. “Professor, there’s dying, then there’s dying. A bullet to the head is blissfully painless. What your friend is going through is horribly agonizing.” He stared at Acton for a moment, as if assessing him. “You’re a fit man. I think it would take days before you’d die.” He stepped over to Laura, a leer spreading. “And she could take months.”

Acton stepped between them, glaring at the man. “Lay a finger on her, you die.”

The man laughed, stepping back. He motioned to one of the others, laughing with him. “Go ahead. Test him.”

The man smiled then stepped forward, extending a single finger in front of him.

He touched Laura’s breast, a huge grin on his face.

Acton’s hand darted out, crushing the man’s windpipe with a single blow. He collapsed backward, clutching his throat, gasping for breath as the room erupted in anger. Guns were immediately trained on them, the men surging forward, but their leader waved them off.

He pointed at the gasping man. “What did you do?”

“He’ll live. The next one won’t. Stop beating our friend, and let’s settle this. You can have the ring, you just need to let us go.”

The man smiled slightly, eying him. “And how can we possibly trust you now?”

“You can’t, just like we can’t trust you. But there’s a difference between you and us.”

The man’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Oh? And what’s that?”

“We’re not murderers. You have nothing to fear from us. We can’t touch you. But we have everything to fear from you, which means we won’t renege on our deal. Let us go, and once we’re safe, we’ll give you the code.”

The man stepped closer, staring into Acton’s eyes. “I think you are operating under the false impression that you are far braver than you actually are.” He stepped over to Laura, running his hand through her loose hair. “When you watch what we do to your wife, day in and day out, I think you’ll be begging to give me the code.”

Acton struggled against the bile filling his mouth, his stomach churning and his heart hammering at the prospect of everything going south. He drew a slow breath. “Perhaps, but I think you’re just a pawn here, like me. I think you’re working for someone else who wants the ring, and if you put it at risk, you’ll be the one that will face his wrath, not us.”

The man stared at him for a moment, removing his hand from Laura’s hair before stepping back. He appeared slightly rattled, but Acton couldn’t be sure.

Then he snorted and spun on his heel, barking orders in Arabic. Two men rushed forward and grabbed Laura, hauling her kicking and screaming into the second bedroom of the luxury suite.

“Laura!”

Acton rushed after her, his worst nightmares about to come true as his bluff was called. Two of the henchmen immediately grabbed him. He stomped on the foot of one, the recipient’s grip loosening, and he wrenched free then drove the other man’s nose into his brain with the heel of his palm. He spun, kneeing the other man in the face as he hunched over, grabbing for his aching foot.

Acton turned to resume his path to the room where Laura continued to scream, when a hand swung toward him, the grip of a pistol clutched in it. He ducked, but too late, the blow excruciating, and enough to take him to the floor, those that remained swarming him, their blows raining down on him as Laura cried out in the next room.

He had been a fool.

He had been overconfident.

And now his arrogance would cost the woman he loved everything, but not before he’d be forced to watch.

He had lost.

He stared up at the man in charge as blood trickled down his face, and played the only card he had left. “Fine, I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

The man sneered at him. “I thought you might.”