‘Inside now.’ Megan Stein’s order was clipped, and brooked no argument. She aimed her pistol directly at Po’s head, having identified him as the greatest threat. Po snorted at the command but did as he was told. Tess assisted Lacey, one arm cupped under his elbow. The older man had struggled to walk the last fifty yards or so. Megan bared her teeth at his plight: there wasn’t an iota of pity in her gaze. The extended barrel of her gun trembled as she fought the urge to shoot him immediately.
Behind them, Hayden closed the door to the outside world and they were thrown into twilight in the unfinished foyer of the entertainment complex. If Elite held the contract to supply a uniformed guard presence at the site, Hayden had used his influence with the company to send them away while he conducted his business with Lacey. Without a word he strode past and indicated they follow him. Megan threatened them all with her pistol from behind and they were ushered through a wide set of doors into a broad corridor with bare concrete underfoot and stud-board walls awaiting decoration. Permanent lighting was yet to be installed, but many electrical cables snaked along the edges of the floor. Doorframes awaited doors. The air was redolent with floating motes of dust, enough to catch in their throats.
Hayden’s boots sucked at the floor as he marched, and their footsteps made a collective shuffle in his wake. No words were spoken. Hayden rapped his knuckles three times against the wall as he approached the end of the corridor, where doors had been installed. It was a prearranged signal. The doors opened and he stood to one side, ensuring there wasn’t a last ditch attempt at overpowering Megan in the corridor.
Megan sneered, ‘Like lambs to the fucking slaughter.’
Hayden didn’t answer, only met Po’s gaze as he passed. Po eyed him coolly, and Hayden’s mouth twitched in mockery. ‘Don’t make me shoot you … yet,’ he said.
Po disdained the threat as he stepped through the doors and extended his arms by his sides. Tess saw his reason. Two of the operatives they’d snatched Lacey from in Manhattan flanked him; one covering him with a gun while the other frisked him for weapons. The one with the gun, red-haired and freckle-faced growled something about Po hitting him with his car and knocking him flying.
‘Yeah, that was my bad,’ said Po. ‘I was hoping to squash you under the wheels but mistimed my skid.’
‘Prick,’ Grant Aiken called him.
The second man – Sean Nicholls – finished frisking Po, and nodded the all clear at Hayden. Po was directed forward a few paces and told to kneel and put his hands behind his head: he complied. Tess was next to be searched, and there was no consideration given to her sex. The stocky guy approached her while Megan grabbed Lacey’s collar and dragged him aside.
‘Unzip your jacket,’ Nicholls commanded her.
‘I’m not fully dressed,’ Tess protested.
‘Unzip.’ His pale eyes grew as hard as stone.
Exhaling, Tess drew down the zipper, and held open her jacket. Nicholls moved in.
‘Touch her and I’ll break both your hands,’ Po warned him.
‘Really?’ asked Hayden. ‘You’re on your knees with a gun to your head and you’re making threats.’
‘Yup, and I mean what I say. You already checked we’re unarmed, there’s no need to go through this again. If he touches Tess in an inappropriate way I’m gonna take umbrage.’
‘Check her,’ Hayden said with a sneer.
Nicholls patted her down, but avoided laying his hands on her bare flesh. He found Po’s phone tucked in the inside breast pocket, and showed it to Hayden, who snapped his fingers and accepted it from Nicholls.
Tess tensed: if Hayden checked the call record it would show she’d been in contact with someone up until only a few minutes ago. But Hayden only dropped the cell phone and stamped it underfoot. Tess was inwardly relieved.
‘She’s clear,’ Nicholls announced.
‘OK,’ Hayden directed at Tess, ‘step forward and assume the position.’
‘We didn’t come here as your prisoners,’ Tess replied calmly. ‘We came to do an exchange. Where’s Stella?’
‘You’ll see her once I’m satisfied you’ve no surprises in store for me. Now kneel and put your hands behind your head, or things will get noisy in a few seconds.’
Tess, nor Po, expected to lay eyes on Stella, not if they’d been positioned for a swift execution. It was over to Lacey to buy them some time.
He yanked suddenly out of Megan’s grasp, and lurched at Hayden. His face was set in rictus, his eyes feverish. ‘Where’s my daughter, you son of a bitch? I want to see her now!’
Megan was only a pace behind him, and she grabbed angrily at him with a vile curse. Hayden’s palm planted squarely on Lacey’s chest, stopping him in his tracks. Surreptitiously, Tess stepped aside, as if clearing space for them but really to avoid complying with Hayden’s instruction. Nicholls watched her, his gun wavering between her, Po and Lacey, while Aiken also stepped to the far side so he had a clear shot at them if necessary. Objecting loudly, Lacey pushed against Hayden, squirmed to avoid Megan’s grasp, and forced past them both. He strode for the far end of the echoing room, shouting Stella’s name.
Their plan relied heavily on using an inherent flaw in Hayden’s team’s strength. Throughout their previous interactions, Tess and Po had come to realize that though professional in one respect, they mostly lacked killer instinct. Whether that was through poor leadership, a lack of communication or not being satisfactorily rewarded, they didn’t know, but it was as if the operatives weren’t sure what they were fighting for and it sapped their motivation. Also, they were ex-military or ex-law enforcement, but Hayden’s team were intrinsically amateurs when it came to kidnap exchanges. The team was experienced at protecting a ‘principal’ – their client usually observing their directions – not at controlling a highly emotive group of hostages, and when control was ripped out of their hands they were momentarily in disarray, and looked to Hayden for instruction. He too was briefly thrown by Lacey’s actions, and it took him seconds before he snapped an order at Aiken to grab him.
By then, Tess had also walked briskly after Lacey. Hayden’s team was forced to play catch-up, and for a few seconds all was chaos. Warnings about being shot held little force when those holding the guns were caught in confused flux.
Making it approximately halfway into the large room, Tess halted in her tracks. Ahead, and above her, seated on the framework of some kind of stage, Stella Dewildt peered back at her, the whites of her eyes almost sparkling through the gloom. Either side of her stood a guard, the Korean woman, Vera Seung, and the tall man Lacey had briefly fought in Manhattan, Brian Johnson. They’d both moved forward a pace or two, in anticipation of helping to stop Lacey’s progress, but they were loath to abandon their seated hostage.
Aiken caught up with Lacey, but was elbowed roughly in the midriff. The man woofed out air, and hissed at the pain: he still wasn’t on top form after being on the receiving end of the Mustang’s bruising impact. Lacey staggered away, and the man groped to grab him. Megan suddenly broke ranks and ran after him, swearing in vitriol.
‘Don’t hurt him,’ Hayden barked. He swung to and fro, saw how too close for comfort Po was and brought up the suppressed barrel of his pistol. ‘Everybody hold it, or I swear to God I’ll put a bullet in Villere’s head!’
Tess didn’t move, only continued staring at Stella, trying to imbue a state of calmness on the woman. She didn’t want to look back at her partner, in case it encouraged Hayden to follow through with his warning. After a quick dip towards his ankle, Po also stood, relaxed, arms hanging at his sides as he peered back at the gunman.
Megan caught up to Lacey. Encumbered by her pistol and Hayden’s warning, she had little recourse. She practically jumped on his back, wrapping an arm around his neck. She was trawled a few yards, before Lacey’s strength gave out and he went down to one knee. Megan stumbled over him, and then swung around, raising her pistol to his face. ‘You piece of crap!’ she squawked at him. ‘I should fucking kill you right here, right now!’
Ignoring her, Lacey dug in his jacket pocket, and came out clutching two identical USB sticks. He craned so that he caught Hayden’s attention. ‘It’s these you want back. Let Stella go, and fucking take them!’
Lacey sent the USB sticks flying and their clatter across the bare concrete floor only hinted at their final destinations somewhere in the shadows of the far wall. Megan grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head up, and forced the end of the suppressor against his forehead. ‘You just signed your own life away, asshole,’ she hissed.
‘No, Megan,’ Hayden barked. ‘We don’t know if they’re the only copies. I think we’re still missing one.’
Megan’s lips writhed in poorly contained rage, but Hayden was correct: they had to confirm the USB sticks were the only remaining copies of the files. She relaxed the pressure on the trigger a fraction.
‘Nicholls,’ Hayden said. ‘Go and get them, and bring them here.’
Nicholls was still in a state of confusion. He looked dumbly between Po, Tess and then Lacey.
‘The fucking USB sticks!’ Hayden snapped.
Nodding in embarrassment, Nicholls chased after the USB sticks like a dog after a thrown ball.
Lacey attempted to rise.
‘Stay down,’ Megan snarled. Aiken joined her, but just stood, unsure what to do.
‘Let Stella go,’ Lacey responded.
They were strung out through the large room. Not how Hayden had planned things working out.
‘You,’ he said to Po, and he jerked the gun a couple of times so his message was clear. ‘Get moving.’
Po turned aside and began strolling nonchalantly to where Tess waited. Presently she was unguarded while Megan and Aiken were crowding Lacey, and Nicholls scrambled around trying to locate the thumb drives among the detritus of the construction site. Hayden commanded Po to stop when he was alongside his partner.
Tess mouthed words at Stella, then turned and eyed Hayden steadily. She sneered at the threat of his gun. ‘You haven’t done anything like this before, have you?’ she said.
He didn’t rise to her scorn. ‘I’m a fast learner,’ he said instead.
‘No, buddy,’ Po drawled. ‘You learn by making mistakes and not repeating them. You ain’t gonna get the opportunity at a second go.’
Behind Hayden the doors creaked open, and there was an instant shift in the light bleeding in from the outer corridor. It was enough to note the grin of satisfaction on Po’s face. Hayden snapped around, aiming his gun at the new arrivals, but didn’t pull the trigger. Instead he wheezed out a curse.
‘Surprised, you? You shouldn’t be. I’m the proverbial bent penny,’ Pinky Leclerc announced. ‘I keep turning up.’
Alone, even armed as he was, Pinky’s inclusion in the dynamic wouldn’t have made much difference, but Pinky was not alone. A trio of armed men accompanied him, and between them they ushered hostages of their own. Gagged with duct tape and their hands cuffed behind them, Ben Holbrook and Clarissa Glenn glared at Hayden for allowing their capture.
Hayden didn’t lower his weapon.
‘Are you still confident of earning that bonus now?’ Tess asked from behind him.