Page 145 of One Minute Out

I try to help her situation in the only way I can think of. “I didn’t know who she was when I punched her lights out on the boat. Thought she was just some whore. Corbu showed me a picture of her after. We thought she was dead. Corbu’s still pissed off I left her there.”

“You’re trying too hard, mate. I know you and Roxana talked after you killed Kostopoulos.”

“Kostopoulos? Oh, yeah. I only knew him as ‘the old pervert in the bathrobe.’ But no, I didn’t talk to her.”

Verdoorn sniffs out a laugh. I wait to hear whatever his pitch is.

He says, “You’re good, mate. You know you are good.”

“And you’re bad. You know that, too, right?”

“Guilty as charged. But me and my boys will be around Roxana from here on out, and we can’t wait for you to come and try again.”

I find this intriguing. “So... you aren’t warning me to back off, you’re hoping I’ll keep coming.”

“That’s it. I guess you are used to scaring your enemy so bad they don’t put up a fight.”

I’m hardly used to that, but far be it from me to dissuade him from thinking I’m a badass.

He keeps talking. “Gentry, I’m not like your average bloke. I’m bladdy looking forward to the day we meet.”

“Me, too. Why don’t you give me your address? I’ll pop right over.”

“No such luck. Can’t make it too easy, can I? The boss man wouldn’t be happy with me. Nah, mate, I’ll just do what I do, work within the confines of my job. I’ll let Roxana do what she does, or what she’ll be forced to do soon enough, which won’t be pretty. I’ll just wait for the stars to align and for you to show up in front of me.”

“Hey,” I say. “While I’ve got you, what’s it like knowing you are ruining the lives of tens of thousands of innocent girls? How does that make you feel?”

“How does it make you feel killing loads of people?”

Sharon brings me coffee and I take it, my hand clutching the phone tightly. “Sometimes I feel nothing at all. But sometimes, when it’s just the right person... I feel fan-fucking-tastic. And I’m really looking forward to that day I show up in front of you.”

Jaco laughs hard now. “Likewise, mate. You think you scare me, but ya don’t.”

“I don’t want to scare you. I want your confidence at an all-time high when I drive the blade into your gut. Then you’ll get that look of disbelief in your eyes, mixed with fear, mixed with anger. You know the look. You’ve seen it in your victims, haven’t you, Jaco?”

He doesn’t reply, and I know I’m in this asshole’s head, right where I want to be.

Jaco says, “You think you’re some kind of a hero, don’t you, mate? I know your type. I bet you think you are going through all this because you care about the poor defenseless little whores. But that’s not it at all. I can hear it in your voice. You’re the same as me. You do all this not because you want to save people, but because you want to kill people. You need to kill people.”

He’s wrong. Totally wrong. I mean... he has to be. I don’t kill because of blood lust, I kill because of the situations I find myself in.

Or... put myself in, I guess.

Does this motherfucker have a point?

Pushing my own motivations out of my mind for now, I say, “Well, it’s been a blast catching up. Looking forward to our next encounter.”

“You and me both, mate.”

I hang up the phone, figuring doing so will piss him off a little. I thought about appealing to him to leave Roxana out of this, but I don’t want to do anything more to make him think he has that leverage over me with her.

Sharon brings the coffeepot back to refill me, but I haven’t taken a sip yet. She says, “Landing in a half hour.”

“Thanks.”

Zack is awake now, and he moves over next to me. Softly he says, “I talked to Matt while you were racked out. We have an idea that might help you a little.”

I’m suspicious, despite Hanley’s limited sanction. “Why is Matt helping me with something he doesn’t even want me doing?”

---