Page 75 of Caught By Menace

“I don’t. I haven’t seen them in years.”

Terror glanced at Pierce and chortled with exasperation. “Again with the lies!”

Irritation laced her voice. “I’m not lying. I haven’t seen my mother in nearly twenty years. It’s been six years for Nattie.”

Terror’s mouth settled into a grim line. “Now I understand how Menace was so easily fooled by you. I’d considered that maybe he was that gullible, but no. You’re a supremely talented actress. I almost believe that you’re telling the truth.”

Frustrated, she shouted, “I am!”

“You expect me to sit here and accept that your mother has been living in The City for ten years and you never once ran into her? I’m supposed to believe that you were running guns for her husband, Sandy Cragen, the leader of the Sixers, but you had no contact with your mother? Give me a fucking break, Naya!”

Head spinning, Naya tried to get a grasp on reality. What Terror said couldn’t possibly be true. Her mother had left with a sky trader named Jaxon and escaped to the colonies. If she’d been in the City, Naya would have found out about it. She sure as hell would have known if she’d been running guns for her mother’s husband! Someone would have told her. Danny would have told her. He knew everything and everyone.

“You’re lying,” Naya spat back angrily. “My mother is not in The City.”

Terror waved his hands. “You know what, Naya? I’m done.” He leaned forward with an enraged expression twisting his features. “Tell me where the hell my gun shipment is and maybe I’ll let you walk off this ship alive.”

Naya tried not to freak the fuck out. This man didn’t issue empty threats. “I don’t know where your guns are, Terror.”

He jumped out of his seat and kicked the chair behind him. “If I have to come around this table, you are going to regret it.”

Lip wobbling and tears threatening to spill, Naya tried to make him understand. “I don’t know! If I knew where the guns were, I would tell you.” She didn’t add that she was about ten seconds away from pissing her pants with fright.

Terror’s nostrils flared as he inhaled long, deep breaths. Regaining some control, he said, “Then you’re going to find out where it is.”

“And how the hell do you expect me to do that?”

Terror gestured to the pages of her rap sheet. “Your history tells me you’ll find a way.”

Naya leaned back in her chair as the awful truth swamped her. “You’re going to drop me on the surface.”

“See, Pierce?” He glanced at his colleague. “I told you she wasn’t as dumb as she looks.”

She gritted her teeth at his cruel remark. The man was clearly trying to bait her into exploding. She wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. “I don’t have the kind of contacts you think I have. If I start jamming my nose where it doesn’t belong, there’s a good chance I’m going to have my throat slit.”

Terror straightened up and shrugged. “It’s a chance I’m willing to take.”

His coldness stunned her. This man was totally devoid of feeling. His arrogance sickened her. Had he even considered the possibility that he was wrong and that she was actually innocent?

And where the hell was Menace? He’d sworn to her that he would protect her. He’d promised to fight for her. Yes, she’d lied to him by omission and she had to answer for that, but to abandon her to this terrifying and dangerous man?

“What about Menace? Is he willing to risk my life on your totally wrong intel?”

Terror pinned her with his ice-cold glare. “My intel is never wrong.”

“It’s wrong today.”

“Pierce? Show her.”

The wounded man walked to the one-way mirror and tapped the frame twice. She was able to see through the mirror into the adjacent and totally empty room.

“Menace gave you up. He’s not coming to your rescue. Once I told him what a lying, thieving, terrorist-loving whore you are, he washed his hands of you.” Terror planted both hands on the table and leaned forward with his most frightening stare. “You’re all alone, Naya.”

Unable to hold his gaze, Naya glanced away from him. Seeing the empty room on the other side of that mirror had shattered her last sliver of hope. When things had gotten tough, Menace had done what everyone else always did. He’d cut her loose.

Feeling worthless, Naya gulped down the sob trying to escape her throat. She blinked rapidly and cleared the stinging tears. She had to get a fucking grip. The only way she had even the minutest chance of surviving was to cooperate.

Voice cracking, she asked, “What do you want me to do?”

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