Page 181 of Lethal Legacy

It takes about three replays for me to make out the words, and even then, only a few.

But they’re enough.

Alexeiis one of them. The others arehe’s here.

“She wasn’t talking to Ryder willingly,” Bryce says, seeing my face. “He grabbed her. She was trying to get away. She was fighting him—”

“Just tell me what happened next,” I say through gritted teeth.

Lucia was definitely listening in the clip the camera caught. And it sure didn’t look like she was fighting to me.

“She ran all the way back to the villa,” he continues, “and called me shortly afterward to go home. But I thought you’d want the camera feed from the villa, so I got that, too.”

He hits play again, and this time, I don’t need anyone explaining shit to me.

I watch Lucia hand her father the package. Watch Sergei pull the books out of it, his hands running expertly over the inside covers. This footage is easy to zoom in on, since the cameras installed in the villa are ours, which of course means they’re top of the range. I could get a clear shot of a goddamn hair fiber if I wanted to.

It’s easy enough to see the passport shapes sewn into the books.

And if I had any doubt of what they might be, the following shot of Lucia hiding the books behind a bathroom tile is clear enough.

The only part missing is the audio.

The two of them face away from the camera during the entire exchange, so while I can see the books in Sergei Petrovsky’s hands, I can’t see his face, and no matter how Bryce manipulates the view, I can’t get a clear shot of their conversation. I’d bet that Sergei is aware of every camera in the place. Except, clearly, the one behind the bathroom mirror.

Lucia is planning to run again.

“Thank you for this, Bryce.” I nod at him. “Well handled. You can leave it with us now.”

Bryce doesn’t move, though. He shifts uneasily from one foot to another. “I know the footage looks bad. But I saw how scared she was when Ryder approached her. Whatever it looks like onscreen, I promise you, boss, she wasn’t happy to see him. Also she was—well, she was upset today. After she ran into Inger.” He looks slightly defensive. “I just haven’t seen her upset like that before.”

“Noted.” I’m only just restraining myself from punching him through the wall. “Good night, Bryce.”

He’s not dumb enough to hang around.

He shuts the door quietly, leaving Dimitry and me staring at the screen.

TheGuapais sitting just off the Spanish coast.

Lucia isn’t just planning to run. She’s planning to run with her brother—who, if I join some very obvious dots, seems to be working with Lars Andersson to try to hack Mercura.

Do I believe that Lucia knows what Alexei is up to?

No.I’m almost certain she has no idea about Mercura or what’s at stake.

But do I believe she’ll do anything to save her brother?

Yes.

Yes, that I’d believe.

Dimitry breaks the silence. “You think she’s planning to run?”

“I think,” I say slowly, “that Alexei Petrovsky might just be one very smart motherfucker.”

He turns to me in surprise. “Where are you going with that?”

“Think about it.” I’ve been doing nothingbutthinking about it ever since theGuapaconnection was turned up. Even when I was most of the way down a vodka bottle last night, I was still thinking, the cogs spinning in the back of my mind, trying to link the different moving parts.

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