Page 80 of Ace of Spades
“Simple. A trade. Him for you.”
Nate clenched his fists. If Tompkins put one nick on Court, Nate was going to kill him with his bare hands. And no way was he letting her exchange herself for Court. Even if he did, and Court lived, Court would never forgive him if that man got his hands on Taylor. Putting his back to the camera in the portrait, and hoping there were no others than that one and the one on the monitor, he mouthed, “Fuck no.”
He knew she saw him, because she was looking right at him, but she only gave him a sad smile before she turned her attention back to the monitor when Tompkins started to speak.
“There’s a closet at the end of the hall,” Tompkins said. “Go in there and close the door behind you. If anyone tries to come with you, I will kill him.” On the monitor, Tompkins pushed a knife under Court’s throat. “If you come down alone, I’ll let him go with nothing more than the concussion he got when he fell. But first ...”
“First what?” Taylor said, when Tompkins paused.
“First you have to decide who you want to live the most.” He pushed the knife harder against Court’s neck. “Him or the one who tried to take you away from me.”
“I don’t know who you mean,” Taylor said, even as she glanced at Nate, both of them knowing Tompkins meant him.
Nate moved next to Taylor. “Am I to assume you mean me? Because I hope to hell you do. I’ll come to you unarmed.” And then he’d kill the bastard.
Tompkins laughed. “Tempting, Special Agent Gentry, but I’d rather watch her shoot you. That will be more enjoyable than doing it myself.” He reached up, his hand covering the camera lens, then the camera moved. “I have a little more motivation for you, Taylor. Two lives for one. You kill your lover, and these two get to live.”
He removed his hand, revealing a woman tied and gagged in a chair on the other side of him. He stroked her face. “Isn’t she a lovely thing? Such pretty blonde hair and blue eyes, don’t you think? Not as pretty as your mother, but she’ll do.”
Beside him, Taylor gasped. “Easy, tiger,” Nate whispered.
“So what will it be, Taylor? His life ...” Tompkins’s gaze flicked to Nate. “Or theirs? Take that gun out that I know you have on under your jacket and shoot him. No tricks. I don’t quite trust you, so do it in front of the camera.”
Alex appeared in the doorway but out of sight of the camera. He held up an empty bottle of ketchup in one hand and a baggie filled with what Nate assumed was ketchup. It could work. He just had to make Taylor understand.
“I’m waiting, Taylor. You have one minute to decide before I make this pretty girl an angel.” He pointed the knife at a still-unconscious Court. “Then he’ll be next.”
While Tompkins was talking, Nate whispered to Taylor. “Say you’ll do it.” When she gave a slight shake of her head, he said, “Smoke and mirrors.”
She darted a glance at him and then toward the doorway. Alex held up the baggie again. Standing behind him, Rand mouthed the wordblood.
“Thirty seconds,” Tompkins said when she hesitated.
“Please don’t make me do this,” Taylor said. “I’ll come there. He won’t follow me.”
“Twenty seconds, and don’t doubt me, Taylor.”
Nate put his hands on the desk, leaning his face toward the monitor. “She’ll do it, and if she doesn’t, I’ll shoot myself.”
“And I’ll still kill them both. She has to do it. She belongs to me, always has. Killing you is her punishment for spreading her legs for you.”
Where the hell was the man? He’d said Court had fallen, so he had to be below them. Florida houses didn’t usually have basements, so it hadn’t occurred to them to look for one. Movement to the right of Tompkins caught Nate’s attention. Court’s arm was moving, and Nate realized he was attempting to loosen the rope tied around his wrist.
“She’s out of time, Agent Gentry. If she doesn’t shoot you now, these two will die.”
As much as he wanted to storm down there and rip the man’s head off, he had to stay calm if they were going to save Court and the woman. Nate slipped off his jacket as he backed toward the doorway. With one hand, he pulled on the Velcro securing his vest, while putting his other hand behind him, palm up. When the bag of ketchup landed in his hand, he dropped the vest to the floor.
“He’s my brother, Taylor,” he said for the benefit of Tompkins. “You know I’d die for him. Do it.”
