Page 103 of Carbon

“Just me and, uh, Sarah.”

A pause. “Sarah?”

“We went to school together.”

“Right. Well, you need to keep your location quiet. It’s important.”

“I will, but I’m worried about you. Do you have enough money? Food?”

“I’m okay at the moment.” Another pause. “I can’t talk for much longer. I just needed to hear your voice. To know you’re okay.”

“I miss you.”

“And I miss you too, more than you could ever know.”

“Please call me again. I need to hear you speak. I can’t cope otherwise.”

He didn’t answer right away, and I thought he’d come up with an excuse, but he surprised me. “Okay, but it won’t be for a few days. Love you,mon cœur. Stay strong.”

“I love you too.”

The line went dead, and I gulped in all the breaths I hadn’t taken as the phone slipped out of my sweaty palm.

“Did we get him? Please say we got him.”

Emmy motioned at me to stay quiet and cupped a hand over her earpiece. “We’ve got a visual. Team nine. They’re following. Are you ready for this?”

No. “Yes.”

One shot. I had one shot to convince him to come in. No easy task, because he’d realise as soon as I showed up that I’d betrayed him. He said he loved me, but would it be enough?

Black pulled into a parking space forty yards away from a junction. “Out of the car. In thirty seconds, he’s going to walk around that corner.”

I could barely stand as my feet hit the pavement, and I clutched at the door handle to stay upright. Emmy took her place behind me, and Sofia got out too. Ten. Nine. Eight...

Shit, there he was.

“Ben!”

He paused mid-stride, and I froze. Should I carry on walking, or would he run?

“Ben, it’s me.”

He looked behind him, then left and right, sizing up the situation. Oh, hell, this didn’t look good.

“Ben, please just talk to me. We’re trying to help.”

His gaze zeroed in on Emmy, and he ran. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her arm come up, and before I could properly register what was happening, she’d fired the gun in her hand.

“You shot him! You bitch! How could you—”

“Relax, it’s only a tranquilliser. Get in the car.”

Sofia dragged me into the backseat while Emmy sprinted off, and I glimpsed a smile on Black’s face as he drove along behind, no doubt amused that his wife was doing all the hard work. Ben got about a hundred yards before his steps began to slow, and within seconds, Emmy had shoved him into a shop doorway.

Black leapt out of the car faster than I thought he’d be able to move, and almost before I could blink, he’d dumped a handcuffed and groggy Ben next to me in the backseat. Another click, and Ben’s ankle was secured to a metal ring in the floor as well. Sofia climbed in on the other side of him, then we took off.

“Well, that went better than I thought,” Emmy said.

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