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“No!” I scream, thinking he’s going to shoot him. I leap toward them, but Girard catches me, holds me back. He’s remarkably strong, considering his handicap, “Don’t!” I cry out just as the soldier slams the butt of his pistol against Dex’s head. Dex stumbles, eyes meeting mine momentarily before he falls to the ground. The soldier tosses Dex’s gun, emptied of ammunition, onto the floor.
The flight attendant tries to run but another man catches her, sits her back down in her seat.
“What did you do?” I scream, staring at an unconscious Dex.
“Relax. He’ll be fine. Don’t want him calling Loverboy just yet.” He releases me and I stumble away before turning to face him. “I hope you weren’t wasting my time. Where is it?”
I reach into my pocket and take out the flash drive. My hand trembles as I hold it out to him.
Girard takes it, raises his eyebrows at the ash on his palm.
“What the hell did you do to it?” he asks almost casually.
“I had to find a hiding place quickly.”
“Hm. All right.” He tucks it into his pocket. “I hope for your sake the files haven’t been damaged. Your phone please.”
“My phone?”
He nods and I notice his men collecting phones from the captain, the first officer and the flight attendant. One of them reaches into Dex’s pocket and takes his phone as well.
“Why?”
“Tracking devices.”
“No one can track me.”
“Can you be sure?” I guess not. “You’ll get it back.” He holds out his hand and I place my phone inside it. He switches it off and tucks it into his jacket pocket. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“You wanted me to kidnap you. I’m kidnapping you.”
“I just wanted you to make it look like that to Dex, which you didn’t. He knows I called you. You have what you need. You don’t need me.”
“But what if you give me a flash drive like the laptop Loverboy gave the good Councilor?”
“I didn’t.”
“I don’t know that. I don’t know you. Let’s go, you’re wasting my time.”
“Where?”
“Why, my humble abode on Councilor Augustus’s property, of course.”
24
BLUE
Isit beside Antoine in the back of one of the SUVs as we drive back to Councilor Augustus’s property. It’s the last place I want to be.
Antoine isn’t nearly as relaxed as he’s trying to make me believe. I guess I get it. He’s silent for the first part of the drive and I steal glimpses of him when I think he’s not looking. When he unpins the sleeve of his jacket, I can’t help it that my gaze goes there, and I watch openly as he scratches the stump where his hand should be.
He clears his throat and I look up to find him watching me. I’m embarrassed and mutter an apology, feeling my face burn as I shift my gaze over his shoulder.
He holds it up as if saying go on, get a good long look.
“Never seen someone without a hand before?”
