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“We’ve got this.” Mateo stated with confidence.
“How long to get there?” Brax asked Mateo.
“Eleven more minutes, brother. We’ve had worse timelines than this, and come out alive, we’ve got this.” Mateo reached over from the back seat and squeezed Brax’s shoulder.
Brax stared down at the phone in his hand and kept praying.
“How did Jeffrey screw up?” Jenny coughed. The blood that had been dripping down her face was starting to congeal. She still couldn’t see.
“He sent in a rescue team before talking to me.”
“I’m sorry, boss.”
I’m going to hate clowns for the rest of my life. Let’s just hope it’s a long one.
“Yeah, I heard about that,” Jenny said. “They all died.”
“That was lucky.” She could hear the glee in the CEO’s voice. “But then they sent in the fucking SEALs to rescue you. What a mess.”
Jenny flinched when she heard a crash and breaking glass. It was like he had thrown something against a wall.
“Then that fucker, Henry Roberts, had to blab to the Washington Post, and it made national news that I hadn’t paid the ransom.”
Jenny smelled cigarette smoke.
“Goddammit Jeff, I told you to go outside if you have to smoke!”
“Who cares, the house already reeks.”
“I care. Put out the cigarette.”
How much longer before Brax gets here?
“Now you know everything. My last two loose ends are you and your friend Fiona. Tell me where she is, and I’ll let you die easy. If you don’t tell me where she is, Jeff will start cutting off body parts.”
“Jesus, boss. That’s just sick.”
“Shut up, you pussy. You already pushed her into traffic. What does it matter if you torture her? I told you I would pay you more for wet work. Instead of a yacht, you can buy an entire island.”
Jenny felt her gorge rising. She was going to throw up again. She could taste the vomit coming up. Puke spilled out of her mouth.
“Hah. Look at her. She’ll be pissing her pants next,” Ronald crowed. “Tell us where Fiona is.”
“I hurt too much. I can’t think.” It wasn’t tough for Jenny to make her voice sound weak.
“Hell boss, all we need is her phone. We can do the same play with her, like we did with Jenny’s friend Tina.”
Oh God, don’t let them look for my phone. It was tucked inside a pocket in her suit jacket.
“She doesn’t have her purse. Fiona’s in Europe, you ass. We’re here in America. How’s that supposed to work? I want this bitch dead tonight. We can’t afford to be dragging her around the world with us, even on the company jet.”
“Yeah,” the clown muttered. “I guess you’re right. Answer the question. Where is Fiona? I’ve got a syringe loaded up. You’ll just float away. Take the easy way out, Jenny.”
“No.” She tried to sound strong.
“Ahhhh!” The pain of a knife slicing through the silk shell of her top and into her flesh burned like fire. Indescribable pain. Worse—she hadn’t known it was coming.
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