That’s what you said. Well, you handling him all right. But for me, your ass is dead tonight.”
“Hey, don’t forget my zap knuckles.”
Darren grinned, probably in spite of himself. “That was cool seeing him on his ass like that shaking like a dude coming off meth.”
Mace palmed her phone. “Okay, we have kidnapping, assault—”
He glanced at her. “What you talking ’bout?”
“The crimes Psycho and his guys committed tonight.”
“Right. He’ll have ten people say he was twenty miles away.”
“You didn’t see it, then?”
“See what?”
“The security camera in the corner of the garage.” She punched in a number. “Beth, Mace. Yeah, I’m cool. Just got into D.C. I brought you a present. A guy named Psycho, tied up in a nice little bow.”
CHAPTER 107
IT WAS AMAZING to Roy how quickly and efficiently he was bundled out of the building. The truck had driven for an indeterminate amount of time. He was tied up, gagged and blindfolded, and they’d put something in his ear that buzzed constantly so he couldn’t even listen for helpful sounds that might aid in telling him where they were headed. Now he was seated at a table in a room that he sensed was part of a bigger facility. He tensed when the door opened and the woman walked in.
Mary Bard sat down across from him, her hands clasped in front of her and resting on the table. Roy was no longer tied up and the gag and blindfold had been removed. They obviously didn’t care if he could identify any of them. They clearly didn’t anticipate him sitting in a witness box.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“You watch too much TV,” said Bard with a bemused expression.
“And what exactly did you expect me to ask?”
“Do you want to live?” she said simply.
“Yes. But why do I think it highly unlikely?”
“It is very unlikely,” she conceded. “But not impossible. And in your situation, it is the impossible you must strive for.”
“Like this?” He leapt across the table and attempted to grab her. He outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds and was nearly a foot taller. When he woke, he was lying on the cold floor on his stomach. His right shoulder felt like it was out of its socket. He slowly sat up, holding his damaged wing.
Mary Bard was once more seated at the table and staring at him with the same inscrutable expression. “Are you finished playing John Wayne?”
John Wayne? She either doesn’t watch much current TV or isn’t from America and subsists on a steady diet of decades-old movies.
“How did you do that?” he asked, grimacing with pain.
“I could tell you, but you wouldn’t understand, so what would be the point?”
He got to his feet and slumped down in the chair, holding his injured shoulder. “I think it’s popped out of joint,” he said. He felt sick to his stomach.
“It is. Would you like me to put it back for you?”
“How about some morphine instead?”
“No. You need to be completely focused for what is coming.” She walked around the table and stood next to him. “Turn toward me.”
“I swear if this is some kind of trick, ninja chick or not, I will—”
She moved so fast he had no time to react. There was a pop, an instant of gut-wrenching pain, and then his shoulder was back in place.
She sat back down while he gingerly moved his arm around, testing her work. “Thank you.”
“Pleasure,” she said as she stared at him.
“You’re not American, are you?”
She shrugged. “What does it matter what I am?”
“Okay, I’m focused. What do you want?”
“We want you to text Mace Perry. We want to meet with her too.”
Roy sat back. “I don’t think so. You’ve got me, you’re not getting her too.”
“Mr. Kingman, you really should reconsider.”
“Okay, I will. You want me to text Mace. Ask her to meet me in some out-of-the-way place so when you grab and kill her no one will even know. And then you’ll just kill me too. I’m thinking about it, thinking about it.” He paused and said, “Go to hell, lady.”
“We can of course text her ourselves using your phone.”
“Then why even ask me?”
“As a test, of course.”
“Did I pass or fail?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“So where does that leave us? If you let me call her, I’ll warn her it’s a trap. And since I’ve never sent her a text before, she’ll be instantly suspicious if she gets one. She’s sort of paranoid by nature. And she’ll call me. And when I don’t