gun glued on Nic, who stayed still and bubbled blood from his mouth where my heel had smashed lip and teeth. He ran a hand along Nic’s pockets, under the jacket.
At first I thought Piet had missed it. He stood, not even aiming his gun at Nic anymore. Then I saw the thin little tube in Piet’s hand, pinched between thumb and forefinger. He held it up to Nic’s face. Nic blinked.
“What is this?” Piet asked, in a whisper that sounded like dirt sliding off a coffin’s top.
“I don’t know, it’s not mine,” Nic mumbled. “He’s a goddamned liar, Piet. Who are you going to believe, him or me? You know me.”
“Yes. Yes, I do know you Nic.” Piet inspected Mila’s little transmitter. He tried to cut it apart with his thumb, failed. He opened a knife from his pocket and sliced into the microphone and unpeeled it apart carefully. I’d had seconds to slip it into Nic’s pocket. Giving up the transmitter would be cutting my only link with Mila, assuming she hadn’t been grabbed by Howell and his men, but I had to do it. It was my way to save Piet’s victims and to put all the blame on Nic when Mila rescued them. My heart beat out a hard, skittering rhythm in my chest.
I watched Piet’s face as he inspected the state-of-the-art device. “God damn it,” he said. “This is like freaking spy gear. Who are you working for, Nic?”
“No one… I work for you. He’s lying. You don’t know him, you know me.”
“Yeah, and you’ve had the hate for me for weeks,” Piet said. “You think I’m blind? You always had your goddamn precious nose up in the air around me. Who do you work for? Stand up.”
Nic stood. The light in his eyes shifted. Darkened in rage, the anger of the trapped animal. “I don’t work for anyone but you and Edward. He’s tricked me. He’s tricked you. He planted that on me.”
I shook my head. But Piet raised the gun from Nic to me.
“I guess I have a choice to make,” Piet said.
49
CALL IN REINFORCEMENTS?” August asked Howell. They sat in the van, half a block from the address provided by the Chinese student. It was a gray block of industrial space. Multiple buildings, but the complex looked mostly deserted. Two vehicles parked in front of one door at the end. The rest of the parking lot space was empty.
“You’re rather timid,” Howell said. “Surprises me.”
“One man’s caution,” August said. “I don’t want my friend dead when he’s more valuable to us alive.”
“I like the idea of moving now. No witnesses around,” Van Vleck said.
“I want this kept quiet. I don’t want to attract the attention of the Dutch authorities. What do we have in the van?” Howell asked.
“Four assault rifles, bulletproof vests, infrared goggles.” August looked at him with a scowl. “There’s only the three of us.”
“I can count, Agent Holdwine.”
“I think, respectfully, we should call in backup.” August glanced at Van Vleck. “Capra is trained. We don’t know about the other guy. We should go in with overwhelming force.”
“Two vehicles here. One van, that brought Capra and his contact. The other car’s small. There’s not an army inside.” Howell smiled. “Let’s go, gentleman. I am tired of Sam Capra being a problem for us.”
Van Vleck and August started putting on the bulletproof gear.
“Get that young man to his feet,” Howell said, gesturing at the Chinese hacker. “We’ll use him.”
50
MILA PARKED HER CAR a few blocks away from the warehouse, at a small café. She pressed her earpiece and closed her eyes for a moment. She heard most of the conversation between Piet and Sam, the offer to Sam of one of the captives to rape. Her breathing grew very calm; a hot, hollow rage expanded in her chest.
She wore a black trench coat over her suit—she had a gun for each pocket and now she also carried a retractable baton. It was her favorite weapon, and she imagined beating Piet and Nic senseless with it. She hurried toward the machinists’ shop on foot.
She heard Sam’s advice to search Nic and the discovery of the microphone and knew what Sam had done. She applauded him. But he was cutting her loose, severing the one tie between them so as to delve closer to these monsters.
But if Howell blundered in now, he would ruin their chance to break inside the ring.
Mila watched the van, crouching from behind a corner a block away. She