“Do you have a plan?” Sterling asked after a while.
“Is guns-blazing a plan?”
“Works for me. And if that won’t work?”
“I have something they want. I can trade it for her if I have to.” And shit, he would, even if it meant the complete failure of this mission. He would do anything to get her back safe.
“What is it?”
“The file she has on Red Wolf.” He pulled the envelope out of his pocket and held it in trembling fingers. He didn’t have the best memory, but if he read it, maybe he could retain key facts in the event he had to turn over the intel to get her back. Slowly, he opened the envelope and slid a single piece of paper out. And stared.
Shit.
“What does it say?” Sterling asked.
“Bananas. Grapefruit. Kale.”
“What?”
“Red beans. Rice. Soy milk.”
“What kind of shit is that?”
“Code?”
“What the hell kind of code is that?”
Benedict studied it. Deconstructed the words. Rearranged the letters. No matter what he tried, it didn’t make any sense.
And then it hit him and hit him hard.
This wasn’t the all-important file.
This wasn’t the file at all. It was a grocery list. A decoy she’d used to placate him when he’d first dragged her from her apartment.
Two questions whirled in his mind.
First, where the hell was the real file? The one that could help them close in on Red Wolf?
And secondly, what would he do now, when he didn’t have any leverage whatsoever?
How on earth would he save her?
* * *
“Where is it?” Ralley’s face was red. The veins on his forehead bulged out and throbbed. His neck muscles were visible as he yelled. He’d been yelling a while.
Michelle stared at him in fascination. She’d never seen him so upset. He’d always been calm, cool, collected. Slick, smarmy even. They had her tied to the chair, the chair the dumbass guard had been sitting in, in the empty hangar. The four men surrounded her, all glowering…especially the one she’d stabbed. His jacket was stained with blood and his expression made it pretty clear he’d be more than happy to snap her neck anytime now.
But he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. Not until they got the file.
So, when Ralley shouted at her to tell him where it was, she pressed her lips together. She wasn’t stupid.
“This is getting us nowhere,” Jonas said, pulling out his luger and cocking it. “If I shoot her in the leg, maybe she’ll be more cooperative.”
The look she sent him said, No. Probably not.
“You’re not shooting her,” Ralley snapped. Michelle nearly slumped in relief until he added, “There’s always the chance you’ll nick an artery and she’ll bleed out. Knives are better.”
Jonas nodded and pulled a long blade from a sheath on his belt. He twirled it around. “Should I start on her face?”
Ralley put out a lip. “She has such a pretty face.”
“That won’t matter much when she’s dead.”
Ralley narrowed his eyes on his lieutenant. “What makes you think I plan to kill her?”
“Because she’s dangerous?”
A harsh bark echoed through the chamber. “She’s only dangerous if she can share the information she has. And I seriously doubt she’ll be contacting the authorities from a brothel in Shanghai.” He shot Michelle a sickly sweet smile. “Would you like that, darling? Living out the rest of your days as a sex slave?”
Something nasty bubbled in her belly. Bile rose.
“Well, not all your days, of course. I’m sure your beauty won’t last for long. Some of those clients can be brutal. Such…depraved tastes. You should probably get used to pain.”
Jonas flipped his knife and stepped toward her and then slowly, methodically, sliced open her sweatshirt. It fell around her in tatters.
It was far too mortifying, sitting there half-naked with all those male eyes on her, so she turned her head away. To her astonishment, she saw a flicker of movement at the hangar door. She focused on it and froze. Something leaped in her chest.
A man skulked there and, if she wasn’t mistaken, she recognized the silhouette. Relief and fear and anticipation warred within her.
It was Ben. It had to be.
He wasn’t dead!
She wasn’t alone.
Jonas stepped toward her with the knife.
“Wait. I’ll tell you where the file is.”
Jonas stilled. “Where?”
“If you answer one question for me.”
Ralley laughed. “Darling, I don’t think you’re in any position to negotiate—”
“How did you find me? At the cabin? It’s been driving me crazy.”
“Oh. That?” His smile was reptilian. He drew his finger over her upper arm. “Do you really think we care if you get the flu?”