“And shit, with all this, when you get out you’ll have nothing.”
Pete knew that, too. His future was a vast array of emptiness. Everything he’d worked for, gone. He had no idea how long he’d be sent up, but he knew one thing for sure: he owed her. This was his one chance to make up for all the shitty things he’d done before. If he hadn’t screwed things up with her so bad, she wouldn’t be in this mess to start with.
He shifted in his seat, hoping to help his friend understand. “Let me ask you something, Rafe. If it were Lisa on the line here? If she had to choose between running for the rest of her life or face being screwed by the government over something she didn’t do, what would you do?”
Silence.
Finally Rafe sighed. “I’d do whatever it took to keep her safe. I’d give up everything I have to make sure of it. I’d even sacrifice my own freedom for her. No questions asked.”
Pete closed his eyes and swallowed back the rush of emotions he felt. His life may have been for shit up until this point, but there were two people who’d changed it for the better. One was upstairs asleep. The other was on the opposite end of this line.
“I have one other favor to ask.” Pete pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut to keep from sounding like the pansy he was becoming. “I won’t be around to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble. And she tends to have a knack for it.”
“I’ll keep an eye on her. She could sell Odyssey,” Rafe pointed out.
Pete dropped his hand. “It’s hers to do with what she wants. If she wants to sell it, don’t try to stop her. I don’t care.”
“Jesus, Pete. You’ve only been with her for two days.”
Six years, six months and twenty-two days to be exact. Pete just wished he had the last two days to do over.
“You must really love her,” Rafe said quietly when Pete didn’t answer.
Pete looked toward the ceiling where he imagined Kat was sleeping. And his heart cinched tight. “You think that makes me a fool, don’t you?”
“No. I think that makes you human.”
To his credit, Rafe didn’t try to talk Pete out of his decision again, and by the time they hung up a few minutes later, Pete knew his friend would do everything he’d asked. Even amid the turmoil of his own mother’s illness, Rafe was the kind of friend a guy could count on. Even if he thought you were out of your frickin’ mind.
It was well after two a.m. when Pete finally clicked off the light and headed for the stairs. With his decisions made, he had one last person he needed to talk to before morning hit and his deal with Slade became reality.
Hanif Busir looked up from where he was seated on the ratty couch and eyed Minyawi across the room. His nerves were shot to hell and back from lack of sleep the past few days, too many road and plane trips and trying to outwit one inconsequential Egyptologist.
They were holed up in a dive motel somewhere in Newark, waiting for news from Kalim. The walls of the room were a dingy yellow, and the stale stench of cigarette smoke felt like it was seeping into Busir’s pores. But that wasn’t what had him on edge. No, it was the look of pure malevolence in Minyawi’s coal black eyes as he stared at Lauren Kauffman on the floor in the corner of the room, gagged with her hands and feet bound, her slacks riding low on her lean hips, her blouse pulled taut over perky breasts.
There was rank hunger in Minyawi’s eyes, coupled with the kind of rage that fueled rapists and serial killers. Busir had heard stories of what Minyawi had done to women and children who’d gotten in his way over the years. Graphic, disgusting accounts of how Minyawi seemed to take pleasure in the torture. He also knew the man had something equally as horrendous planned for Katherine Meyer. But as they waited, he seemed to be contemplating practicing those moves on the blonde model in the corner of the room. And that didn’t sit well with Busir.
She’d come to a few times after the drugs had worn off but was now asleep again, her head tipped to the side, resting on the grimy wall.