“I’m not lying!” Fritz pleaded. “I swear I’m not. I’m glad you guys came in here tonight. I’ve wanted to go to the authorities with this since it started, or maybe tell some of the military guys in here what’s going on, but I can’t. Martin said he’d kill my wife and my kids, man.” Tears choked Fritz’s throat, thickening his voice. “My daughter just turned two, for Christ’s sake. And my son’s in fifth grade. Jesus, what the hell was I supposed to do? Martin had pics of them. He said he’d had them followed for weeks. He knew their schedules, when they came home from school. He was going to kill them all if I didn’t do exactly what he said.”
Loki’s heart broke for the guy. The KGB were assholes who would do just about anything to get what they wanted. He had no doubt that Todd Martin would’ve followed through on his threats to kill Fritz’s family at the first sign of betrayal. Which gave him the leverage he needed. “Where are those disks now? Did you mail them yet?”
“No, not yet. We’ve been so busy, I haven’t had a chance to post them.” Fritz stared up at him from where he kneeled on the floor, his dark gaze beseeching. “Why?”
“Give them to us,” Loki said, stopping in front of Fritz so he towered over him and left the other man in shadows. “Give us the disks and I swear I’ll protect your family. But only if you tell us what we need to know.”
Fritz squinted, swallowed hard. “How can I trust you? Martin’s working with the fucking KGB, man.”
“I’ve got my resources.” Namely Cam and Hunter, back at Norse Security. Cam could hack anything with a microchip and Hunter was the biggest badass on the Eastern Seaboard. He also had a shitload of contacts from their SEAL days and could call in a few favors with the US Marshals’ office. Those guys owed them anyway. “You give us those disks and I’ll get you and your family out of town tonight. Martin won’t find you. He won’t even know you’re gone.”
M watched him warily. “You can do that shit? Who the hell are you anyway?”
“I’m the man who’s going to catch Todd Martin and nail his ass to the wall, that’s who.”
Fritz seemed to consider this for a moment, then asked, “What about this club?”
“Close it for a while, or take a vacation.” M gave another tug on his fingers and Fritz hissed in pain. “Last chance, dumbass. Accept our offer or don’t. Either way we get the disks.”
“Fine!” Fritz slumped over, defeated. “Fine. But we get my family first before I hand over the disks.”
“No.” Loki already had his phone out and was busy dialing Cam’s number. “I’ll get everything set up, you give us the disks, then we collect your family.”
Cam was his usual efficient self, fingers clacking at superhuman speed as he talked to Loki on the phone. “Yep. I’m in the Marshals’ database,” he said. “Good thing I hacked into that hospital system now, yeah? Who’s sorry now?” He snorted. Loki had given the guy major shit the week before for “accidentally” gaining access to a bunch of confidential patient records during a different mission. Now, though, it seemed it was good, since Fritz and his wife’s info, along with his children’s birth records, were among the files stolen. “Let me just input their data and… bam! Done. Hunter, you talked to your buddy yet?” Cam yelled offline.
“Done,” Hunter said, chiming in on speaker phone on Cam’s end. “These guys aren’t pleased with us fucking around in their system though. Said we owe them big time.”
“Bullshit,” Loki said, frowning. “After the way we saved their butts that time in Phoenix, they owe us this favor and about twenty more. But thanks for getting it set up. Talk to you guys soon.”
He ended the call then turned back to Fritz, who was still kneeling on the floor and cradling his sore hand against his chest. Given the amount of force M had applied, nothing was broken, but it would still be about a week before the guy regained full range of motion in those fingers.
She stood behind Fritz, a hand on each of his shoulders to prevent him from moving. “We ready?”
“Ready.” Loki hiked his chin and M yanked Fritz to his feet. “Give us the disks.”
“They’re in that box over there, behind the merlot,” Fritz said, indicating one of the shelves along the wall.
Loki checked and sure enough there were two solid steel hard drives in an old, weathered shoe box be
hind the cheap wine. He held up the box and frowned. “Bit old school, isn’t it?”
“Hey, I just send what he tells me. I don’t ask questions.”
“What address do these go to?” Loki put the lid back on the box and tucked it under his arm. He’d need to get these over to Cam ASAP for analysis. “Tell me or the deal’s off.”
“Ain’t no address.” Fritz cursed as M continued to restrain the man. “It’s a P.O. Box.”
He rattled off the info and Loki typed it into the notes on his phone. Not exactly a stellar lead, but more than they’d had when they’d walked into this place. He shoved his phone back into his pocket then cocked his head toward M. “Let’s get him outside where the Marshals can pick him up. They should be on their way now.”
“Shit. Already?” Fritz’s eyes widened. “What do I tell my wife? My kids? What about all our stuff? Our lives here?”
“Those things are over. You go now, tonight, or you don’t go at all.” Loki walked over to the door and unlocked it, then turned back. “You should be thanking me for your new life. You have a second chance here, Fritz. Don’t fuck it up.”
10
Later, after they’d handed off the bartender and his family to the Marshalls, M and Loki were back at her apartment and sparring in the gym. Hard to believe, but it seemed about the only time they got along was when they were fighting.
Not exactly the ideal relationship she’d dreamed about as a girl.