Mercer nodded. He pointed down the hall. “The second room. There’s a two-way mirror in there so that—”
“Watch what happens, I don’t care.” Drew had to force the words past a tight throat. The darkness of his life should never have touched his sisters. Never.
Kim was planning a wedding.
Heather... Heather had just started a new teaching job.
And the baby of the family... Paige had entered college two months ago. He’d sent her some extra money, just in case she needed—
“Don’t kill him.” Mercer’s hard voice had Drew’s head snapping up. “Do you hear me, Agent? Do. Not. Kill. Devast. That’s an order.”
Mercer thinks Devast is telling the truth.
“Drew...” Tina stepped in front of him. “What can I do?”
“Nothing.” The rage was cracking the ice. “If he has them, I’ll find out where they are.” He’d get them back.
He walked around Tina. She didn’t follow him. The two agents at the holding room door tensed when they saw him approach.
“Let him in,” Mercer ordered from behind Drew.
They stepped to the side.
Drew shoved open the door. Anton Devast was seated at a small table. Both of his wrists were cuffed to the table’s legs. He lifted his head at Drew’s approach and smiled.
“Ready to make a deal with me now, Agent Lancaster?” Anton asked quietly. “I know your price.”
* * *
TINA STARED THROUGH the observation glass. Her whole body was so stiff with tension that she ached. Mercer was by her side, quiet, intense, his gaze on the scene unfolding.
“You don’t know anything about me,” Drew said to Devast. His voice was cold and empty, totally lacking feeling.
This is the agent they whispered about. The one with ice in his veins.
Anton Devast, old, frail, but with evil seeming to ooze from his pores, shook his head. “I know plenty. You’re a man who thinks that he needs to atone for the past. You try to wash the blood from your hands but you just can’t.”
As Tina watched, Drew placed his hands on the table and leaned toward Anton. “The EOD caught you. You aren’t going to blow up any more buildings. You’re not going to destroy any more lives. You walked into our trap. Followed every breadcrumb that we left for you, and now you’re trying to throw out some desperate, last-minute—”
“Mercer can’t locate your sisters, can he?” Anton’s voice was mild, but the smile on his face was satisfied. “I’m sure he said that it’s just a temporary situation. That he has agents on the ground in Mississippi, and that he will find them.” Anton shook his head. “I gave him a timeline. I told him, one woman, every three hours. There’s not a lot of time left before the first woman dies.”
Tina turned stunned eyes on Mercer. “Why didn’t you tell—?”
“We can’t negotiate with terrorists,” Mercer said flatly, but she saw the emotion in his eyes. The storm of anger. “Anton Devast is a terrorist wanted in over a dozen countries. We won’t agree to any of his demands.” He shook his head. “Especially when that demand involves killing an EOD employee.”
Me.
“I want proof of life.”
Her attention jerked back toward the glass when Drew said those five cold words.
Anton’s smile widened. “I thought you would say that. Proof is coming. Mercer will be getting a call any moment.”
Drew kept staring at the killer. “If you have them, if you hurt my sisters in any way, I will see you dead in the ground.”
One dark brow lifted as Anton stared back at him. “It was your mistake. Any pain they feel is on you. I offered you fair money. You should have taken it and walked away.” Anton gave a little shrug, as much of a shrug as his handcuffs would allow. “You could have even sent the money to the women, the way you send all the other checks to them.”
“Hell,” Mercer snapped, “that’s it.” He ran a shaking hand over his face. “That’s how he found them. He followed the money trail Lancaster left behind.”