I turned to Boris who came up on my right. “Tie up this Devil. I was going to kill him, but he may be a good bargaining chip with Jean-Pierre. Who knows what the Butcher would do to get his hands on him.”
The Devil shook his head. “Kazimir, p-please. I was following orders. Please, don’t give me to Jean-Pierre. I would rather you kill me now.”
“Misha, wouldn’t tell you to kidnap any women. He said, get the codes. That was it. You’ll also have to come with us, and explain to Jean-Pierre, that you did that to her face.” I studied the woman. “Someone fix those cuts up. Why would someone cut that face?”
It looked like someone had sliced three to four lines in her cheeks.
Everyone glanced her way. One of Emily’s men grabbed bandages, headed over, and cleaned the wounds. She jumped a little but let him.
I checked my watch.
We need a location for the exchange. This could work. I’ve got the girl. He can’t hurt my mouse anymore.
I watched Boris tie the Devil up and take him away.
Maxwell walked over to me. “She’ll need stiches too. The bandages won’t be enough.”
The woman jumped again.
They bandaged her face on the side. Another gave her a bottle of water. She set the imaginary animal on the ground and sniffed the water before drinking it. She finished the first in seconds, and immediately started coughing .
Someone offered another bottle. She hugged her stomach but gulped down the second.
“Now what?” Maxwell put his gun away. “Kazimir, I don’t care who we kill, just as long as we get Emily back.”
“We’re close, Maxwell. One part is done. Now for the hard part.” I left the hysterical woman, walked to the window, and stared out of it.
Maxwell walked up to the window with me. “I thought finding the flute player was the hard part.”
“No.” Kazimir glanced over his shoulder at me. “The hardest part will be exchanging this one for Emily.”
Following my order, David and Pavel left no one alive. Emily’s men stacked the dead bodies in the back.
Maxwell did his own investigation as the others cleaned up. Every few feet, he would analyze the blood splatter, and knocked over furniture in front of him. After a while, he stopped at the sawed-up woman. “Who’s the dead woman in the chair?”
“I don’t know. Jean-Pierre only bitched about one woman. We’ve got her.”
“And the exchange?”
I shook my head. “I keep thinking the airport, but he can shoot my plane out the sky as we leave. It needs to be a public place. Lots of opportunity for casualties. I don’t know much about Jean-Pierre, but I know he cares about the French. He wouldn’t want any citizens harmed, if they don’t have to be.”
David came up to us and put his gun away. “What’s next?”
I considered the question. “We need somewhere big and public, but a place that we can control.”
“Nothing too touristy.” David bobbed his head. “Military will be there, and Jean-Pierre controls them.”
“Maybe, a shopping center would keep the military busy. The more people around the better.”
David held his chin and then let it go. “We have a massive shopping center with an underground train. Thousands of people will be there. I can get my people there fast.”
“Underground is good.” Maxwell chimed in. “Em could escape around some shit like that. If you give them an exchange with lots of options, she might run away before the exchange.”
My body tensed. “She better not. It could get her killed.”
Maxwell gave me a weak smile. “Em doesn’t like to be trapped. I can’t guarantee she’ll sit still and be quiet.”
Me either.
“We’ll figure out something.” David pointed to the window. A long violet limo arrived in front of the house. David appeared embarrassed. “My grandmother sent her limo to help. She thinks you should talk to her first.”
I eyed him. “And do you think it’s necessary?”
“I do, but that is just my opinion.” David shrugged. “But, on another note. . .I have an idea. These men killed some other guys in here. They’re Corsican.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. These guys were guarding someone.” David gestured to the dead woman in the chair. “Probably her.”
“So maybe the Corsican will come this way?”
“That’s a chance.” David pulled out his phone. “I’ll have some of my men check out the shopping center that I was talking about. The rest can keep their eyes on the house.”
Blue interjected, I hadn’t even realized she was around. “I could put a camera on the door, and maybe in the house. If they see any Russian around, they may not come.”
“Good point,” I said. “Keep your people further away and hidden David, but give Blue anything you can to monitor this house.”
“Got it.”
I looked at Pavel. “Take the woman to the limo. Maxwell and I will go to David’s grandmother.”