“Jonah!” Cas cried, but it was too late.
“There. Now, about the Turks.”
Cas made a noise of frustration. “I don’t give a fuck about your little blackmailing scheme. You want what I have, come get it from me. You can have it. I just want Jonah.”
“Do you think I’m stupid?”
“Do you want me to answer that?” Cas ground out between clenched teeth. “Come to Wired, and we’ll make a trade.”
That seemed to stir something in the other man. “Listen here, you little shit, I’m not walking into an ambush. I know Sadie and Jonah’s other friend are probably on their way there as we speak. Why would you think I’d ever agree to meet?”
“Because I just entered all this evidence—every photo, every ledger, every super-secret Cayman and Swiss bank account transaction—to stream on social media with the push of a button. All I have to do is hit enter and the entire world knows all your dirty little secrets. Alltheirsecrets. The government might cover it up, but they can’t go to every household in the world and scrub this disgusting shit from the brains of its citizens.”
“You’re bluffing. What you’re suggesting isn’t even possible.”
“Do you want me to demonstrate?” Cas bluffed, no longer capable of giving a single fuck.
“Are you mad? The entire global economy will collapse. You could potentially start a war. This is bigger than you or me. You can’t do this.”
“Oh, I can. I can and I will. Unless…”
“Unless?” Pritka snapped.
“Bring me Jonah, and I’ll destroy it all. You can watch me do it.”
“How do I know you don’t have a copy stashed somewhere? That you won’t just expose us after Jonah’s returned to you?” Pritka asked, but he was wavering, Cas could feel it. He just needed another little push.
“You can have me, too. I’ll tell you how to hide your documents so no other hacker can find them, and then I’ll let you put a bullet in my head, but only after I see that Jonah is alive and you let him leave with Sadie. That’s my only offer, and it’s a pretty fucking good one, so I’d take it if I were you.”
Cas listened to Pritka breathe heavy on the other end of the line. “You’d do all of this…for him? Why?”
“Because he’d do the same for me. Are you coming or not?” Cas answered without hesitation. It was true. Jonah would kill for Cas. He had killed for Cas more than once. Jonah was safer with Cas dead.
There was another long stretch of silence, but Cas already knew he’d won. “Fine, but if I see any sign that this is a setup, I’ll put a bullet in Jonah’s skull and leave him in the parking lot for you to find, list or no list.”
Cas snorted. “Just you. The back entrance is open. The club is closed, so there’s nobody else around. I have eyes on all the cameras, so don’t try anything stupid, or I’ll just hit the button and let the universe decide your fate.”
“Twenty minutes.”
28
Jonah
Jonah slumped in the limousine’s leather bench seat, listening to Pritka on the phone with Cas. His hands were zip tied behind him, and his shoulder, side, and knee throbbed in time with his rapid heartbeats as he stared across at Alec Diamantis.
Diamantis wore a three-piece suit similar in color to the one Jonah had first seen him in so many years ago. His hair had gone completely white, though, and liver spots mottled the backs of his deeply tanned hands. The thick gold ring he used to wear on the middle finger of his right had been moved over to his ring finger. Jonah could almost feel the cool metal on the back of his neck, feel Diamantis’s fingers tightening around his nape, guiding his head down.
He gritted his teeth and swallowed the bile that rose in his throat with the long-ago memories. The last time Jonah had seen him, there’d been a dark pool of blood spreading underneath him. That was a much more pleasant memory. Too bad it had also apparently been a lie.
Jonah was in too much pain to be surprised by this turn of events. Reluctant acceptance rode each flare of fire zipping up his thigh.
He touched his ear, his head too quiet now, and Pritka tucked his phone away, opening his other palm to reveal the earpiece. “Looking for this, I suppose. I removed it while you were out of sorts. You won’t be needing it anyway.”
Jonah turned his head to stare out the window at the street signs as they flashed by. His heart sank as he realized where they were heading and deduced the deal Cas must be trying to make. “He’s smarter than both of you put together,” he said. “Better move is to just do me and take the next flight out of the country.”
Pritka leaned forward, rubbing his palms together slowly. “You forget I know you, Jonah. Think I don’t know what you’re trying to do right now?”
Jonah shrugged, trying to keep his affect as flat as possible. It’d been worth a try.
