I wasn’t sure what to do about the water entrance, as I had used the very same thing to sneak in here. Figuring that out wasn’t my skill set anyway. I’d let Sal and Brant know of the problem, and they could deal with it.
My problem was the dangerous idiot in front of me.
“Like I said, we need to speed this up. I imagine your husband will be headed this way soon.”
I hoped so.
“I need my money.”
“Yeah…about that.” Sal would have shot me himself if he saw me use the barrel of the gun to scratch the side of my head. “I handed all that information off to my friend Lyn.” I glanced around the room again, searching. “Who seems to be missing.”
Fernandez squinted for a moment before holding his hand out even with his shoulder. “Short guy, brown hair, glasses?”
I nodded eagerly with a smile. “That’s him.”
Fernandez sighed before walking over to Sal’s private bathroom door. He yanked it open and then reached inside, pulling Lyn out by his arm. My eyes narrowed when I saw the bruise on his cheek and the cloth stuffed in his mouth. At least he was on his feet.
Clarke was not going to be happy.
“Is this him?”
“It is,” I replied. “What did you do to him?”
I desperately wanted to go to Lyn, especially when I discovered that his hands were bound behind his back, but I couldn’t. If Fernandez decided to use his gun, he was going to use it on me. As polite as we had been during our conversation, this man hated me, and we both knew it.
“I merely wished to speak to you privately. Your friend here seemed resistant to leaving us alone to talk.”
Oh, I bet.
“You’ll need to untie him if you want your money. He does the computer stuff.”
“If he does the computer stuff, then why were you working on SeRoy’s computer?”
“I was undercover, of course. I know crap about computers. I can barely turn one on. Luckily for me, SeRoy was an idiot and couldn’t tell that.”
“Yes, lucky.” Fernandez’s lips flatlined for a moment before he said, “I’m afraid I can’t release your friend here. You’ll have to do it.”
“You did hear me say I don’t know anything about computers, right?”
Fernandez pointed the barrel of his gun at Lyn’s head. “I’m afraid I must insist.”
Well, when you put it like that…
I stuck my gun back in the holster and then walked around the desk on the opposite side from Lyn and Fernandez and sat down in front of Lyn’s laptop. I smiled weakly as I glanced up. “I’m going to need him to talk me through this.”
“You were able to do it last time. Why can’t you do it this time?”
I pointed at Lyn, growing frustrated with Fernandez. What part of computer idiot wasn’t this guy getting? “Because he was talking me through it last time!”
Fernandez frowned before pulling the cloth out of Lyn’s mouth.
“Where’s Brant?” I asked when I met Lyn’s very pissed-off eyes.
Lyn nodded his head toward Fernandez. “He used me to get Brant to surrender. He’s tied up in the bathroom.” He swallowed tightly. “I haven’t seen anyone else. I don’t know what—”
“Everyone is safe,” I quickly told him. I knew he was worried about his son. “I checked before coming in here to talk to Fernandez.”
Lyn’s eyes rounded for a moment before he turned to look at the man holding him. “Your name really is Fernandez?”
