“Can I use the washroom?” I asked belatedly.
“We’ll be stopping soon for the night. You can go then.”
I didn’t want to know what would happen to me when we were alone in a hotel room. The thought terrified me. Maybe I could scream and get the attention of the desk clerk. I used my hands to move along the front seat in the dark, hoping to find some sort of weapon.
I thought about Giselle, and how Sergei had literally snuffed the life out of her. I knew that was my fate, too, even though my brain couldn’t process it.
I’m going to die.
Admonishing words tumbled out of me before I could stop them. “You didn’t have to kill her.”
“Of course I had to kill her. She was an undercover agent.”
“Giselle? She was undercover?” I blinked while I digested that. I thought of all the times Giselle had worked alongside Axel. Was she the reason he had gotten arrested today? Was shethe reason that everyone had been taken into custody? I had heard them discuss business. She had actively worked to help Axel at all those dinners. “I find that hard to believe.”
Sergei seemed relaxed behind the wheel and showed a surprising interest in the conversation. “She was a Canadian cop.”
How was that even possible? Then I remembered how she’d just walked into the police station and retrieved me without incident. What if he was telling the truth? She had worked closely with Axel. Was she the reason he was behind bars now?
“Is that why we all got arrested? Was she behind all that?”
His expression was almost triumphant. “You really don’t know, do you?”
None of this conversation was making sense, but I needed to reassure him that I didn’t know this information so I didn’t suffer the same fate as Giselle. “No, I didn’t know that. I had no clue.”
That made him laugh. “I’m not talking about her. I’m talking about Axel being an undercover cop.”
The ringing in my ears was real, but that might have been from all the blood rushing to my head. Immediately, my entire head, including my ears, felt hot and the world now sounded muffled.
Axel is an undercover cop?
Not possible.
Even though I didn’t believe him, his statement sent shock waves through me. I stared blankly through the windshield in denial.
It wasn’t true. Sergei was messing with me. That was the only logical response. Robotic words came out of my mouth. “Why would you even say that?”
He laughed, his eyes fixed on my face.
“What is so funny?”
He shook his head. “Knowing that you didn’t know amuses me.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said hotly.
That made him laugh harder. “You not knowing you were married to a cop is what makes it funny.”
I was doing mental gymnastics trying to understand what angle Sergei was working. He’d obviously gone a bit mad. “I saw Axel with my own eyes. He worked for my uncle.”
Sergei, as he drove, reached over me and opened the glove box. He pulled out a pack of about ten pages stapled together. “I broke into Giselle’s apartment and found those files. Found out about Axel, her boss, figured out who her boyfriend is and who she is working for.”
He tossed it on my lap and then handed me a pen light.
Instead of looking at the file, I squinted at him. “You broke into her apartment?”
“Good thing I did too.” He didn’t seem concerned about his own illegal actions.
I was still trying to connect all the dots. “Is that why you were in my house the day I saw you at the top of the stairs?”
