She sucked in a breath, tears filling her eyes.
“You don’t trust them,” James continued, not softening. “And frankly, you shouldn’t. I doubt you’d get the same deal you had before. So I’m giving you a way out. You may not like it, but unless you want to rot in prison, it’s your best option.”
She went still, then swallowed, “I’m listening.”
“Once I’m satisfied that I’ve gotten everything I need,” James said, “I’ll have men escort you and your family to the airport.”
Her eyes widened. “If my books convict Knox, nowhere will be safe.”
“Not if he’s no longer around to come after you,” James said, his voice turning lethal.
“What does that mean?” she shot back. “You think he can’t order hits from prison? You think prison stops men like him?”
“Natalie,” James said, calm as ice. “Gerald Knox will never see the inside of a prison.”
She leaned back, disbelief hardening her face. “You’ll never be able to touch him.”
“Trust me,” he said. “I will.” Then his eyes turned dark. “Have you already told him I’m here? Right now?”
“No,” she said emphatically in a rush. “I always liked you, Skeeter. I don’t want to be part of getting you killed.” Her jaw tightened. “But if you walk out of here and decide you won’t help me, I will notify him. I’ll say you showed up unannounced, and I didn’t have time to warn him until after you left.”
“You have his direct number?” James asked.
She nodded.
“I’m gonna need it,” he said. “Along with every piece of information you’ve got about him. And I mean everything. If you wrote it on a Post-It and put it in your drawer, I want it.”
She stared at him, dismayed. “Do you realize how much information that is? I can’t fit it onto a flash drive. And it’s not safe to upload it to a cloud.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” I said, pulling the hard drive from my jacket pocket and setting it on the desk.
Her gaze dropped to it, and she froze.
“I forgot the USB cord in the car,” I said. “You got one?”
Her gaze snapped to James. “He’s going to kill my kids. He’s not joking.”
“Show me the files,” James said. “While they’re transferring, I’ll send people to collect your kids and your husband.”
“How are you going to find Knox?” she asked. “Because his home address is a closely guarded secret. I don’t even have it.”
James frowned, impatient. “You don’t have to worry about that. Just get on a plane and leave the country.” His brow lifted. “You should have plenty of money to pay for it.”
A guilty look flickered across her face, but she turned to her computer and started booting it up. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Start with the folder labeled Knox,” he said.
She scoffed. “They’re not that obvious.”
“Then just start copying and pasting files,” he said. “We’ll sort out the order later.”
She opened a folder and let him do a quick scan of the contents. Once James was satisfied, she handed me a cord.
I connected the hard drive to the computer, and she started the transfer.
She had more files than Harlan, but they were neatly organized, and most were for other clients. James watched the transfer, making her open files from time to time to ensure nothing was password-protected. Or if it was, that she unlocked it.
During the process, James had her call her family on speaker and tell them to grab their passports and pack everything they could into two suitcases each, including two bags for her. Hired security would pick them up soon, and they would meet her at the airport. Since they didn’t ask why they were fleeing, they must have all been prepared to take this drastic measure.
