“You can consider that your going-away present to Tanner.A murder weapon with your prints on it seems like a pretty good reason for you to leave town without saying goodbye, don’t you think?”
“R-Ronnie is dead?”
Scott shrugged.“Will be soon, if he’s not dead yet.Too bad, really, I kind of liked him.But Mr.Jeter told me to bring you straight to him.It’s a big day for Communication for All, you know.Mr.Jeter is going to be a hero.”
She reached over and slid the SIM card into her hand before stuffing it into her pocket.Scott was about to hand deliver her where she needed to go anyway.Maybe she could upload the data before they killed her.
Although no one was likely to just lend her their phone.
Scott grabbed her hands and slid a zip tie around her wrists, pulling it tight, and began yanking her toward the back door.
“If you yell once we’re outside, I’ll kill whoever comes.”
Bree believed him and kept her mouth shut.
She kept it shut on the ride to Denver, trying to come up with a plan.If she couldn’t upload the data on the SIM card, no one would ever be able to gain proof about the Organization’s illegal activities.They’d be untouchable.
And what about Tanner?Would he think she’d lied?Killed Ronnie?
The closer they got to Denver, the more fear seemed to swallow her whole.Panic crawled all over her body by the time Scott dragged her from an underground parking lot into a private suite that was part of the convention center.
He pushed her through the door and closed it behind him.
All she could see was Michael Jeter.
Terror slammed into her.She tried to remind herself that he was just a man, not a very big one at that.But all she could remember was the pain, the fear, the sound of her own bones breaking and her mother sobbing in pain as Jeter told her to focus.Concentrate.Do the work on the computer in front of her.
“Bethany!”Fingers snapped in front of her face, and she blinked back into the present.It was Jeter, of course.He’d never had any tolerance for people not doing exactly what he wanted at the moment he demanded it.
Who cared if they were terrified or traumatized or tortured?
Bree sucked in a deep breath, forcing oxygen into lungs that burned.She had to keep it together.
A sound caught her attention from the corner.Melissa sat on a couch crying softly.She’d obviously been beaten.
Bree’s eyes flew back to Jeter as he spoke.“I’m so glad you’re here, Bethany.I’m sure your cousin is, as well.We weren’t sure if she knew where to find you or not.”
“You bastard.”
“I’m sure it must look that way to you.But you’re not a child any longer.You can’t use that as an excuse not to see the big picture.”
She wanted to curse at him.To rage, strike him, hurt him the way he’d hurt her and the people she loved.
But there was only one way to take down the Organization today.And that was by being smart.
She held up her wrists in front of her face.“Your lackey bound my hands too tightly.Have someone cut me loose before I have permanent nerve damage.I won’t be much good to you then.”
Jeter’s eyes narrowed.Obviously, he liked it better when she’d been cowering in fear a few moments ago.Swallowing the terror that wasn’t far from the surface, she raised an eyebrow.
Your move.
Jeter gestured with his head, and the guard came over and cut her hands loose.She rubbed at her aching wrists.
“I knew it was you, Bethany.Over the last couple of days when we first spotted someone trying to piggyback on our servers, Iknewit was you.I’ve always known you would come back to me.”
She glanced over at the clock.There were less than ten minutes before the cell phone update went live.She had to get the data on the SIM card uploaded to a phone by then.
She turned to Jeter.“You tortured me and my mother.Why would you think I would ever come back to you?”
