She whirled away, already pulling out her phone.
And, speaking of phones, Ryan tossed the one he still held at Jamar. The phone that Hugo had brought into the restaurant. Hopefully, he hadn’t damaged it too much when he’d closed his fist around the damn thing. “We just called Konstantin. Try getting the bastard again. Triangulate signals. Track the prick. Find him.”
Jamar closed his hand around the phone. “On it.”
But Ryan knew it wouldn’t be easy. Hell, if he’d been Konstantin, he would have immediately trashed the phone after that call.
“We need to trace Konstantin.” Ryan’s mind was racing. “We need to trace Simone.” Simone. “I gave her a phone.” Excitement surged within him. “We can track her that way.” He rattled off instructions and details about Simone’s phone to the agents around him, and they sprang into action.
Have to find Simone. Konstantin took Simone. She screamed. I have to find her. Ryan’s breath shuddered in and out. In and out. “You know where he took her.” Ryan glared at Hugo.
“Sounds like you think you can find her.” Mocking laughter rolled from Hugo. “Good luck with all that. You don’t need me.”
Ryan turned back to the table and he swiped the knife there—the knife that he’d taken from Hugo. He recognized the particular weapon. He’d seen it before with the British Special Forces teams. Now he studied the knife with narrowed eyes. Ryan was pretty sure he could see traces of dried blood near the tip.
Oh, yeah, Frederick is dead. The poor, dumb sonofabitch.
“You think I’m scared of you?” Hugo suddenly challenged. “I can handle a fool like you in my sleep. You are not going to get me to break down in some interrogation. You won’t get me to?—”
In a blink, Ryan had the tip of the blade pressed against his enemy. “It’s good for slipping between the ribs, isn’t it?” His voice was low, carrying only to Hugo.
Hugo had gone dead still.
“You think you’re the only one who knows that trick? I can slide it between your ribs. I can kill you before you can even draw the breath to scream. But, I won’t.” It was his turn to smile. “Because your death does not benefit me. Not yet. Instead, I will torture you. Moment by moment. Piece by piece. Bit by bit. Believe me when I say that Alexei had nothing on me.”
“Y-you’re bluffing. I was Special Forces, I won’t?—”
“Cry me a fucking river. I don’t care what you were. You need to be more concerned with what I am.” Ryan pressed the tip of that blade into him. Other agents had already zip-tied Hugo’s hands behind his back. “I’m the man who will destroy anyone who is between me and my goal.”
Hugo tried to ease away from the blade.
There was nowhere for him to go.
“You know what my goal is?” Ryan demanded, voice still low.
“K-Konstantin?”
“Konstantin has someone important to me. My goal is Simone. If anything happens to her before I get her back…” The blade pierced Hugo’s skin.
Hugo sucked in a breath.
“You’ll be begging for death before I’m done with you,” Ryan swore.
“Ryan!” Jamar’s booming voice.
He left the blade in Hugo.
“Dammit, Ryan, stop!” Jamar tried to haul him back.
“Oh, my bad.” Ryan stepped away from Hugo. For the moment. “Didn’t realize I was so close to him.”
Jamar glared at him, nostrils flaring and gaze hard. Aw, Jamar. One of the truly good guys. A guy who was lucky enough to have a wife and twin boys at home. A family that loved him. But even good guys could break, and Ryan knew that if anyone ever touched Jamar’s family…
There will be hell to pay.
Because you did not fuck with family.
Family.
