“This is a first,” he went on. “A podcaster stumbling into an assignment. You’ll probably go to number one after you get murdered on the job.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“What do you want to know?” I asked, wondering if there was any merit in keeping him talking, considering the timer on my chest.
He assumed someone was coming after me. But Eli thought I was researching in the apartment. He probably wouldn’t even check. I hoped he didn’t. If the building was going to explode in less than ten minutes, he’d never get here in time. Even if he did, he wouldn’t know about the bomb. He could get caught in the blast. I should have told him I was leaving. I should have talked to him. I should have?—
Something beeped from my chest.
“Thirty seconds down,” he said. “Tick-tock. Question time. Where was the last place you traced Silas to?”
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t have an answer, and even if I did, I wouldn’t give him one. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t believe me if I told him I didn’t know.
As far as I knew, we hadn’t traced Silas anywhere. That was the problem. But it looked like one of us was going to get away, and it probably wasn’t going to be me—in which case, I wasn’t sending him out there with any more information than he’d come in with.
“Not talking?” he mused. “Let’s see if this helps.”
Two cold points jammed under my chin. I heard a click and fire burned across my nerves, down my spine, up into my skull as I felt myself sliding into unconsciousness.
I fought to keep my eyes open, though I couldn’t see through the blindfold. I wasn’t going to pass out—I couldn’t let that happen—but goddamn, that hurt. I remembered every other time I touched a loose wire or got a random shock, and how I’d thought that was painful.Ugh.This—that fucking taser—was so much worse.
“I don’t know anything about Silas,” I ground out as soon as I could make my mouth work again.
“I don’t think I believe you,” he said. “I think you’re just being obstinate. I’m going to ask again. Where was the last place you traced Silas Creed to?”
I shook my head slowly.
“How about we play an answer for an answer?” he asked.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“Because you don’t know anything, or because you’re stubborn?”
“You’re not offering me much of a reward,” I said. “If I tell you what I know, do I get to leave?”
“No, I’m afraid you don’t.”
“Well then, why would I talk?”
“Because I can make the last nine minutes and three seconds of your life incredibly painful. Trust me, nine minutes can be a very long time.”
I believed him. Even more when that cold, sharp metal jammed into my shoulder and the fire spread across my skin again.
I screamed. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t stop it. The burning. It hurt.Fuck.
I let my head loll forward, sucking in air, trying to get my thoughts straight. I didn’t have anything to tell him.
I thought of the post office box, the letter. Miss Carmody.No.I wasn’t sending this man her way. I wasn’t even sure whether the letter or the existence of the box was useful. On the chance it was, he wasn’t getting it from me. Maybe if I thought I could bargain with my life. But he was going to kill me anyway.
I didn’t give a shit about Silas. I didn’t know Silas, but I wouldn’t betray Eli. Not like that.
Fuck. Eli.I’d left his bed last night, angry. So fucking angry. He’d kissed me, and I just wanted to touch him, to feel him against me. Wanted his arms around me. All it had done was remind me how good we were together and how fucked up everything was.
I’d wasted what we could have had because I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t realize it wasn’t just sex. It wasn’t just that I liked being with him, felt safe with him, thought I could trust him. That we laughed together, could talk for hours. It wasn’t any one of those things—it was all of it together.
Who the hell thought I’d fall in love in a handful of days, in the most chaotic, crazy time of my life? I hadn’t seen it coming because it didn’t make any fucking sense.
Except that it was Eli. And he was everything. He’d fucked up, but so had I.
