Page 19 of Roman

I waited until he nodded, and I answered.

“Costas.”

“We have something of yours.”

The voice didn’t belong to one of the Santini brothers. It had no accent, and he was too young. I decided to play along.

“Something of mine?” I questioned.

“She says she’s yours,” he responded.

“If that something is five foot nothing with dark hair, it better be unharmed.” I paused. “Or you’re a dead man walking.”

“How much is your fiancée worth to you?”

I blinked. Fiancée?

“What is your price?” I asked, realizing Effie had told them we were engaged. It was probably the one thing she had to bargain with. My name.

“The people who want her won’t be happy if they don’t get her.”

“Not as unhappy as I will be,” I ground out. Gordon indicated to keep talking. “What is your price?”

“We’d have to disappear.”

He had no idea he and his accomplice would be disappearing permanently. As soon as I was close enough to put a bullet in their heads.

“We’re not greedy. We just want to live comfortably. Two million.” He paused. “Each.”

Aldo’s eyebrows shot up.

“It’ll take me a little to get the cash.”

“We’re supposed to deliver her at six a.m. tomorrow.”

“You’ll only be delivering her to me. I’ll have it by midnight. You can get a red-eye anywhere you want to go.”

“We’ll call with the meetup address.”

He hung up.

I looked at Gordon. “Tell me you have that.”

He nodded. “I assume whoever you’re looking for is being held at 188 Warrington.” He brought up an image. “The cell phone and chip both agree.”

I stared at the run-down house. It was falling apart. I could see the basement windows were boarded over. The front door hung on one hinge.

“We’ll be meeting sooner than that, boys.” I glanced at Aldo. “You with me?”

He looked grim. “As if I’d miss this.”

At nine-thirty, we drove past the house slowly, circled the block, then pulled up a few spots before the driveway where they couldn’t see us. The neighborhood looked mostly deserted, but I wanted to be careful. The SUV had blacked-out windows so no one could see in, and with darkness encroaching, it was the perfect camouflage. I glanced at Aldo. “You ready?”

“Yep.”

I turned on the video in the car parked two streets over. It was old and had a fake pizza delivery sign on it. “Set?”

John nodded eagerly. “I’m going to the door with the pizzas. They’ll either lie and take them or say they didn’t order them. I’ll step back, and you’ll come behind me. I’ll disappear.”