Mercer thinks Devast is telling the truth.
“Drew...” Tina stepped in front of him. “What can I do?”
“Nothing.” The rage was cracking the ice. “If he has them, I’ll find out where they are.” He’d get them back.
He walked around Tina. She didn’t follow him. The two agents at the holding room door tensed when they saw him approach.
“Let him in,” Mercer ordered from behind Drew.
They stepped to the side.
Drew shoved open the door. Anton Devast was seated at a small table. Both of his wrists were cuffed to the table’s legs. He lifted his head at Drew’s approach and smiled.
“Ready to make a deal with me now, Agent Lancaster?” Anton asked quietly. “I know your price.”
* * *
TINA STARED THROUGH the observation glass. Her whole body was so stiff with tension that she ached. Mercer was by her side, quiet, intense, his gaze on the scene unfolding.
“You don’t know anything about me,” Drew said to Devast. His voice was cold and empty, totally lacking feeling.
This is the agent they whispered about. The one with ice in his veins.
Anton Devast, old, frail, but with evil seeming to ooze from his pores, shook his head. “I know plenty. You’re a man who thinks that he needs to atone for the past. You try to wash the blood from your hands but you just can’t.”
As Tina watched, Drew placed his hands on the table and leaned toward Anton. “The EOD caught you. You aren’t going to blow up any more buildings. You’re not going to destroy any more lives. You walked into our trap. Followed every breadcrumb that we left for you, and now you’re trying to throw out some desperate, last-minute—”
“Mercer can’t locate your sisters, can he?” Anton’s voice was mild, but the smile on his face was satisfied. “I’m sure he said that it’s just a temporary situation. That he has agents on the ground in Mississippi, and that he will find them.” Anton shook his head. “I gave him a timeline. I told him, one woman, every three hours. There’s not a lot of time left before the first woman dies.”
Tina turned stunned eyes on Mercer. “Why didn’t you tell—?”
“We can’t negotiate with terrorists,” Mercer said flatly, but she saw the emotion in his eyes. The storm of anger. “Anton Devast is a terrorist wanted in over a dozen countries. We won’t agree to any of his demands.” He shook his head. “Especially when that demand involves killing an EOD employee.”
Me.
“I want proof of life.”
Her attention jerked back toward the glass when Drew said those five cold words.
Anton’s smile widened. “I thought you would say that. Proof is coming. Mercer will be getting a call any moment.”
Drew kept staring at the killer. “If you have them, if you hurt my sisters in any way, I will see you dead in the ground.”
One dark brow lifted as Anton stared back at him. “It was your mistake. Any pain they feel is on you. I offered you fair money. You should have taken it and walked away.” Anton gave a little shrug, as much of a shrug as his handcuffs would allow. “You could have even sent the money to the women, the way you send all the other checks to them.”
“Hell,” Mercer snapped, “that’s it.” He ran a shaking hand over his face. “That’s how he found them. He followed the money trail Lancaster left behind.”
Tina wanted to rush into that room with Drew. She wanted to help him. She’d thought the nightmare was over, but now Drew was facing the hardest fight of his life. “His sisters are all he has.” He’d tried to control the emotion when he talked about them, but his voice had broken when he referred to the “girls.” Without them, Drew would be lost.
Drew straightened to his full, imposing height as he glared down at the cuffed man. “I’m going to destroy you,” he said.
“Promises, promises,” Anton taunted. He wasn’t even sweating. Surrounded by guards. Captured by the EOD. But still smug.
“He’s calling the shots,” Tina whispered. Because he held all the power.
“I can’t negotiate,” Mercer said again.
Her gaze slid to him. Cool under fire, Mercer was sweating. As she watched him, Mercer hurriedly pulled out his phone.
“Sydney is already monitoring my phone from D.C. Any call that comes in, she’ll be able to trace it back to the source. If that bastard really does try to send proof of life, we’ll find them.”
The door opened. Drew stood there, shoulders tense. “Have you gotten a call?”
Mercer shook his head. “He’s playing with us. He knows that we have him, and he’s just trying for one last mind game.”
Tina wanted to believe that—
Mercer’s phone rang.
Drew surged forward.
Mercer stared down at his phone. Tina was close enough to see the Unknown Number message flash across the screen. Mercer put the phone to his ear.
Tina could clearly hear the scream that broke across the line.
Drew yanked the phone away from the EOD boss. He hit the speaker button and the scream seemed to echo in the room. “Who the hell is this?”
“Drew!” The scream changed into his name. “Drew, please, say that’s you! I-it’s Paige. They told me that you’re going to come and get me. Please come for me! Please!”
Drew’s gaze didn’t stray from the phone. His voice was ice-cold when he said, “When you were seven years old, what did I give you for Christmas?”
“You carved me a jewelry box. It had a...a P on it. We didn’t have any money, but you said you’d buy me jewelry for it one day—” She broke off, screaming again.
“Don’t hurt her!” Drew roared. The ice and control were gone. Only fury and fear remained in his voice.
The line went dead.
Mercer grabbed the phone from him. “Sydney was tracing. She’ll get them—”
“Not if the call wasn’t long enough.” He turned away and stared through the glass at Anton. Anton stared back, as if he could see right through the mirror.
Tina reached for Drew’s arm but he jerked away from her touch.
Her hand fisted. “We’ll get them back. Whatever we have to do—”
“The EOD doesn’t negotiate with terrorists,” Drew said. The words were growled. And they were almost word for word exactly what Mercer had said. Drew spoke those words as if repeating some long-memorized rule. Then, whispering, he said again, “The EOD doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.” His breath sawed out as he glanced toward Mercer. “Consider me out of the damn EOD.”