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“Find something,” Lester roared at his men. He put his face close to Dale’s. “We know she accessed the hotel wi-fi this morning. We know you were out there at the fights last night.”
“Wrong,” Dale said, defiantly. “I was here, with my fiancé.”
“Oh, son, you’re a lousy actor.” He leaned back, straightening his jacket and cuffs. “We know she is the source and we know where she lives.”
Dale’s breath stalled out. Of course, with Bingham’s help, Lester’s access was unlimited. Still, he had to buy time. If only to give Heather a bigger head start. “How did you turn Bingham?”
“Feeling sorry for your boss, Agent Nichols?”
“Maybe a little.”
“Don’t,” Lester snapped. “The man had more than one bad habit and it was nothing for a man like me to exploit them.”
“That’s what you do.”
“We all have a skill set.” Lester reached down and pulled the knife cleanly out of Dale’s foot and flipped the blade closed. “I’m a businessman, Agent Nichols. And I do regret we couldn’t come to terms.” He turned to Thing One. “We’ve wasted enough time. Kill him and let’s go get the girl.”
“Wait!” Dale shouted. “What would it take for you to leave her out of it?”
“So you do have a weakness.”
Dale glared at him. “Name your terms.”
“Robe’s wet.” Thing 2 held up the robe Heather had been wearing when he’d held her on the balcony.
“That was mine,” Dale said.
Lester snorted. “Shut up. I want the files, the codes, the names she’s deciphered. The pictures.”
“You can have it,” Dale lied. He didn’t know where her camera and tablet had gone.
“The backups too.”
“I know those passwords,” he said, sounding desperate. Not to live, no. He knew they would kill him whether he cooperated or not. No, he was desperate they would believe him.
Lester waved for him to go on. “Tell me.”
“Not memorized,” Dale stalled. “Bring me my bag.”
“No.”
“What are you afraid of? I’m cuffed and crippled,” he complained. “There’s a card with the passwords and logins in my bag.”
“Check it out,” Lester said.
Thing One complied, dumping out the bag in question on the bed. Dale’s fingers twitched at the sight of his gun as it bounced onto the bedspread. He’d never reach it in time to do any damage, but still every ounce of pride he had left urged him to go down fighting.
He heard it then, another quiet pop, this time followed by a loud hiss. He did a quick inventory and belatedly saw one of the tear gas grenades he’d brought along was missing.
Heather!
As Thing One and Thing Two looked around, smoke poured out from under the bed. Lester shouted orders, but his voice was quickly choked by the harsh, stinging fog filling the room.
A gun went off and Thing Two went down. Maybe they would get lucky and Lester and his idiots would take out themselves.
Tears streaming down his face, Dale told himself he could breathe even as his lungs argued and labored. He stood and used the chair as a weapon, tackling the disoriented Thing One.
The force broke the chair and Dale rolled away from the debris, just in time to see Lester struggling to reach the balcony doors.
