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“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“But you’re working together.”
Whit shook his head slowly. “Again, don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do. I told Janie I was a retired lobbyist. I scaled her wall and disarmed her. No one else knew about that.”
“Those things are easy enough to find out.”
“No they’re not. And why would you want to find them out?”
“So you’re not going to tell me why you’re here?”
“You first.”
“Then you can just rot in here.” Whit turned to leave.
Shaw hesitated and said, “Take care with Waller, he’s not who you think he is.”
Whit slowly turned back around. “What the hell do you know about it?”
“More than you, apparently. By the way, I just remembered where I saw you. Kayaking. You were tailing us. You’re after Waller, aren’t you?”
“Don’t know what you’re smoking.”
“He’s a dangerous guy.”
“Really?”
Shaw knew he shouldn’t do it, but his concern for Janie overrode his professional instincts for secrecy.
“Waller runs a global prostitution ring. He takes women from Asia and Africa and sells them into slavery in the West.”
When this revelation only raised mild interest in Whit’s features, he added, “He was also trying to sell uranium to some Islamic fundamentalists before he apparently killed them all after a disagreement.”
“Terrorists?” exclaimed Whit.
“They probably screwed him somehow and he made them pay for it. He’s a bad guy from top to bottom. And he has an eye for Janie, although I guess now I know that’s not her real name. Whatever you guys have planned, you better account for Waller figuring some of it out beforehand. And you better start worrying that Janie doesn’t disappear before you even get to your ground zero.”
“And why are you telling me this?”
“I think you know why. If he gets Janie it’s all over.”
Whit slammed the door behind him and locked it. Shaw heard the two men outside talking fast. Then he heard footsteps as the men moved off.
He sat down in the chair. His initial instincts had been right and wrong. Janie Collins was not who she claimed to be. But she was not
here to interfere with Shaw’s mission; she hadn’t even known about it, apparently. They’d gotten suspicious about Shaw, but didn’t know why he was here. They had been working at cross-purposes. So now the questions were clear. Why were they after Waller? And how were they planning to do it?
Shaw looked around at the four walls. He needed to get out of here more than ever. He had a sinking feeling that whatever plan they had, it would not be good enough. And chances were very good that Waller would kill them instead.
CHAPTER
51
REGGIE COUNTED off her strokes, flipped, and headed back the other way. She was swimming faster than normal, so much faster, in fact, that she lost count and banged her head on the side of the pool. She floated to the top, rubbed her skull, and looked around. Waller’s villa was dark. She eyed the wall separating the two properties but saw no spies there either. She treaded water for a bit and then swam to the steps and climbed out of the pool. She toweled off, grabbed her phone, and headed into the house. When she glanced down at the phone screen, she caught a quick breath. She had a text message. It was only one word. “NOW.” It was their highest-level alert message.
She walked quickly inside and up to her bedroom, where she made the call.
