AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not interested in your excuses,” Sci replied. “I’m interested in what you know. We’re going to go somewhere nice and quiet and you’re going to tell us everything.”
CHAPTER 39
NO ONE HAD followed them when they’d left Brooklyn. Thirty minutes later they were driving through open countryside, near Plainfield, New Jersey. Fields and woodland surrounded them and there were very few vehicles on the quiet country road as they headed west. Sci felt as though he was on the very edge of the world, that anything might happen here.
Mo-bot had called Justine to let her know they were okay, and tell her of their plan to interrogate Rafael, the traitor.
He exuded nervous tension as they turned off a farm track onto a rough gravel road that cut through a wooded area. After a quarter of a mile, Sci pulled to a halt on the verge.
Mo-bot turned to face Rafael and Sci did likewise. Mo-bot handed him the Life Card pistol, which he held aimed at Rafael’s gut. There were tears in Rafael’s eyes and his hands were trembling. This was not a man who would have to be forced to confess.
“So, here’s what’s going to happen,” Sci said. “You’re going to talk and we’re going to listen.”
There was a moment’s hesitation.
“Well, get talking,” he added, brandishing the gun.
Rafael gulped and nodded.
“Alison was taken two weeks ago,” he said, referring to his wife. “She was snatched from the street.”
Sci saw Mo-bot register the significance of Rafael’s words and guessed where this was going.
“I got a call from the Chinese man …”
Rafael broke down sobbing and took more than a moment to pull himself together.
“I’m so sorry. I’m … There’s nothing I can say to excuse my actions, I know, but I got a phone call from the man you just saw in that building. He calls himself Angel. He told me to meet him if I ever wanted to see Alison alive again. He knew everything about us, about our families. He said I was being watched at all times. I wanted to come to you, to Jack. I wanted to go to the police, but he told me she’d be killed if I spoke to a single person. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know …” He trailed off, broken, and took some deep breaths before resuming. “He wanted information, but when I met him—”
“Where?” Sci asked. “Where did you meet?”
“A mall in Pelham, at the food court,” Rafael replied.
Busy and anonymous, Sci reflected.
“When I met him, he told me he wanted someone on the inside, providing information, steering things a certain way.I didn’t know what he was going to do to Jessie and Lewis, I swear it!”
“But you knew what he wanted to do today,” Mo-bot cut in, and Rafael looked ashamed.
“He said he’d kill Alison if his mission didn’t succeed. He said he’d kill her.” Rafael wiped his eyes. “I didn’t know what to do. What was I supposed to do?”
Sci ignored the question. “What mission?” he asked.
“I don’t know. He told me to make sure you came to New York. All of you: Maureen, Seymour, and Justine.”
“He named us?” Mo-bot asked.
Rafael nodded. “I’m so sorry. I never thought it would be like this.”
“What about the protocols we have in place for coercion and duress?” Mo-bot said. “God, Rafael, we’re your friends!”
“I wasn’t thinking about protocol, I was thinking about my wife! I’m sorry. I thought I had no choice. I know you can never forgive me, but I’m sorry. I truly am.”
“Did you give up Lewis and Jessie?” Mo-bot asked. “Did you give this Angel their location?”
Fresh tears sprang to Rafael’s eyes as he nodded.
Mo-bot shook her head wistfully. “You’re going to have to answer for that.” She turned to Sci. “What do you think?”
