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Day 5
Twenty-four hours. That was all the time I had left before I was to go back to Ryzen.
Delove and Dobbs packed up the rest of their equipment and Cian walked them out to their car. He pulled out a cigarette and handed one to Delove. They leaned against the sedan talking for a bit before Cian headed back inside.
I hurried away from the window and busied myself with the items laid out on the table. Cian strolled in, a grin spread across his face. “Spying, Nova?” His tone was playful, and I returned his smile.
“Just getting into character.” I chuckled and immediately stopped at the look on his face. I was just trying to lighten the mood. We both knew how serious this was, the danger involved. One little slip-up on my part and it was over. Over, as in dead. That was what Dobbs had said earlier that morning, and it had been scarred into my memory.
“Sorry.” I wrung my hands together and exhaled slowly.
Cian came around and gripped me by the shoulders. “You don’t have to do this, Nova. One word from you and we’re out of here. I promise you, they will never find us, little mouse.” His eyes searched mine, looking for something. But I wouldn’t give it to him, and he knew it. I wouldn’t do that to him—ask him to give up his whole life for a woman he barely knew—especially after everything that had happened between us. And I could never leave Juliet to deal with my mess. No, I was going to do this, and I was going to do it right.
“No, I can do this.” I offered a small smile. “I just…”
“What is it? I’ll do anything you need.” He murmured and stroked my bottom lip with his thumb.
“It’s going to sound stupid, but…I’m not that naïve ‘little mouse’ anymore, Cian. And I never will be again.” My voice shook as I got the words out, and I straightened my back. Every time he called me little mouse, it served only as a reminder of all the things I had messed up. The mistakes I had made.
“I understand.” He tilted my chin up with his finger, a playful smile on his face. “You’re a fierce, strong woman. Brilliant. Brave. And my beautiful star.” His lips caressed mine for a moment, and then he released me. His eyes scanned the table and then back to me. “Tell me again.”
I knew what he was asking. He had had me repeat it to him several times already. “Tomorrow at eleven p.m. Juliet and I are to show up at the emergency room at Saint Alexus Hospital and look for the nurse on duty with blonde hair and a butterfly tattoo on her right hand.” According to the wiretap Delove had obtained from his informant in Ryzen’s circle, the blonde was on Ryzen’s payroll and had already been alerted to be on the lookout for either me or Juliet. “We’re going to tell her that we escaped some men who were holding us against our will, and that we need help.”
The nurse would contact Ryzen, who would in turn send his own cops to take our statements, which would never get filed. Ryzen would come to the hospital, and then it was showtime. There was no guarantee this was how it would unfold, just an empty promise from Delove that itshouldwork this way. We wouldn’t know if the officers we would speak to would be on Ryzen’s payroll or not, so we had to keep our story the same no matter what. If there was an issue, Delove and Dobbs would intercept.
Cian crossed his arms across his chest, his jaw clenched. “And what do you tell Ryzen?”
I swallowed; my throat was dry as sandpaper. “I tell him that some men grabbed us from the wedding and that they kept us blindfolded in a dark room. I never saw any faces, and I only heard the name Kaviathin one time.” Dobbs stressed that I needed to keep it simple, say we didn’t hear or see anything. That way I wouldn’t get my lies mixed up and risk exposing myself.
Cian pointed to one of many different recording devices on the table. “Show me how you use this.”
“You’re quite bossy, you know that?” I scrunched up my nose, and he tried to hide his smile.
“Show me, Nova,” he purred and heat moved up my neck to the tips of my ears. His eyes followed me as I walked around the table and matched up the parts that went together.
One was an actual wire with a microphone that I would tape to my body underneath my clothes. It connected to a recording device that would record up to two hours before I would need to replace the tape. I was to wear this one as much as possible when I was around Ryzen or Riddick. I showed Cian how to hook up the device and where I would place it on my body. I grabbed the watch next and showed him where I would press to activate the camera. Press the button on the right once to take a picture, press the button on the left twice to send an SOS. I hoped I never had to press it twice. The watch was also a tracking device that would broadcast my location to the FBI.
I picked up the necklace with the large onyx stone in the center, a series of smaller black stones surrounding it. A button disguised as a red stone was at the very top of it. There was a camera inside the onyx that would stream a live video whenever the button was pressed. Dobbs had repeated over and over again that I had to press the button in order to activate the live stream, otherwise they wouldn’t get any feedback. I had to hand it to them, they were prepared. In all honesty, it almost made you feel paranoid that they were able to put a camera in almost any object and you would have no idea you were being watched or recorded.
“Good.” Cian nodded. “What’s the name of the office project?” He laid his hands flat on the table and leaned towards me.
“Arlington Office Park. I’ll speak with Helen, who will have a six-month lease ready for me to sign on Thursday.” Another thing Delove had set up. I would pretend to get back to work as soon as possible to try to salvage the Shiver Box. The new office was in a terrible neighborhood, which was exactly what Delove had said we needed because Ryzen wouldn’t be caught dead there. It had a small office space downstairs and an empty apartment upstairs. This was where we would meet when needed and I would hand over tapes, pictures, and anything else I could find.
It all sounded so simple. Easy. But the butterflies in my stomach told me that it wasn’t going to be that way. Nothing ever was.
The worst part about this was not knowing how long it was going to be. Would it be days, weeks, months? Nobody could be sure. It all depended on me and what I could get out of Ryzen. I was going to have to lay it on thick, pretend the kidnapping had made me realize that I actually loved him.
Gag.
If by some miracle I could get him to confess to burning down my warehouse, or find the right incriminating evidence, then this could be over within days. I could only hope that I would find some magical box in his office labeled “Mafia” and be done with this.
“What if it takes a long time, like months?” I asked Dobbs and shivered at the thought of playing loving fiancée for that long.
“Don’t let it take that long, then.” He shrugged as if I had asked a ridiculous question.
“What if Ryzen finds out Kaviathin wasn’t the one who took us?”
“He won’t.” Dobbs scoffed and rolled his eyes.
