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“Divert SWAT to Imani Nichols’s residence,” she shouted into her phone. “I’m heading there now!”
Chapter 60
The gun wasn’t literally to Jack’s head, but a squeeze of the trigger by a cold-blooded serial killer was all that stood between life and a bullet in his brain. Amongus was standing at one of the short ends of the rectangular kitchen counter, with Imani to his left and Jack to his right, on opposite sides.
“First problem we have to solve is this,” said Amongus. “One of you has to go. I don’t need two hostages. Imani, tell me why it should be you.”
“Uh, because I’mImani?” she said, adding the lilt of a question to emphasize how obvious the answer was.
Amongus shook his head. “Doesn’t cut it here. Son of a former governor. Husband to an FBI agent. In terms of hostage value, that’s kind of a wash. At least in Miami.”
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation,” she said.
“Youcan’t?” said Jack.
“Shut up, counselor,” said Amongus. “It’s Imani’s turn to make her case. You’ll get yours. Tell me, Imani. Why should I keep you?”
He was acting like a judge. Judge and executioner.
Imani turned on her powers of persuasion. “Amongus, we go way back. We started MAP together.”
“Yeah, I started it because piracy was killing me. You started it because it made you popular with other artists. And when the going got tough, you got out.”
“You can’t trust Swyteck,” she said. “You can trust me.”
“Oh, really?” he said with skepticism.
“At any point, I could have thrown everyone under the bus and saved myself. I didn’t. I could have told the FBI that Tyler McCormick wassuch a dumb fuck that he tried to extort me, Shaky,and Kava.I could have told them that when Tyler McCormick came to our house to collect his extortion money, Kava’s hit man was waiting for him. He left the dead body for Shaky and me to deal with. Swyteck knows all of this.”
Jack didn’t, but it made sense. Forcing Shaky and Imani to dispose of the body made them complicit.
“You didn’t keep quiet about Kava out of loyalty to anyone,” said Amongus. “You did it out of fear.”
“The point is I am loyal toyou. I could have told the FBI that you came up with the idea of killing pirates. I never did.”
“How do I know you didn’t?”
“Look at the BOLO! It says, ‘Also goes by the nickname Judge.’ Where did they get that, Amongus? Not from me! Who called you ‘Judge’?”
Amongus fell silent, and Jack could practically hear the wheels turning in his evil mind. Jack didn’t know who called him Judge, but it was clear that this judge had made a decision.
“Imani, we need rope,” said Amongus. “In a pinch, an extension cord will do.”
Chapter 61
Andie flashed her badge to the security guard at the entrance to Star Island and put him under strict orders not to notify any residents of the FBI’s arrival.
“My lips are sealed,” he said, dragging a finger across his lip to emphasize the point.
Imani’s waterfront estate was at the tip of the island. It was not lost on Andie or Grace that, had it been daylight, they could have seen all the way to Isola di Lolando, where Tyler McCormick’s body had been recovered.
Andie stopped the car two houses away from the wrought-iron entrance gate to Imani’s driveway. They were in the shadows, beneath the sprawling limbs of a leafy banyan tree, outside the glow of the nearest streetlamp. Andie called her ASAC.
“Where is SWAT?”
“Stuck in traffic. Head-on collision on the causeway. Lanes blocked in both directions. I may have to call for a boat to pick us up for a water approach.”
“How long will that take?”
