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Moe expected Beatrice to put in her two cents, but she stayed quiet, letting her head of the spy division do her thing. Trace opened the door leading to Romalov’s room and snapped a picture of the guy with his phone. He sent it to Parker and took a position to guard him.
Cal did the same with Maddox.
Jeb was assigned to Lori once more and took hers. She was the only one who asked what they were doing and why she was being held against her will, but the guy simply chuckled and said, “This is going on my social media page.” He shut the door on further protests.
When she had all three photos, Parker led Moe to Romalov first. He went to the corner, gun loose at his side. Their suspects didn’t know it was unloaded, however, and facing down the barrel of a weapon made a lot of people run their mouths.
Parker sat, giving Romalov a smile. “We meet again.”
He zeroed in on Moe. “Are you going to shoot me?”
“He won’t unless I tell him to.” She set her tablet on the table between them. “Since you put a bullet in my leg, I’m tempted to let him. You’ll die here alone, and no one will know where to find your body.”
He grumbled something in Russian but seemed resigned. “What do you want?”
“We have Bryant Maddox in the next room. Lydia Charmaine has been taken into custody by the CIA. We know you are nothing more than a pawn in this game, so I am offering you a deal before I give it to the others. Give us the details of this operation and I won’t turn you over to the spooks.”
“Nice try.” He said nothing further, and she brought up Maddox’s photo on the tablet.
“Is he the one who hired you?” She flipped to Lori. “Or did she?”
One of his brows dipped, but he looked away from the screen. “I’m not telling you a fucking thing. Go ahead, put a bullet in me. This mission was fucked from the beginning.”
“How so?”
He stared at the far wall, mute. Moe straightened ever so slightly, fingering his weapon and giving the man a predatory grin. That snagged the terrorist’s attention, even though he continued to stay quiet.
“You got screwed,” Parker said. “Both parties wanted that damn watch. Do you know what’s on it?”
“I don’t care. I just want my money.”
“You didn’t get paid yet? Me either. Looks like neither of us is now that Charmaine is in custody.”
His eyes narrowed and his focus slid to her face. “What are you talking about?”
“She offered me five grand if I stole it from my boss for her. Then you came along and kidnapped her.”
Moe showed no reaction, but inside he smiled at her story. Making your suspect believe you were a comrade, rather than an enemy, sometimes got them to open up.
“Five?” Romalov reared back. “She owes me ten plus the watch.”
On the comms, Moe could have sworn he heard the others suck in a breath. Parker showed no reaction outside a hint of incredulousness. “That bitch.” She shook her head. “It’s because I’m a woman, isn’t it? She was willing to pay you more since you’re a man.”
This tipped the scale a bit farther. Romalov looked down his nose at her. “She was paying me more because I am an expert at this sort of thing.”
“You think I’m not? Petit is my boss. Maybe she thought it would be easier for me to get my hands on the watch. Well, I’ve got news for her, I deserve the same amount she offered you.”
“You’re no terrorist. You have no military training, do you? You’re as soft as bread.” He tipped his chin in Moe’s direction. “Him, she might hire. He in on it with you?”
“My whole team. They aren’t any happier than I am that our funding source is on ice. If we can squeeze the other two”—she flipped her screen back to Maddox’s image—“we might have a chance at recouping something. They’re all involved and each of them wants the watch. The intelligence information it contains… Well, I suspect we can get more on the open market. What do you think?”
Romalov narrowed his eyes. “What is it, this intelligence?”
Parker looked surprised. “She didn’t tell you?”
He glanced at Maddox’s picture. “She said it was blackmail against him.”
“And you believed her?”
