The air has grown hot and stale and I fight to catch my breath. Or maybe it’s just panic. Calm down, calm down. I close my eyes and try to slow my breathing.
Then a second vehicle arrives and I jerk up straight.
I hear the growl of its engine, the squeal of its tires braking on concrete as it rolls into the building. The engine shuts off and car doors slam shut.
The van’s rear door swings open and a man stands looking in at me. His face is backlit so I can’t read his expression, but I can make out a silhouette of a thick waist and short, fat neck.
“Get her out of there. I want to talk to her,” he says.
A second man reaches in with a knife, slashes the duct tape that binds my ankles and wrists, and drags me out feetfirst. I’ve been tied up for so long that my legs are stiff and I wobble as I stand facing three men. One is the van driver who snatched me off my street. The other two have just arrived in a black Escalade SUV that’s now parked next to the van. No one is smiling. It’s easy to tell that the older, fatter man is the one in charge. As the younger men stand flanking him, the boss steps toward me until we’re almost nose to nose. He’s in his fifties, with pale blue eyes and close-cropped blond hair and he reeks of aftershave. An expensive scent, I imagine, but he’s slapped it on with an undiscriminating hand.
“So where is she?” he asks.
I mumble behind the duct tape that still covers my mouth. With no warning he yanks off the tape and I’m so startled that I jerk away and the backs of my knees collide with the van’s rear bumper. There’s no room for me to retreat. I’m trapped between the vehicle and this aftershave-drenched man.
“Where is she?” he repeats.
“Who?” I ask.
“Nina.”
“I don’t know anyone named Nina.”
To my surprise he laughs and looks at the other two men. “This must be the new strategy they’re teaching them now. How to play dumb.”
“I’m not playing dumb.” I really am dumb.
He turns to the van driver. “You got her ID?”
The driver shakes his head. “Didn’t have any on her.”
“Then she’ll just have to tell us herself.” The big man turns back to me. “Who do you work for?”
“What? No one. I’m just a—”
“Which agency?”
Agency? Slowly it’s starting to sink in. They think I’m someone else. Or something other than what I am, a housewife.
“Where are you people hiding her?”
If I tell them the truth, that I have no idea, then I’m worthless to them. As long as they think I know something valuable, they’ll let me live. They may break my bones and yank out my fingernails but they won’t kill me. Which is good news, I suppose.
I don’t see the blow coming. He hits me so fast, so unexpectedly, that I have no chance to brace myself. His fist thuds into my cheek and I stagger sideways, lights exploding in my head. When I’m able to focus again, I see him looming over me, his lip curled in a sneer.
“Aren’t you too old for this business, lady?” he says.
“Aren’t you?” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop myself and I cringe as his hand comes up to deliver another blow. Then he stops, lowers his fist.
“Maybe we got off on the wrong foot,” he says. He grabs my hand and hauls me back to my feet. “You know, a little cooperation on your part will make things a lot easier. It may even be worth your while, in a monetary sense. I can’t imagine retirement on a government salary is anything to crow about.”
Gingerly I touch my cheek where he hit me. There’s no blood but I can feel the tissues already ballooning up. I’m going to have a hell of a shiner. If I live long enough.
“Tell me where you moved Nina,” he says.
We’re back to this mysterious Nina again. I can’t let him know that I have no idea who she is. I have to bluff my way through this.
“Nina doesn’t want to be found,” I say.
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“She’s terrified, in fact.”
“She ought to be. I expect loyalty from my employees and talking to the feds is the height of disloyalty.” He glances at the men standing beside him. “They understand.”
“But Nina didn’t.”
“She’ll never make it to that courtroom. No matter how many times you people move her, I’m gonna find her. But you know, it does get wearisome.” His voice softens, becomes friendly, almost intimate. “Devoting so many of my resources to tracking down the bitch. This time it took me four entire weeks to track her down. Forced me to call in a favor from Revere PD.”