I grit my teeth. “You underestimate how much people fear pain. He knows that I will rain hell down on him if he doesn’t do what I want. Trust me—he will cooperate.”
Nikolai sighs and nods. “Shall we then?”
I extend my hand out and Nikolai drops Alan’s phone into my palm. We’re heading back to the shed as sunlight peeps around the corners of the house. Has it only been a night? It feels like twenty. I’m aging decades with every passing hour.
“Sir?”
I turn around to find Svetlana standing on the landing of the staircase. I can see it in her eyes: this is about Lev. “How is he?”
“He’s had nightmares all night, sir,” she says wearily. The dark circles under her eyes are proof enough of that. “George and I tried to calm him, but he just keeps asking for you. And…”
I frown. “And?”
“And for Miss Alyssa, as well.”
I don’t even have to glance at Nikolai to see that he’s burning a hole in my face with his stare. I want to go up there and be with Lev, but right now, I have to focus on getting Polina and Alyssa back.
“Try to soothe him. If he starts losing it again, give him a sedative.” It’s not my favorite way to deal with Lev’s episodes. He’s always confused and scared when he wakes up. But desperate times…
“Yes, sir.”
Svetlana disappears into the corridor and I resume my warpath, hellbent on making this plan work. Nikolai follows behind me without a word but I can practically hear the wheels in his head spinning.
I crack when we get to the shed. “Stop it.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I can hear you thinking at me.”
Nikolai purses his lips. “Don’t project your own guilt back at me, brother. I’m just your muscle.”
He’s right—I am projecting. With a grimace, I open the trapdoor and descend. My footsteps echo against the cement walls as we go lower, the temperature chilling faster and faster with every step.
Alan is lying on the thin mattress against the wall when I appear. He scampers upright when he sees us. “Are you letting me go?”
My snort comes out through the nose. “You’re either stupid or delusional if you thought that would ever happen.”
He deflates instantly, leaning against the wall. “What then?”
“I’m not letting you go unless you earn your freedom.”
“I don’t have any more information, I swear. I told you—”
I hold up a hand and he shuts up instantly. “All you have to do is play along.”
“Play along?” Alan repeats. “I don’t understand.”
I roll my eyes and turn my back on him so that I can talk to my brother. “Are the men on standby?”
“I just got a call from Stepan. They’re ready. I’ve got everything set up upstairs in the shed. Now, all we need is to keep him talking long enough.” Nikolai’s gaze veers past me towards our captive. “You really think he’s up for the job?”
“He’ll find a way.”
The skepticism in Nikolai’s eyes is far from subtle. “I’ll be upstairs.”
“How long do you need?” I ask as he makes his way to the stairs.
“Not long. Thirty seconds should do it. But the longer you keep him on the line, the better.”
“Got it,” I say with a nod as I wave him away. Then I turn to Alan where he’s cowering against the far wall of the cell. “Now—let’s talk.”
Alan’s lips have gone an unappealing shade of gray. He looks barely human, with those sunken-in cheeks and milky-white irises.
I fling a bag at him. He catches it out of mid-air and eyes it cautiously until he catches the scent. Then, realizing what it is, he tears into it like a wild animal, stuffing the burger down his throat in huge chunks.
He finishes the food in four bites and then downs the bottle of water I roll toward him. After he’s done, he starts licking the brown paper the burger was wrapped in. “You got another one?” he asks between slurps.
“I might. Would you like that?”
“Yes!” he cries out, stumbling forward and dropping the burger wrapping. “Tell me. I’ll do anything.”
“Like I said, all you have to do is play along.” I pull out his phone. “I’m going to send a text message to your boss.”
“He’s not my—”
He stops short when he catches the expression on my face. I’m confident he won’t interrupt me again. “I’m going to send a text message to your boss, and then I can guarantee he’s going to call right afterwards. You’re going to pick up and have a conversation with him. Keep him on the phone as long as possible. Be believable. He can’t know that you’re here with me.”