Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (great book club books .txt) 📗

“More clever than you foolish agents,” he responded calmly.

“We’ll see how clever you are once you’ve been extradited to the United States,” I smirked at him. I felt a jolt of satisfaction as the smile slowly slipped off his face.

“What nonsense are you saying?” he snarled. “You don’t have any proof I’ve done anything wrong.”

“Do you think I care?” I hissed, leaning down to speak to him quietly enough that I wouldn’t be overheard by anyone else. “I told you, Davis. This is a game, and I won’t be satisfied until I win. And if I have to cheat a little to do so, then so be it.”

“What are you--” he stuttered.

“Planting evidence wouldn’t be that difficult,” I muttered darkly. “It’s not like the police here would look too deeply, anyway. If an American federal agent told them something, they’d believe it without question.”

“You’re lying,” he growled.

“Am I?” I asked sarcastically. “Who do you think it was that allowed me to continue with this investigation? The police chief was emphatic that he ‘wanted this criminal out of his country.’ I mean, look at the situation you’re in right now. Agent Hills physically attacked you and would have continued to attack you if I hadn’t pulled him away. And yet here I am, continuing with the interrogation as if nothing happened.” I was bluffing, obviously. I’d had to fight and negotiate to keep the investigation intact, but Davis didn’t know that.

“You’re bluffing,” Davis correctly guessed, but there was a tremor in his voice.

“I’m really not,” I smiled devilishly. “Do you know what happens to men like you in prison? Men who hurt children? It won’t be pleasant for you. And banish the thought of protective custody, of course. You’ll be tossed into general population with the rest of the dregs of society. I’ll see to it personally.”

“You can’t do that,” he protested indignantly.

“I can do whatever I want,” I taunted. “The same way that Agent Hills did what he wanted without having to face reprisals. Your life is in my hands now, Davis.”

He shifted nervously, and I watched with pleasure as his face ran the gamut of emotions from shock, to anger, to denial, and finally to fear.

“I’ll talk to you,” he finally mumbled. “If you agree to let me go after.”

I actually cackled with laughter at that.

“You must be joking,” I jeered. “You think I’ll just let you walk? Agent Hills must have done more damage than I thought.”

“What’s in it for me then?” He grumbled. “You can’t expect me to just talk for nothing.”

“How about this?” I began. “You tell me what I want to know, and I won’t tell everyone in whatever prison you eventually wind up in that you were involved in crimes against children. Do we have a deal, Davis?”

I waited anxiously. Truthfully, I didn’t have anything on him aside from the word of one of his employees. I was banking everything on a bluff, and if he decided to call me on it, we’d hit a complete dead end.

“Fine,” Davis scowled. I had to fight to keep the elation I felt off of my face. “What do you want to know?”

“For starters,” I began. “Where’s Amber?”

“Heck if I know,” Davis shrugged. “I just told one of my men to grab her to throw your partner off his game. I didn’t really give him any directions beyond that. For all I know, he killed her and dumped her body somewhere.”

I glared at him, careful to keep my expression neutral. Whether he was telling the truth or not, it was clear he was trying to get a reaction out of me with his callous attitude. Still, it was difficult not to become enraged over what he was saying.

“Alright,” I answered flatly. “And the identity of this man?”

“Elliot,” Davis responded immediately. “Elliot Thompson, or something like that.”

“You aren’t sure what his name is?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“It hardly matters,” Davis shrugged. “He does what I tell him and doesn’t ask questions. I don’t care about his personal details.”

“I see,” I responded. “What about your partner in the US?”

“What partner?” Davis scoffed.

“We know you’re working in tandem with an individual based out of the United States,” I answered. “We were able to trace the majority of the children we located back to this person.”

“Oh, her,” Davis replied. “She’s not my partner. Just a point of connection between interested buyers and me.”

“So you’re taking sole responsibility? How noble of you,” I remarked sarcastically. It was practically a confession, though, so I wasn’t about to complain. “How did she find out about us?”

“What do you mean?” Davis asked.

“We know she’s been tracking us,” I explained, quickly running out of patience. I was beginning to wonder if Davis was trying to mess with my head or if he really wasn’t aware of the American supplier’s actions. Perhaps he wasn’t as in charge as he thought. “She sent someone to attack some of our agents, and I’m assuming she’s the one who found out where Agent Hills’s niece was. Am I wrong?”

“No, it was probably her,” Davis responded. His use of the word “probably” wasn’t lost on me. So he really wasn’t aware of the supplier’s movements. “My men interact with her regularly. When I ordered him to go after the agent’s family, he probably went to her for the information.”

“Are you really the leader here, Davis?” I asked, partly to rattle him and partly because I honestly wasn’t sure anymore. Davis’s face contorted with outrage.

“Of course I am!” he roared, slamming his hand against the table. “I built his group. I’m the one to calls the shots. That woman is just another one of my workers. She answers to me!”

Somehow I doubted that, but I didn’t want to antagonize him so much that he’d stop speaking to me, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

“Tell me where your base is, Davis,” I changed the subject.

“In the capital city,” he responded sourly.