here, buddy,” Natalie began furiously.
The informant opened his coat.
What they saw made them both freeze.
The man had been wired with explosives.
“That’s right.” He smirked, but there was no amusement in his face, only tired resignation. “So I suggest you do as I say.”
If he triggered the bomb, he’d blow up not only himself and them, but everyone inside the coffee shop.
Of course, they couldn’t allow this to happen.
“What do you want?” Sean asked.
The man looked at Natalie. “The code. Hand it over.”
Maintaining eye contact, she looked puzzled. “What code?”
“Don’t play stupid. We know you have it.”
Just like that, she abandoned the pretense. “There are only three or four people who know about that. How’d you find out?”
“Looks like you told a snitch,” he sneered. “Someone like me. Maybe you’d better take another look at your friends. Hand it over.”
She spread her hands. “I don’t have it with me.”
The man actually snarled. “Then take me to wherever you’ve hidden it.”
Sean knew that Natalie did have the flash drive in her backpack. And there was no way in hell he was letting her go off alone with this walking bomb.
“Give it to him,” he told her, earning a sharp look of disgust.
The man looked from one to the other, finally settling his gaze on Natalie. “Better do as your man says. Unless you want me to blow this place sky-high.”
Natalie didn’t move. “Go ahead.”
The man blinked. “What?”
“I said, go ahead. Detonate your bomb. I don’t care. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t just shoot me and be done with it.”
Good question. Sean crossed his arms, waiting. He knew there was no way she’d let this man take out so many innocent civilians. For now, he’d follow along with her plan, whatever it might be.
Goggling at her, the informant shook his head. “Are you crazy or what?”
“No, I’m not crazy. But I’m not giving you the info. So, either detonate your explosives, or not. I don’t care either way.”
The lie in her voice was plain to Sean, but the stranger didn’t know her. Beginning to sweat, he looked at Sean.
“Talk some sense into her, man. You don’t want all these people to die.”
That remark told Sean that Natalie’s plan would work. The informant didn’t want to be blown to bits either.
“I’m guessing you don’t want to die either,” he said. “Come on, Natalie. Let’s get out of here.”
Together, they walked toward the exit. At the door, Natalie turned and faced the still-stunned man. “Tell whoever sent you that I won’t be bullied.”
The stranger followed them outside to the back alley, muttering under his breath. “Come on, man, they’re going to kill me.”
Sean shrugged. “Better than killing yourself. Go crawl back into whatever hole you came from.”
“Wait.” Natalie stepped forward. “Are those even real explosives?”
The man shrugged. “I don’t know. They gave me six hundred pounds to put this thing on. Promised me another grand if I brought them the info.”
“Where?” Sean demanded. “When and where were you supposed to meet them?”
Sweat rolling down his face, the man blurted out an address.
“I know the area,” Natalie said. “Bad part of town.”
“Of course.”
“I don’t get it,” Natalie continued. “They only ask for the coded message. What good will it do them?”
“Maybe the Hungarian has his own code specialists.”
Her eyes went wide. “Of course,” she breathed. “That’s why he doesn’t need me. He must have already broken the code.”
Chapter 11
Stone-faced, the informant said nothing.
“Tell them this. I know they need whatever part of the message I’ve got. I haven’t cracked the code yet, but I will. And when I do, I’m going after whatever it reveals. If they want it, they’ve got to negotiate a hell of a lot better.”
The man nodded and took off running.
Once back in the car, Natalie began to shiver. She didn’t know why—she hadn’t been that cold. But the steady rain had soaked through her coat, granting the chill easy access to her skin.
“I’ll crank up the heater as soon as the motor warms,” Sean promised. “When we get back to the inn, you need to jump into the shower.”
“And make it hot.” She shivered again. “As hot as I can stand it.”
His gaze darkened, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he turned his attention back to the road.
Once back in their room, she took the first shower, careful to lock the door behind her. Only when she was dressed did she open the door.
“Your turn,” she told him, toweling her hair. “All that warmth feels wonderful.”
He nodded. When he entered the lavatory, he left the door ajar. As soon as she heard the shower start up, she gently tugged it closed. She hated that she had to force herself not to glance inside, knowing that the sight of Sean’s naked, water-slicked body would be more than she could resist.
While Sean was in the shower, she called Auggie. He answered on the first ring, sounding unsurprised to hear from her. “I just got off the phone with Corbett,” he told her.
“He arranged a meeting for Sean and I with an informant who turned out be working for the other side,” she said to him, relaying the man’s supposed bomb and his demand for the code. “I don’t understand it, Aug. If they were going to go that far, why didn’t they just take me hostage?”
“Or take you out, entirely.”
“Exactly. All they would have needed was one man with a high-powered rifle.”
“Have you told Corbett?”
“Not yet. Sean will probably call him when he gets out of the
