Corey booted the gun. It skated across the floor and clanged against the edge of the desk. Keeping his eyes on Corey, Todd picked up the revolver and shoved it in his jacket pocket.
Corey swallowed thickly. He should have been shocked by Todd’s betrayal, and he supposed that on some level he was, but the past twenty-four hours had been so crazy that nothing seemed impossible anymore.
More than anything, he was angry. Angry at Todd for stringing him along. Angrier at himself for failing to scope out the signs sooner.
“So how long have you and Leon been working together?” Corey asked.
Todd pointed the muzzle at the chair. “Sit down. Keep your hands up where I can see them.”
Corey edged into the seat and placed his hands on the armrests, his sweaty palms dampening the fabric. As nonchalantly as possible, he scanned the desk and walls for possible weapons, something he could use as a distraction, and found nothing. To get out of this, he was going to need a miracle.
Please, God, cut me a break, he prayed. Please.
“Christ, you’re so stupid,” Todd said. He plopped into the executive chair, still clasping the Walther, muzzle angled toward the wall. “I gave you a chance to sell out and bring your family home, and you snubbed me. I ought to waste you right now for all of the headaches you’ve caused me.”
Corey struggled to pull his gaze away from the gun. “I can’t see you and Leon as partners.”
“Tell me about it! Jesus Christ!” Todd pinched the bridge of his nose. “What a lunatic. I thought we could work this out together, you know? When he showed up at the office and told me he was there to see you, I knew you’d done some heavy dirt in your time, if you’d used to be buds with a thug like him.”
“Leon came by the office? When?”
“Three weeks ago. I bumped into him in the lobby while you were out to lunch. He’d seen us on the Hot 100 list in Entrepreneur magazine.”
The dots finally connected in Corey’s mind. Leon read about him in the mag, decided to come to Atlanta and use the threat of going to the police about their past to shake him down for money. But Leon happened upon Todd first, who saw Leon, smelled dirt, and hatched a scheme.
It explained how Leon had “run in to him” at the gas station yesterday; he had simply followed Corey from home. It explained how Leon had encountered Simone at lunch; he would have found out from Todd where she worked and tailed her to the restaurant.
It explained, too, how Leon had skirted their home alarm system and gotten inside to abduct Simone and Jada. As co-owner of Gates-Webb, Todd had the highest security clearance, and could have dipped into the company’s customer database and supplied Corey’s pass code to Leon. And since Corey kept a key to his house in a desk drawer at work, Todd could have merely made a copy of the key and given it to him. Leon wouldn’t have needed any high-tech gadgets, no lock-release guns. Invading their home would have been as easy as unlocking the door and deactivating the alarm.
Coldness swept through Corey. They had been so vulnerable. . he knew it wasn’t really his fault, but he couldn’t help blaming himself for not taking more precautions.
“For someone who’s stayed two steps ahead of the FBI for three years, Leon’s got no brains at all,” Todd said. “He was supposed to run an extortion job on you and keep upping the ante, kidnapping your wife and kid was the last resort. But he moved way too fast-and that crap he pulled at that sports bar with you, throwing the beer mug and tipping off the Feds. . I’d had it with him there. I tried to cut him loose.”
“By paying him fifty thousand dollars,” Corey said.
“He would have split town for fifty grand,” Todd said. “That’s what he said, anyway. But that didn’t work out, either, thanks to the Feds, so here we are. When you want something done right, I guess you’ve gotta fuckin’ do it yourself. “
“You’re unbelievable.” Corey shook his head. “You teamed up with a career criminal, and risked everything, all because you wanted me to sell my share of the company?”
Todd’s lips tightened. “When I tried to talk you into selling out the first time, you were too goddamn stubborn. You brought this on yourself.”
“But the risk you took-”
“I breathe risk, partner,” Todd said, a savage glint in his eyes that reminded Corey, chillingly, of Leon. “Leon’s nothing to me, a burn card. The risk of using him was worth it. With you out of the picture, I can get five million for selling off GWS.”
Corey stared at him. “Five million?”
Todd grinned. “I’ve been in talks with interested parties. Do you know the games I can get into with five rocks backing me? Do you have any clue of the crowd I can play with, the pots I could buy in on? I’m talking major league, more money than you’ll ever see in ten lifetimes sitting on the table, one glorious, mega-pot waiting to be won.”
Corey blinked. “Wait a minute. You’re talking about gambling with the money you’d get from selling the company? Playing cards?”
“Of course.” Todd glowered at him. “What the hell else would I be talking about?”
Corey’s shock took his breath away. His wife and daughter had been kidnapped, severely traumatized and possibly abused by that maniac Leon and his pedophile partner, all so Todd could force him out of the business, sell it, and blow the wad on card games? Fucking card games?
The florescents flickered again, the darkness lasting for a couple of heartbeats, and then brightness returned. Todd glanced worriedly from the lights, to Corey.
“You’re sick,” Corey said. “You’re as nuts as Leon.”
“Spare me the analysis. You’re going to sign these papers.” Todd shoved the documents across the desk. “You’re going to sign them, the company will cut you a check tomorrow or Friday, and Leon will give your family back and go away, after you pay him a fair portion.”
“A fair portion? Not a million?”
“I told him to say he wanted a million to force you to come up with this bright idea of selling out all on your own. I thought it would lead you down that road, but I guess I don’t know you as well as I thought I did.”
Corey smiled sourly. “Ditto.”
“Give Leon a hundred grand or so, and he’ll hit the road and be out of your hair forever. He’s itching to go ’cause the Feds know he’s in town.”
“They aren’t going to leave me alone, either. They’re suspicious.”
“Hey, that’s your problem. But if you’re thinking of cooperating with them and turning me in, well, your old partner in crime told me all about a certain unsolved case that went down in Motown. All it would take is an anonymous tip, know what I mean?”
Corey bit his lip. Once again, he was hemmed in by his past.
“Sign them,” Todd said. He slapped an ink pen onto the desk.
Corey stared at the pen. “Tell me where my family is being kept.”
“Leon will cover all that with you after you settle up with him. They’re fine, trust me.”
“Trust you?”
“You don’t have a choice.” Todd fixed the Walther on him. “I’m holding the royal flush. Sign the docs.”
“No.” Corey locked gazes with him. “You tell me where they’re being held, or I’m not signing anything.”
“Oh, you think I’m bluffing?” Todd’s eyes crinkled with amusement. “I think you’re the one bluffing, Corey. You always sucked at poker, you know.” Todd pointed the pistol at Corey’s head. “Stop screwing around and sign the goddamn papers so we can get out of here.”
Corey glanced at the documents, mouth dry as sawdust. Todd had him, and they both knew it. It was as simple as that. He had no choice any more.
But he couldn’t make himself reach for the pen. It was as if his wrists were strapped to the armrests.
Can’t do it, he thought. I can’t give in, can’t let them win. .
The lights sputtered off again-and remained off, blackness falling like a tarp over the room.