Chapter 27 - 31
"Tell me everything."
I persist in my silence.
"You know why I made sure this meet was completely clandestine?" Agitation flaring in his tone. "It wasn’t for your guards. I’m being followed. I wasn’t sure at first, but then I saw them. Whilst I was hunting for them; I became their prey."
My head lifts.
"I learned the trick of the trade about disappearing. When I was still on the job, I had a network of informants and I knew of undercover operatives embedded into powerful criminal organizations and syndicates as moles. I never understood their theatrics when it was time for them to report back to me. And they took all of these crazy precautions to make sure they weren’t being followed. I was their handler then, it was how it worked. Until it didn’t. They’re all dead now. Let’s just say their paranoia was very warranted."
My pulse hitches. I rip my hands out of my hair. "They know then."
His eyes swell. "Know what?"
"They wanted to know who I was in contact with... the man behind the burner phone. I didn’t tell them anything but clearly they figured it out." I shift closer to him, putting my hand on the bolster of the seat. "If that’s true, you’re already compromised. You got to drop this."
"Never." He tears his gaze away, locking his eyes on the road. "I’m getting close. I tried to go after Botan, but he’s too elusive. You should know that I saw security footage of your kidnapping... though I’m not sure what that was to tell you the truth."
"... What?"
"I was in the line of duty for twenty years. I’ve dealt with countless kidnapping cases...I know how different victims react, whether violent or timid. One emotion is prevalent in every one of them and that’s fear. And I didn’t see an ounce of it when Botan took you."
A foreign feeling strains the cords in my chest. I wait a moment to respond.