Ollie shook his head. “Let’s see how much trouble the American is first. If we even pick up on his trail again. We need to think about ourselves and our future.”
Christoph realized how much he’d underestimated his partner.
CHAPTER 67
I CROSSED THE street in front of the little café. There was no real traffic. Not by New York standards, anyway. A tiny Fiat, a Mini Cooper, and some odd eastern European car whizzed by. They made me feel like a giant.
The building I was walking to was more of an office than a warehouse. It was modern and stood three stories high. The windows were on the small side, making me think it was an older building. No doubt it was solid.
Inside the tiny lobby, I checked the directory. The only business officially listed was a web designer on the top floor. The five other nameplates were blank.
A ground-floor door to the left of the directory was ajar. I looked through the opening but couldn’t see much, so I tentatively touched it and pushed it open. I was trying not to give away my element of surprise, all I had in this situation.
The wide room was about fifty feet long with high ceilings. A catwalk ran around the edges of the room with a few office doors spaced along it. The space looked like it’d been a small factory floor where a boss could walk around and watch the workers below.
The place was empty except for a few desks and tables. I didn’t see anyone around. I slipped all the way inside. When I had stepped about twenty paces from the door, I heard a voice.
“Hello, Mr. Bennett. I’ve been expecting you.” The speaker had a slight accent. It almost sounded Russian, with a hint of Scandinavian.
A man stepped onto the catwalk. It was the same man I’d seen from the café, still in his blue T-shirt and casual slacks. “I thought you’d have been here sooner.”
I said, “You must be Endrik Laar.”
“Please, call me Henry.”
I wasn’t sure what I had expected. The file description had just said white and male. Jennifer Chang had mentioned he was about thirty, on the short side, and a workout buff, but I guess I hadn’t thought of all the variables.
He was shorter than I’d imagined. Maybe five six. He was definitely ripped. The veins in his arms told me he was serious about weights. His whole look screamed steroids. Add in the agitated pacing and I could see why people were afraid of him. Maybe he really was as smart as I’d heard. A mix of smart and crazy was rarely good.
I kept my composure when two men stepped through the doorway near me. They kept walking until they were positioned on either side of me, about a dozen feet away. They didn’t know I had a gun, and I thought I’d save that surprise. Maybe it would teach Henry something as well.
Then a man stepped through a doorway across the room from me. It was the janitor from the last warehouse, Gunnar. That surprised me.
Henry smiled and said, “I didn’t want to take any chances. We thought it would be easier for you to come to us than for us to find you. Gunnar was kind enough to wait for you at our last location and tell you where to go. But then you didn’t show up here right away.”
The gray-haired “janitor” smiled and said, “And by the way, mate, my English is pretty good. I was raised in North Hampton.”
Son of a bitch, Henry had already made me feel stupid.
This was not the first impression I had wanted to make.
CHAPTER 68
STARING UP AT the master cybercriminal standing on the catwalk, my mind raced. Even with the surprises Henry was throwing at me, I tried not to show what I was thinking. It was time to get some answers. I decided to treat our conversation like any other interview: start with easy questions, then move on to the hard ones. Simple.
I said, “How’d you know I was in Estonia?”
Henry gave me a laugh that sounded fake. Practiced. “We break corporate security systems. Did you really think we couldn’t clone the mayor’s phone and hack his email? I’ve known everything you were going to do. I even know the nasty name the NYPD calls the mayor. And, by the way, so does he. Shame on you. LFP indeed.” He wagged his finger at me.
I no longer thought of the mayor as a little fat prick. Now I realized there were too many people fitting that description. Take out the fat and Henry was at the top of the list at the moment.
I said, “I’m impressed you could hack the mayor of New York’s phone without being detected. It’s really quite clever.” I chose my words carefully. To Henry, clever would be an insult.
Henry said, “It seems I can do whatever I want and the authorities will never catch me. It’s almost not fun anymore.” He flexed his arms when he moved. It must’ve impressed someone at some time.
I laughed aloud. And it wasn’t practiced. It was a sincere chuckle.
“And what’s so amusing?”
I made sure to look Henry in the eye. “If I had a dollar for every half-assed crook who said something like that, I could retire.”
“I can assure you, there is nothing half-assed about me.”
“If you have to tell people, that means you probably are half-assed. It’s sort of like when you have to tell people you’re in charge. That means you’re probably not.” That little comment would get under his skin, too.
Henry was silent for a moment. Finally he said, “I’ve read about the great homicide detective. The newspapers say you never give up.”
I didn’t know where this conversation was leading, but it wasn’t going anywhere good. I stole a quick look at the men on either side of me. They were both young and fit. They didn’t look like computer programmers. One of the men had a blue teardrop tattoo near his right eye. The other was tall and sleek. His shirt almost looked like a uniform with his broad shoulders and narrow waist. He was ready for action right now. I also knew if I went for one, the other would be able to strike me from behind. I didn’t think it was time to pull my pistol.
I looked up at Henry and said, “It’s true I’m not known for giving up. But I’ll make you a deal right now.” I noticed how our voices echoed in the wide, open room.
“I’m intrigued. Please, go ahead.”
“If you give me Natalie right now, I’ll leave and you’ll never hear from me again. I won’t say a word to any law enforcement entity. All I want is to bring the girl back to her parents.”
“And you leave Estonia?”
“Tonight. I already have a flight.”
Henry chuckled and clapped his hands together. I was starting to wonder if this asswipe believed he was some sort of super villain from a James Bond movie.
Henry said, “Ah, the great savior. I’m afraid you’re too late to save Natalie from a life of crime and return her to her loving parents.”
My heart sank. Had this asshole killed her? I stood there in stunned silence. I considered pulling my pistol right then.
It would’ve been a pleasure to show this arrogant prick how smart he really was.
CHAPTER 69
I STILL HADN’T said another word, but the way I’d turned my body must’ve alerted Henry’s hired thugs. Gunnar and the other two changed positions slightly and looked like they were ready to jump me.