Page 75 of Blood Money

A red light glowed as the detector turned on. Abdullah extended a six-inch antenna from the top of the unit and passed it over Alex from head to toe, around her back, then up the front of her torso. She held her breath as he ran the detector over her breasts. Nothing. No beeps, no flashing lights. Slowly, Alex exhaled.

“Are you the woman who called me?” Alex knew she was but needed to hear it. “Answer me, damn you! Are you?”

“You are in no position to make demands.” Fatima rounded the table and stood before her. Without warning the woman backhanded her across the same cheek she’d slapped before.

Sharp pain radiated throughout her head. Alex clenched her jaw, determined not to let it show. The unfamiliar urge to kill surged inside her until it was all she could think about.

I will kill you before you ever touch Nicky.

Abdullah said nothing. He stood there, his lip curling with the sick enjoyment a violent person took from seeing another human being hurt.

“You see, Abdullah? This is the way to treat American women. With brute force. They have it all, and still they want more. Batting their eyelashes, wiggling their asses to get what they want. You disgust me.” Fatima spat at Alex, but she saw it coming and turned her head before the woman’s saliva made contact. “Abdullah, make yourself useful and turn up the heat.”

Abdullah turned to do as ordered, but not before sneering at Fatima over his shoulder, reaffirming Alex’s belief that he respected the woman as much as a cockroach. He turned a knob on the heater, making the flames roar and echo inside the barn. A blast of invisible heat struck Alex in the face, the side that hadn’t gotten smacked. Yet. She watched Abdullah haul over another gas tank to refill the heater.

“Pay attention!” The woman grabbed Alex’s chin, jerking her face around.

“For God’s sake.” Alex wrenched free. “Tell me what you want!”

“Information.”

“I got what you asked for.” Alex tipped her head to the envelope resting on the table.

“Please.” The woman smirked, then grabbed the unopened envelope and shoved it through the heater’s open grill. The envelope glowed, then crackled as it caught fire and turned to ashes. “Whatever is in that envelope is as useful as pig shit.”

“I fulfilled my part. I got what you asked for,” Alex shouted. “Now leave me and my son alone!”

“Ah, yes. Your son.” When the bitch smiled it was pure evil, giving Alex a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Don’t you mean, yours and Jan Mohammad’s son?”

Alex’s heart felt like it stopped beating.

This can’t be happening.

She hadn’t heard that name in a very long time. Seven years to be exact. Since the day she’d fled California. Her worst fears were being realized, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Fatima leaned forward until she was inches from Alex’s face. “I wonder what Jan would do if he knew the location of his child.”

Alex gritted her teeth, breathing heavily. “Don’t you dare.”

Fatima sneered. “I will if you don’t cooperate.”

“How many times do I have to say it?” It was all Alex could do not to launch out of the chair and ram her head into the woman’s stomach. “I’ve done nothing but cooperate. What the hell do you want from me?”

“The documents you brought are bullshit. Even if you are not working with the police, there is no way you would have access to anything useful. No, Aileen Alexanderson.” Fatima came behind the chair, resting her hands on Alex’s shoulders. “What I want from you is something far more valuable.”

Fatima moved her face closer to Alex’s, until she felt the woman’s warm breath on her cheek. “I want you to walk me through every entrance and exit to NYPD headquarters—One Police Plaza. I want to know every security checkpoint. All the screening procedures. Armed officers, how many and where they are posted. Shift changes. And don’t leave anything out.”

Alex widened her eyes, staring at Fatima when she moved from behind the chair and leaned against the table in front of her.

They want to infiltrate One PP and kill everyone inside?

Alex leaned forward in the chair. “You’re insane.” And a bitch. “I’ll never give you that information.”

The woman yawned. “Then I’m quite sure Jan would love to know where his son is.”

No, Alex’s mind screamed. If Jan found out where Nicky was, he would take him away.

“I see the fear and hatred burning in your eyes.” The woman smiled. “You want to kill me. You should know that if you don’t give me what I want, or if I die at the hands of the police, notification will be made to Jan, providing him with your son’s location. Jan will take the boy out of the country, and you’ll never see him again.”