Termination Orders(59)

“And you know what I do to people who don’t cooperate.”

Morgan glowered at him.

“Good. I just wanted to make sure I set the right tone.” He paced, circling the table. “See, Cobra, there is something I would like your cooperation with. And it’s so much easier if I don’t need to establish the consequences of your being uncooperative.”

“Let my wife and daughter go. Once I hear them drive away, we can talk.”

The man laughed, a hacking, barking laugh. “No, no, that’s not how it works. You are going to die, Cobra. That is what I am getting paid for. But if you play ball, as they say, your family here might make it through tonight.”

Morgan knew he was most likely lying. There was nothing in it for him to leave living witnesses after he got what he wanted, and from what he had heard about this creature, he was a ruthless, vicious hit man. As long as it was up to him, Morgan was convinced, Jenny and Alex would never get out of this alive. But the way he looked at Alex also told Morgan something: the man was undisciplined. Let his desires get in the way of the mission. This made him especially dangerous and unpredictable, but it could also make him sloppy. Morgan had to play along and stay alive as long as possible, while he waited—and hoped—for Wagner to make a mistake.

“What do you want from me?” asked Morgan.

“That’s more like it,” he said with inordinate satisfaction. “I was told you need to be eliminated because you’ve become—how did they put it?—a grave liability. But that is not the whole story. You’ve got something with you, something that some people are quite desperate to get back.”

Morgan’s mind was working. Wagner was playing mercenary, trying to make an extra buck by working both sides. “Who the hell told you that?” asked Morgan, feigning ignorance.

“Who is not important,” he said. “You have a memory card hidden somewhere, and I want it. Where is it?”

“Do you know exactly what it is you’re looking for?” Morgan asked.

“Why?” said Wagner. “Do you want to tell me?” His eagerness belied his intentions. He wanted to use the pictures himself, for blackmail or leverage.

“The pictures show that a CIA operative and a major war contractor are working together to smuggle opium from Afghanistan,” Morgan said, slowly and deliberately. “Opium, I might add, that funds the militias that are killing our boys over there. It’s the sort of thing that’s going to make a lot of very powerful people very nervous, and you’re going to be in possession of those pictures. They will know you saw them, examined them. Are you sure you want that? Someone’s got the stones to be double-crossing the CIA here. What makes you so sure they’re going to let you live after this? That they won’t send someone after you like they sent you after me?”

Wagner scoffed. “I’m not an idiot like you, Cobra. I won’t be found. Unlike you, I don’t have anyone holding me back.” He looked at Jenny and Alex. “And unlike you, I don’t care. What I care about is that I get the money.”

“And how much are they paying you?” Morgan asked.

“More than you can match,” retorted Wagner, laughing his hideous, barking laugh. “No, Cobra, you cannot buy your way out of this.”

“Who was it?” asked Morgan. “Who sold out the CIA? Who’s paying you?”

“You know,” said Wagner, “I’m getting tired of all this goddamn talk.” He grabbed Alex by the hair, and she yelped as he pulled her to her feet. Unsheathing his knife, he brought it to rest against her throat. “Enough with the goddamn games, Cobra. I know you have the memory card with you, and you are going to get it for me.” He tugged at Alex’s hair, and she let out a small whimper. The knife, a long, wooden-handled bowie gleaming in the soft light, looked sharp enough to slice through bone. “Isn’t that right, sweetheart? Tell Daddy I won’t hurt you if he does as I say.”

Morgan ground his teeth, his fists balled so tightly, his nails dug into his flesh. He wanted nothing more than to rip out the bastard’s jugular.

“All right,” Morgan said, defeated. “You win. I’ve hidden them right here in the cabin.” He got up and walked backward, slowly, toward the corner, keeping his hands plainly visible. He crouched down and, with his right hand, lifted the loose floorboard.

“You had better not even be thinking about pulling out a gun on me, Cobra,” Wagner said. “You try anything, and your little girl here goes first.”

“Easy now,” said Morgan. “I’m just doing what you said.” Morgan removed the shopping bag from the hole, lifting up his hand to show that it wasn’t a gun.