“Yes, barely,” he replied, his eyes gleaming. “She’ll bleed out before morning, though.”
“What about him?” Theodore asked, nodding towards Mr. Daniels.
“Drugged heavily but still alive,” Tony said. “He needs to die last, or rather, he did, under the previous scenario. Now I’m not sure what to do.”
Theodore glanced at his watch. “We’re running out of time,” he said. “Someone could find the body in the hallway any minute now.”
Tony frowned. “I forgot that I left him out there. Go and drag him in.”
“He shouldn’t be moved. He could have a head injury,” Janet said anxiously.
Tony stared at her for a moment and then laughed. “He’s going to have a lot more than a head injury soon,” he said. “Go and get him,” he told Theodore.
Theodore nodded and then turned and left the room. Janet thought about trying to appeal to Tony’s good side while she had him on his own, but she wasn’t certain that he had a good side. Theodore was back less than a minute later.
“He’s not there,” he said worriedly.
“What do you mean he isn’t there?” Tony demanded.
“I mean he’s gone. There’s a huge pool of blood on the carpet in front of the elevator, but the elevator door is shut and there’s no sign of the man,” Theodore explained.
“Did you try pushing the button to open the elevator door?” Tony asked. “Maybe he managed to crawl inside the car and is just lying right inside the doors.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Theodore admitted.
“Go try,” Tony said firmly.
Theodore looked as if he wanted to object, but the look on Tony’s face seemed to put him off the idea. He turned around and headed for the door. A loud ringing noise stopped him.
“What was that?” Tony asked.
Janet frowned. “It may have been my phone,” she said.
“Let me have it,” Tony said.
Janet hesitated and then pulled her phone out of her pocket. It was still ringing.
Tony reached for it and then hesitated. “Answer it,” he told Janet. “Put it on speaker mode.”
Janet took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking as she pushed the buttons to answer the phone and switch on the speaker.
“Hello?”
“Janet? Where are you?” It was Mr. Jones and he sounded angry.
“I’m in Bobby’s suite,” she answered.
“Who else is there?” was the next question.
Janet looked at Tony.
“I’m here,” Tony said. “I don’t know who you are, but I’ll guess that you’re Janet’s husband. You won’t have any idea who I am, but my name is Tony Hart. Theodore Bradley and I will be walking out of the hotel in five minutes. You need to arrange for there to be a car waiting for us at the entrance.”
“I’ll see if I can get a taxi for you,” Mr. Jones replied.
“I don’t want a taxi. I want a black limousine,” Tony countered.
“That may take more than five minutes, but I’ll do my best,” was the reply.
“See that you do. I’d hate to have to hurt Janet,” Tony snapped.
“There’s no need for you to hurt anyone,” Mr. Jones told him. “I’ll arrange for a car for you as quickly as I can.”
Tony took the phone out of Janet’s hand and pushed the button to end the call.
“Time to leave,” he told Theodore.
“I hope you have a plan,” Theodore replied.
“Of course I have a plan. How much have you taken from Bobby’s accounts?”
“I don’t know the exact number, but six or seven.”
“That’s more than enough for us to live on for years and years,” Tony replied. “We’ll get the car to take us to the airport and then get a flight to the Maldives.”
“The Maldives?” Janet repeated.
“They don’t have an extradition treaty with the US,” Tony told her. “But that isn’t really where we’re going. I’m not dumb enough to tell you where we’re actually headed.”
Janet nodded. If he wasn’t revealing their real plans, maybe he was going to let her live.
“You should have demanded a plane,” Theodore said. “Once we get out of the car at the airport, they’ll just arrest us.”
“Not if we have hostages,” Tony replied. “Go and get Bobby. He’s coming with us.”
Theodore nodded and left the room. A few minutes later, he emerged, pulling Bobby along with him.
“What did you do to him?” Theodore asked Tony.
“He got a dose of the same drug that I gave the security guy. Bobby drank his in a glass of wine. I stuck the security guy with a syringe full of the stuff,” Tony replied.
“He’s like ninety per cent asleep,” Theodore said, nodding at Bobby, who was slowly swaying back and forth.
“That’s probably for the best. Just keep him on his feet,” Tony replied.
“What now?” Theodore asked.
“It’s time to go.”
“I need some things from my room.”
“No, you don’t.”
“But, Tony, I have pictures of Mom and her letters. I can’t leave them behind.”
“We’re leaving everything behind. We don’t have a choice. If you’d done your job and killed Bobby back in Texas, none of this would be happening.”
“You didn’t kill him either. At least I stole seven million dollars from him.”
“And I would have gotten a good deal more once I’d dragged Lucy down the aisle. Let’s not argue about that now. We have to go before anyone decides to call the police and they simply storm the room and let the hostages die.”
Janet swallowed hard. Mr. Jones wouldn’t do that, would he?
It was clear that Theodore wanted to argue, but after a moment he nodded. “Okay, whatever,” he muttered.
Tony looked at Janet. “We’re going for a walk,” he told her. “You just keep doing exactly what I say and you might just get out of this alive.”
Janet nodded. “I’ll do whatever you say,” she said flatly.
He grabbed her arm and pushed her towards the door. When they reached it, he stopped and slid his other hand into his pocket. After struggling for a moment, he pulled a gun out and waved it at her.
“Just in case you think I’m simply playing games,” he said. “It’s very real. It’s loaded. And I will shoot you and then myself if we get stopped.”
Blinking back tears, Janet forced herself to breathe slowly and deeply. Everything was going to be fine, she told herself. She’d be safer outside of the hotel room than she was at the moment, anyway.
“Come on,” Tony told Theodore. “And don’t forget your hostage.”
Theodore pulled Bobby towards the door. When the pair was right behind Janet, Tony opened the door and looked up and down the corridor.
“Let’s go,” he said, waving with the hand that still held the gun.
Janet tried not to look at the blood on the floor. There seemed to be far too much of it, more than Edward could have lost and survived. She forced herself to stare straight ahead at the lift doors. If Edward didn’t survive, she’d never forgive Mr. Jones. Focussing her anger on him, she counted backwards from ten to one and then waited. Tony and Theodore were incompetent at best. She knew she’d have a chance to get away. She just needed to wait for the right opportunity.
The lift doors opened and Tony pushed her inside. Theodore dragged Bobby in after them.
“How come you get the woman who can walk and I have to drag Dopey here?” Theodore asked as the lift slowly descended.
“Because I have the gun,” Tony replied, waving the thing yet again.
“You should probably put it away,” Janet suggested. “I know you have it, but you may not want everyone else to know.”
Tony frowned. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
“I was just making a suggestion. France has quite strict gun control laws,” she replied.
“I’m not wor
ried about breaking a few laws,” he told her.
As the lift doors opened on the ground floor, Tony muttered a curse word and then slipped the gun back into his pocket. That gave him two hands to push Janet in front of him, using her as a shield as they left the building. Theodore did the same with Bobby.
As they walked outside, Janet looked around. There were a handful of people standing behind a police barricade. Mr. Jones and two other men in black suits were in front of it. A black limousine was parked at the kerb, with a uniformed chauffeur holding open the back door.
“Into the car,” Tony told Janet.
She took a step forwards and then smiled as she recognized the chauffeur. Christopher looked concerned as Tony gave her another shove. Janet winked at him.
Chapter 15
As Tony gave Janet another shove, she suddenly fell forwards. Balancing on one foot, she used her other foot to kick one of Tony’s knees as hard as she could, wincing at the sound that the contact made.
Tony’s high-pitched scream cut through the air as he fell to the ground, one hand in his pocket, trying to fish out the gun. Janet rolled away from him as quickly as she could and found herself completely surrounded by men and women in black suits within seconds. When the gun went off, she had no idea who, if anyone, had been shot.
It took her a moment to struggle to her feet. The people surrounding her gave her a small gap to peer through. Tony was lying on the ground and Janet could see blood pouring out of a hole in his trouser leg.
“He shot himself in the leg,” one of the men next to her told her.
Mr. Jones walked over to Tony. “He’s lost consciousness,” he said. “He needs an ambulance.”
“Tony? Wake up,” Theodore shouted. “He’ll be okay, won’t he?” he asked.
Mr. Jones was busy retrieving the gun that was still in Tony’s pocket. With that in hand, he turned to Theodore.
“You may want to release your hostage,” he said tightly.
Theodore looked surprised and then shook his head. “I need to go,” he said. “Bobby is my ticket out of here.” He pushed Bobby towards the limousine and then looked over at Tony.
“You can’t leave Tony behind,” Janet said softly.
“I don’t have a choice,” Theodore said.
Janet could see tears streaming down the man’s face.
“This was all his doing, wasn’t it?” she asked. “He wanted to kill Bobby. You were content with simply stealing some of his money.”
“He thought we could get it all,” Theodore told her. “Once Bobby was out of the way, he was going to marry Lucy, and then he was going to get rid of her, too. We’d have been rich beyond our wildest dreams.”
“And now he’s going to prison,” Mr. Jones said. “If you’re willing to testify against him, you may get a lighter sentence.”
“I can’t testify against my own brother,” Theodore replied. “I’m getting into that car and I’m disappearing.”
He shoved Bobby forwards again. Bobby took a step and then stopped. He blinked several times and then seemed to become more alert.
“I don’t feel so good,” he said before he suddenly fell over backwards.
One of the women near Janet managed to break his fall before Bobby’s head hit the ground. Theodore dived head first into the waiting car.
“Go, go, go,” he shouted at Christopher.
Christopher pushed the door shut and then looked at Janet. “Is he armed?” he asked her.
“I don’t think so, but I don’t know for certain,” she replied.
“You know where to take him,” Mr. Jones said.
Christopher nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said smartly. He glanced at Mr. Jones and then crossed to Janet.
“Edward is in hospital. He has a concussion but is expected to make a full recovery,” he told her before he pulled her into a tight hug. “You were amazing,” he added as he released her.
Janet stood and watched as Christopher drove away with Theodore. When would Theodore realise that he wasn’t going to the airport, she wondered. A few minutes later, Tony was loaded into an ambulance and driven away.
“What about the nurse and Mr. Daniels?” Janet asked.
“As soon as you left the room, we sent in an ambulance crew,” Mr. Jones told her. “They were taken out through the back of the hotel and are already on their way to hospital.”
Janet exhaled and felt several hours’ worth of tension slowly leave her body. “I need to see Edward,” she said.
“We need to debrief you,” Mr. Jones countered.
“After I’ve seen Edward,” she replied. Decades of teaching primary school had given her a stern, taking-no-nonsense face. Mr. Jones looked as if he wanted to argue, but, after a moment, he nodded.
“Jacobs, take Mrs. Bennett to her husband,” he said, before spinning on his heel and heading into the hotel.
An hour later, Janet had learned all about Howard Jacobs and how he’d come to work for the agency. She’d also learned that injured agents didn’t get taken to regular hospitals. Instead, she’d been driven into the French countryside and taken to what looked to be a large stately home.
A nurse in a white uniform greeted her as Howard escorted her into the building.
“Ah, Mrs. Bennett, your husband has been asking for you. He seemed to think that you were in great danger,” the nurse said.
“She was,” Howard told her. “But she’s a lot tougher than she looks.”
Janet flushed. “I just did what I thought I had to do in order to survive.”
The nurse raised an eyebrow. “I want to hear the whole story. You may not want to share it with Mr. Bennett, though.”
“He’ll see the video one day,” Howard replied.
“There’s a video?” Janet asked.
“Let me show you to Mr. Bennett’s room,” the nurse said. “Follow me.”
She led Janet down a short corridor to a small lift. Edward’s room was on the third floor.
“Mr. Daniels is in this room,” the nurse said as they walked down the hall. “He’s probably going to sleep for twenty-four hours, but he should be fine after that.”
“What about Edward?” Janet asked.
“He has a mild concussion and he lost some blood. Head injuries can bleed a great deal. The doctor will be back to check on him tomorrow and, if nothing has changed, Edward will be released, as long as he has someone to look after him.”
“That would be me,” Janet told her.
The nurse nodded. “It’s unusual for agents to get released so quickly, but it’s unusual for agents to have partners, as well.”
“What a shame,” Janet murmured as the nurse opened the next door.
Edward was lying on the bed, his head wrapped in bandages. He was hooked up to a machine that was beeping quietly. As Janet approached, the beeping got faster.
“Hi,” she said, suddenly feeling quite shy.
“Hi,” he replied, holding out a hand.
When Janet took it, he pulled her towards him. The kiss went a long way towards helping her forget every horrible thing that had happened that night.
“What’s this I hear about you breaking Tony Hart’s kneecap?” he asked when the kiss ended.
She sat down on the side of the bed and patted his arm. “You were the one who insisted on teaching me basic self-defense,” she reminded him. “I just put it to use.”
“I knew it would come in handy one day. I must admit, I didn’t think you’d need it on our honeymoon.”
“But how are you?” Janet asked. “The nurse said you might be released as early as tomorrow.”
“The doctor told me that I have a very hard head,” he replied. “As long as I’m still reasonably coherent tomorrow, they’ll let me go, assuming you’re willing to look after me.”
“I think I could be persuaded to do that.”
He chuckled. “We may have to tour Paris a little bit more slowly than I’d originally planned, but I promise we’ll still have a wonderfu
l time.”
“And then Venice?”
“Yes, of course, and then Venice. I’ve already told Mr. Jones that I’m truly retired now, no matter what.”
Janet tipped her head and studied the man she loved for a moment. “I doubt he believed that. I don’t.”
Edward frowned. “I mean it.”
“We can talk about it later, when you’re feeling better. But what happened after you went up to Bobby’s floor?”
“I decided to pretend that I’d come to relieve Mr. Daniels. When the lift doors opened, Tony was standing there. I’m not certain why. I told him that I’d come to replace Mr. Daniels and he just nodded and walked past me, into the lift. As I took a step into the corridor, he hit me over the head with something. I pretended to be unconscious as he left me there and went back into Bobby’s suite. Then I actually did lose consciousness.”
“Did you know that I found you?”
He nodded slowly. “Your voice woke me. As soon as I heard the door to Bobby’s suite shut behind you and Theodore, I dragged myself into the lift and pushed the button for the lobby. By the time I arrived there, it was swarming with police. Apparently you rang someone?”
“I rang the inspector with whom I’d spoken when you first disappeared. I didn’t know anyone else to ring. I don’t have a number for Mr. Jones.”
“You will from now on. I was going to ring for backup before I went into Bobby’s room, but Tony caught me by surprise.”
“It’s a good thing I followed you, then.”
He sighed and then squeezed her hand. “I’m afraid I need to sleep now. It’s been a long night and they’ll be waking me every hour until morning.”
Janet glanced at her watch. “It’s nearly morning already.”
“You need sleep, too. Talk to Beverly. She’s the nurse who brought you here. She’ll have somewhere you can sleep for a few hours.”
When Janet woke up several hours later, it took her a moment to realise where she was. The room she’d been given was large and comfortable and, for a moment, she was tempted to simply stay there until someone came looking for her. While she was still trying to decide what to do, her mobile rang.
“Janet? What’s going on? I thought you were going to ring me back. The last time we spoke, Edward was missing,” Joan said, sounding angry.
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