Hostage

Sozinho climbed out of bed and staggered to the bathroom. He peeled off the dressing and looked at the wound on his neck in the mirror. The incision was about half an inch long, closed and tied off with several blood-crusted stitches. The skin surrounding the site had been shaved, and it was stained orange from the solution used to clean it. Whatever anesthesia the man in the black leather jacket had used was starting to wear off, the pain becoming more and more intense as the minutes went by.

This was outrageous. There was no way Sozinho was going to let the man in the black leather jacket get away with this horrendous assault.

He grabbed the straight razor he’d used to shave with earlier and stomped back out toward the bed, intending to perform a little surgery of his own, but the man in the black leather jacket had already moved to the little round table by the window. He was sitting there picking his teeth with one hand and pointing his pistol at Sozinho with the other.

“I know you’re not going to shoot me,” Sozinho said.

“How do you know that?”

“There’s someone in the room next door. I heard the toilet flushing when I was in the bathroom. Your gun will make a loud noise, even with the sound suppressor on the barrel. I will shout out that I’ve been shot, and the person in the room next door will call the police.”

“I could drill one in your forehead from where I’m sitting,” the man in the black leather jacket said. “You wouldn’t have time to shout. Yes, the gun will make a noise, but anyone who hears it will probably think it came from the television. I doubt if anyone will call the police. But even if someone does, I will be long gone by the time they get here. I don’t want to shoot you, but I will if I have to.”

“Take this thing out of me, or I’m going to take it out myself.”

“That would be unwise. In slightly less than twenty-four hours, a signal will be sent from my cell phone to the device implanted in your neck. Your entire body will be electrified for a moment, and then a smaller charge will burn a hole in the artery that supplies blood to the right side of your brain. Death won’t be quite instantaneous. You’ll feel the warm oxygenated blood trickling internally as the darkness slowly engulfs your consciousness. Any attempt to remove the device will trigger the process automatically.”

“I have the contacts and the money to make you disappear very quickly,” Sozinho said. “All I have to do is make one phone call.”

“That would also be unwise. I’m the only person on the planet who knows the code to deactivate the circuit. If anything happens to me-or if you’re not successful with the assignment-you’ll be dead by this time tomorrow.”

“You expect me to coordinate a hit in less than twenty-four hours?”

“It’s not a hit. It’s a kidnapping.”

“I don’t do that,” Sozinho said.

“Now you do.”

Sozinho was angrier than he’d ever been in his life. He felt as though he’d gone spinning into some sort of elaborate nightmare that he couldn’t wake up from.

“Who am I supposed to abduct?” he said.

“A certain police officer. I’ll tell you all about it in a little while.”

“You want me to locate and kidnap a cop in less than twenty-four hours?”

“Don’t worry. The officer will come to you. You’ll be arrested, and then you’ll escape. I’m going to give you a key that fits ninety-five percent of the handcuffs manufactured worldwide.”

“Ninety-five percent? What if this particular cop has a pair of cuffs from the five per cent that the key won’t open?”

“Then you will die in a jail cell.”

“You’re kidding, right? You really think I’m going to-”

“A few hours ago, you thought your chances of living were zero. You should be pleased with the current odds.”

The man in the black leather jacket was right. Earlier that afternoon Sozinho had expected a bullet in the brain for failing to kill Jack Reacher. At least now he had an opportunity to make it out of this alive.

He sat on the edge of the mattress. “This is unnecessary,” he said, pointing to the surgical wound on his neck. “I’m a professional, and you’re treating me like-”

“Let’s just call it insurance. And maybe you’ll do a better job this time knowing that your life depends on it.”

Sozinho didn’t want to die, but he also didn’t want to provide his services for free. Not that he needed the money. It was a matter of principle.

Kidnapping wasn’t his thing, but he didn’t think it would pose much of a problem as long as he had the right tools. He would go ahead with the assignment. The man in the black leather jacket had left him no choice. He would do the job, but then he would get his payment one way or another.

Perhaps in cash.

Perhaps in blood.

“Tell me what you want me to do,” Sozinho said.

“Get your things together. You’ll be flying to Hope, Colorado in a private jet. I’ll tell you more about the job on the way to the airport.”

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