“Shut your mouth, you little whore!” He waves the detonator darkly. “I promise, nothing will give me more pleasure than the moment I get to snuff out your life.”
“I’m your only bargaining chip to get out of here, now that they’ve arrived.” I jerk my chin toward the window.
I think his head might pop off, he’s so furious. “We need that fucking paperweight! Do you understand me? Nowfind itso we can get the fuck out of here before more arrive.”
Unhurriedly, I walk over to the bookcase, reach inside, and pluck an item off the bottom shelf. I turn and extend it toward Lefty.
“Here,” I tell him sweetly. “This is the only paperweight I own.”
If I’m going to die, might as well do it with flair.
A dangerous glint creeps into his eyes as he stares at the gold and glass orb I got in a Yankee Swap two Christmases ago from one of the other yoga instructors at Aimee’s studio. While it’s very pretty… we had a $20 limit.
Slight difference from the $20 million Fabergé Egg he’s looking for.
I see the moment my duplicity clicks inside his head. Taking me by the shoulders, he shakes me so hard my teeth clack together. So hard, I’m worried he’s going to trigger the bomb around my chest and blow us both to hell.
“You played us! You fucking played us!”
Righty appears, looming beside his brother.Double trouble.“What are you talking about Vik?”
“She lied! The fucking Egg isn’t here!”
“Egg?” I ask innocently. “What egg?”
He shoves me aside with a growl and paces toward the window. His face gets even redder when he steals a glance outside and takes in the sheer number of agents on my street. In the distance, four shots ring out in quick succession.
“FUCK!” Lefty bellows. “They just shot the van’s tires.”
“Vik, relax. SWAT won’t come in here without the bomb squad. They learned that lesson the hard way last week,” Righty says, smirking as he grabs his gun off the table.
It’s a huge semi-automatic rifle with a long scope and a curved magazine clip. My mouth goes dry at the sight, envisioning the kind of damage a weapon like that could do to a person.
“Vlad, they’ve got snipers taking up positions on fucking roof across the street!”
“Then I suggest you get away from the window, Vik.” He exhales. “Look, if we stick to the plan, we’ll be fine. That’s why we haveher, isn’t it?” His chin jerks at me. “She’s our ticket out of here. They can’t kill us so long as we have a hostage.”
“Yes, but Alexeiwillkill us if we go back without the Egg. And now we don’t even know where it is, thanks to thissuka’slies.”
“We’ll get back to Moscow and explain—”
I laugh. I can’t help it.
Both brothers look at me darkly. “What the fuck are you laughing about?”
“Sorry to interrupt.” I snort, shaking my head. “I just can’t believe you two idiots still haven’t figured out what’s going on here. I mean, there’sslow, and then there’s the two of you.”
They stare at me.
I sigh. “You’re never getting back to Moscow.”
“What?” Lefty hisses.
“Alexei needed you to create a distraction, something to draw the FBI’s attention. Right?” I shrug. “Thisis the distraction.Youare the distraction. Not me and my little bomb vest.This entire thing.”
They stare at me, clearly not understanding.
Poor Vik and Vlad. They may be talented bomb makers, but they’re not particularly bright.