Page 144 of Code 6

“You made her drink?”

“I didn’t make her. I gave her a choice. She could drink up and jump. Or the two of us could sit there and wait for you to show up. And then I’d toss you both over the railing. She made the right choice. I even let her leave a note.”

Kate nearly gasped at the realization.

I did it for Kate.

“What do you want from me?”

“The code on Peel’s flash drive turned out to be shit. So you’re going to text Patrick and tell him to come over.”

“He won’t give you the code you want.”

“He risked his life to save a whore. Imagine what he’ll do to save you. Where’s your phone?”

“In my purse.”

“I want you to remove it, nice and slow. And then you’re going to text exactly what I say. Got it?”

Kate swallowed her fear. “Got it.”

Chapter 68

Patrick stared at his image in the bathroom mirror.

Even in periods of raging hormones, he had about as much facial hair as a teenager, but he hadn’t shaved since setting foot in Colombia. The last time he’d needed a shave this badly he was a teenager with a caterpillar on his upper lip. He borrowed Enrique’s razor and hoped he wouldn’t mind.

Kate’s room was directly on the other side of the bathroom wall. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the hotel was far from soundproof. He couldn’t make out what was being said, but he definitely heard voices—male and female, not just Kate’s. If she was talking to her father on speakerphone, it was none of his business. But to be curious was human, and Patrick’s time in captivity had made him an expert at overhearing conversations in the next room. He leaned closer to the wall and listened. The man was talking, and the voice chilled Patrick so deeply that he nicked his chin with the blade. It sounded strangely like Liu.

No way.

Patrick wondered if this was the first sign of PTSD and of many sleepless nights to come—hearing the voice of his captor when it couldn’t possibly be him.

As he dabbed away the blood, his burn phone chimed with a text message, which was odd, since the only person who had his prepaid number was Kate. He checked the display:

Need to talk now. No phones. Come to the hotel. IMPORTANT.

Another chill came over him, but it was no harbinger of PTSD or other psychological trauma from the kidnapping. This time, the fearswere grounded in real and present danger. Kate was in the next room. Why would she text him? Why would she tell him to come to the hotel? Why wouldn’t she just knock on the door that connected their rooms?

Why did that man’s voice on the other side of the wall sound like Liu?

Patrick hurried from the bathroom, went to the door that connected his room to Kate’s, and stopped. The lock on his side of the door was bolted. He assumed there was also a bolt lock on the other side, allowing either occupant of the adjoining rooms to keep the other out. Patrick stared at the doorknob and wondered:

Did Kate have the bolt on?

As things stood, Liu was expecting Patrick to come to the hotel and knock on Kate’s door. The side door offered the element of surprise, but all advantage would be lost if his entry weren’t sudden and overwhelming. There could be no fiddling with locks to tip off Liu.

Quietly, Patrick stepped to the opposite side of the room and braced his foot against the baseboard. His last attempt at busting down a door had not gone well, but this was not a steel-encased warehouse door with a kickass padlock. Even so, he grabbed a pillow from the bed for the benefit of his shoulder.

The risk was high, and the probability of success was low, but the options were few. He was certain Liu was in the next room. He’d stood and watched as Liu threw Olga off the building. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Liu might have something even worse in store for Kate, as witnessed by his fascination with burning flesh and his homemade napalm concoction. Kate had put everything at risk to come to Colombia and help him. He had to act, and quickly.

On the mental count of three, he pushed away from the wall and charged at the door with all the force he could muster.

Chapter 69

The side door flew open. Splinters of wood from the shattered doorframe sailed into Kate’s room. It sounded like an explosion, and almost simultaneously, Kate felt Patrick’s body slamming into her side. The impact took her down and Liu with her.

A gunshot rang out, shattering the full-length mirror on the wall. Kate wasn’t hit, and she managed to extricate herself from the tangle of flailing arms and legs rolling across the carpet. The two men were suddenly on their feet, and in a sudden burst of motion, Patrick slammed into the flat-screen television and Liu pointed his pistol. Maybe the gun had jammed, or maybe Kate had actually reacted that quickly, but before Liu’s trigger finger could squeeze off a shot, Kate kicked the pistol from his hand and sent it flying out of the open sliding glass door onto the balcony.