Spider - Michael Morley [118]
As she shuts the door, Jack thinks how he might have to use Howie’s car to block the road if it turns out BRK is in the house, gets spooked and suddenly makes a run for it. While he’s working out this endgame scenario, his cell phone rings again.
Nancy’s cell number flashes on the display.
Jack’s in trouble and he knows it. She’s going to go crazy if it turns out that it’s her calls he’s been ignoring.
‘Hello,’ he says, frowning as he braces himself for the eruption.
‘Hello, Jack,’ says a male voice, drawing out the words slowly.
‘Who is this?’ He checks the caller display again.
Spider lets out a short laugh. ‘Oh, I think you know who it is, don’t you?’
A bomb of white-hot pain detonates in Jack’s head. He struggles to think the unthinkable.
‘Your wife’s here with me. Would you like to talk to her?’ Spider rips the sticky tape from Nancy’s mouth, and she gasps loudly for breath. ‘Jack!’ she says weakly. ‘Jack, he’s got Zack and…’
Spider puts his hand across her lips. ‘I’m sorry, Mr King, but your wife’s not at her best at the moment. I’ve shot her full of drugs, so she finds it a little difficult to talk.’ He traps the phone between his ear and shoulder, and replaces the tape around Nancy’s mouth. ‘You know, Jack, you really should take better care of your young family. Shouldn’t you?’
Jack says nothing. His head is pounding and he feels sick. Don’t upset him, one wrong word and they’re both dead. Stay detached, be professional, not emotional.
‘Answer my question!’ demands Spider. ‘I said: shouldn’t you take better care of your family?’
Jack understands the game, and he knows he has no choice but to play along. ‘Yes,’ he says, feigning humility. ‘I should have taken more care of them. My family’s very precious to me. I’ll do whatever you want, but you have to promise me you’re not going to hurt them.’
‘No promises,’ says Spider, ‘but it is good for me to hear that you and I share the same sense of family values.’
Jack squeezes his eyes shut and prays his mind will clear, that he will be able to stay sharp and cope with whatever is about to happen.
‘I see you’re in the road near my house in Brooklyn,’ says Spider, looking at the laptop and its exterior camera views. ‘Well done, you’re a little earlier than I expected. I had planned to lead you there myself, when the time was right. When the world had witnessed another murder that Jack King was powerless to stop.’
Jack’s thrown. He glances across to the nearby house, searching for a camera.
‘In the trees, King. The cameras are wired up in the trees and powered by my outdoor security lights.’ Spider gazes at Nancy and Zack, then back to the image of Jack on his laptop. ‘My plan was that in twenty-four hours’ time that nice Arab news channel would be showing some new material; something of a double scoop. First I would have given them the final fatal instalment in the story of the wretched little Russian hooker that you and the fools in the FBI couldn’t save. And then, Jack, then I had something even juicier in mind.’ Spider laughs darkly and fixes his eyes on Jack’s face, before adding, ‘I thought the next exclusive footage could be the death of your lovely wife.’
Jack’s self-restraint snaps. ‘If you so much as harm…’
‘Tut, tut, Jacky boy. Don’t ruin all your good work, all your professional restraint, by being abusive. You must know that I’m going to kill her, otherwise there would have been no point in bringing you all the way to America, and me coming all the way here to Italy, would there?’
Jack’s heart is beating double-quick time, as he realizes now that he has been the victim of BRK’s carefully orchestrated plan to lure him away from his family and have him stand impotently by as they are slaughtered. But why?
Spider smiles as he watches Jack painfully putting the pieces together. ‘You’ve been played like a sucker, King. The murder in Italy was merely a ruse to drag you out from your cowardly hiding place, and of course you came, like an obedient, scalded dog. Then poor, sweet Sugar needed to rise