She grimaced. “Besides trust you, that is.”
For a second amusement danced in his eyes, and she thought he might smile. But no. Just as quickly his stoic expression slid back into place, making the angles and planes of his face hard and unyielding. It must have been her wishful thinking that the man had some other mode besides stony.
“We both want the same thing,” he said in a slow measured tone. “Santini.”
She sat up straighter. “I want my sister back. Unharmed.”
Those were two different agendas.
He inclined his head, acknowledging her words. “That’s a given and obviously my priority. But until we bring down Santini, there’s no guarantee you’ll get your sister back. Unharmed.”
His response made her stomach clench with apprehension. She wanted to deny the truth in his words. But judging by where she was sitting and who was glaring at her across a cold, hard table, she figured he probably knew more about Santini and situations like this than she did. But that didn’t mean she had to like it. Or him.
“He told me no police or he’d kill her,” she pointed out.
“Let me worry about that.”
Right. Like that was going to happen. “You still haven’t told me what I need to do.”
“You’ll make the drop like Santini demanded. Only we’ll have people everywhere. When Santini shows up to pick up the necklace, we’ll nab him.”
“That’s your plan?” she asked. The man appeared intelligent, but maybe he had rocks for brains. Great. Not inspiring a lot of trust right now. “I don’t think this Santini guy is going to be dumb enough to walk into a trap. At the very least he’ll send someone to make the pickup.”
“You’re right, he’s not dumb.” Blake’s fingers stretched against the scarred metal table. His jaw hardened. “He’s a smart, crafty criminal. But he’s also greedy. Do you have any idea how much that necklace is worth?”
“No.”
Again he raised an eyebrow. “Let’s just say your travel insurance wouldn’t have covered it if your luggage had been lost.”
She swallowed. “How much money?”
“To give you an idea of their potential worth, recently a vivid blue diamond sold for twenty-four million.”
The staggering amount left her breathless. “That necklace has two...”
“Exactly. Santini won’t risk letting another minion snatch it out from under him again. He has a buyer standing by. There’s a lot of money at stake. I know Santini. He’s greedy and arrogant. He’ll come for it himself.” He held her gaze, his dark eyes compelling and unfathomable. She grew uncomfortable beneath that stare, yet she couldn’t look away. “And he doesn’t know we have you. Nor will he know you’re working with us.”
Blake sounded so confident. But she wasn’t convinced. She needed him to assure her because he was asking her to place her life and her sister’s life in his care. He said Jillian’s release was his priority. Was that true or just lip service to get her to acquiesce to his plans? “How can you be sure Santini doesn’t have spies in your department? On your team? Men following me? You say you’ve been after him but unable to catch him. Have you ever considered the reason might be someone in your organization is working with Santini?”
Blake’s eyes narrowed. “Believe me I’ve thought of every possibility. I’ve had everyone involved in Santini’s case carefully vetted. This IBETs operation is small for a reason. I’ve handpicked each member. There is no way any one of them would betray the team.”
She wanted to believe him. There was something in his tone that spoke of his determination and frustration. Despite his best effort to control the circumstances, he couldn’t. Santini somehow managed to evade capture time and again. And for a man like ICE agent Blake Fallon that had to be driving him mad. “Do you know who the man was that broke into my apartment last night?”
“No. Unfortunately, he wasn’t on our radar until after we found out about him attacking you.” He didn’t sound pleased. “Now that we know he’s involved and on the trail of the necklace, we’ll be on the lookout for him. Did you get a good look at him?
“No. He wore a mask and it was dark. Don’t you know what he looks like? How is he connected to Travis? To Jillian?” She shuddered, remembering the vile man’s voice and the way he’d grabbed her. She thought for certain he would hurt her. “He threatened to kill me, thinking I was Jillian.”
“The best we can surmise is this man wants to usurp Santini’s throne. My informant gave me a name, Ken Odin, but we can’t find him in any databases.”
The thought that there were two men out there that wanted to do her and Jillian harm had her pulse picking up speed. She clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking. “He claimed Travis bragged about stealing the necklace from Santini.”
“I doubt Travis understood the magnitude of what he’d taken from his boss. If he’d had any idea the value of the necklace or the trouble that would come down on his head, I doubt he’d have stolen it. Unless he really is that reckless.” Blake steepled his hands. “But because he did steal it we have an opportunity to use the situation to our advantage.”
Which brought them back to the plan where Blake hoped to lure Santini out into the open and capture him. “So I go to Fort George with the necklace to wait for Santini.”
Blake gave a short nod. “Yes.”
She’d never done anything dangerous before. She’d lived her life following the rules, making sure everyone had what they needed and picking up the slack where she could. Putting herself deliberately in harm’s way went against her own sense of self-preservation. But for Jillian she had to. And she had to rely on this man to protect her. “And you’ll be close by watching, right?”
His expression softened slightly. “Yes.”
The small glimpse of consideration, of compassion, didn’t assure her, instead it made her heart beat too fast and her mouth turn to cotton. It was clear he knew what he was asking of her was dangerous and yet, he still asked. And she had no choice but to confront her fears and do what needed to be done. For her sister’s sake. And for her own. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she hadn’t done all she could to rescue her sister. She swallowed, trying to find her voice again. “If I don’t cooperate with you, I’ll be arrested.” The thought of jail terrified her. She didn’t want to go to prison. If she were incarcerated, who would save her sister? “Is that, right?”
“Yes.” His frown wasn’t a scowl but more troubled, which made her wonder if he wasn’t as happy at the prospect as she’d have thought.
Maybe he wasn’t as cold as he’d like her to believe. But then again, he was asking her to risk her life by following his plan. Was she crazy to trust him? Did she trust him? She smoothed her hand over her denim-clad thighs. “What happens if he doesn’t bring my sister to the fort?”
He didn’t flinch. His expression hardened. She hadn’t thought it possible. His jaw must ache with tension. “When we have him in custody, we’ll get her whereabouts from him.”
A sour taste settled on her tongue. That wasn’t very reassuring. “What if Santini doesn’t show up?”
“Then we’ll follow whoever does take the necklace.” His words held a thread of impatience that hadn’t been there before. Was he not used to anyone questioning him? “They will lead us to Santini.”
“And to my sister,” she reminded him with a good dose of her own hardness infusing her voice.
He nodded and visibly seemed to check himself. The impatience dissipated to be replaced with a placating look that grated on her nerves. “We have every intention of recovering