Page 84 of Deathtoll
The key to a good trap was the right bait. You had the right bait, and you could catch anything.
Her response was immediate.I will.
Go to her room, he wrote back.Stand in front of the window.
Less than thirty seconds passed before she appeared.
Now open it and climb out,he texted. Quietly.If I see the cop in the kitchen move, your sister is dead.
The man in the kitchen window did not move. He kept watching the street, clueless.
When the window was all the way up, Kate Bridges sat on the sill, swung out one leg, followed by the other. Then she jumped to the ground, without hesitation. She even had the presence of mind to turn and close the window behind her.
Asael sent his next text.Go into Tony Mauro’s house from the back. The door is open. If you’re seen, the game is up.
She looked both ways before pulling into the cover of a hydrangea bush on her side. Then she darted into the cover of a large lilac bush that had lost most of its leaves already, but had enough gnarly branches to provide coverage.
He noted the slight limp. Must have landed too hard on that ankle. It didn’t matter at this stage.
Asael walked through the house to the back to open the door. He stepped aside to let her in. “Hello, Kate.”
For a second, they stood a foot apart, the closest he’d ever been to her. She’d evaded him for years. If he wasn’t as vain as he was, he would have admired her.
She scrambled away from him, as far as she could go, until her back hit the dryer.
He hadn’t realized how much it would excite him, how much the personal angle added. He found her proximity…arousing. Not in the way a man might find a woman arousing, nothing that basic. But the way the sighting of the perfect prey aroused the hunter.
“Where is Emma?” she demanded, legs slightly apart, bracing for a fight, struggling to hide how scared she was. “Is she here?”
“No.”
“Why are you in this house?”
“Convenience.” Asael gestured at her. “Why don’t you put your phone on the washer and then pull up your shirt so I can make sure there’s nothing tucked into your waistband?”
She did as he instructed. He didn’t deem a pat down necessary. She wore close-fitting yoga pants.
He stepped to the window and opened it. “Go ahead. There’s a van outside in the next-door neighbor’s driveway. No worries, they’re not home. The van’s side door is open. Close the door behind you. I left a blindfold in there for you. You put that on.”
She did as she was told, with grim determination. The cop who sat up front in his cruiser couldn’t see her. Tony Mauro’s garage hung forward, blocking his sight.
Asael went after her. He locked her into the back, then slipped behind the wheel.
As he backed out of the driveway, looking as if he’d just delivered a package, he was whistling.
When he stopped at the Stop sign on the corner, he said, “You probably think you could take that blindfold off and attack me from behind. You could. But keep in mind, if I don’t take you to your sister, you’ll never find her.”
She stayed quiet.Good girl.She was one of the smart ones. She’d eluded him for years. She’d survived multiple previous assassination attempts. She understood that she was beaten. Asael appreciated that.
Ten minutes, and he was at his destination. He drove right into the building. He turned off the van and went around to open the side door. Checked the blindfold. “Give me your hand.”
She didn’t struggle. “Where is Emma?”
“You’ll see her in a minute.”
He led her to the basement door. And when they were halfway down the stairs, the door closed behind them, he said, “You can take off the blindfold.”
He let her go, allowing her the use of both hands. Then he walked down the rest of the stairs after her, waited for her reaction, so eager for it that his fingertips tingled.
