Page 118 of The Picasso Heist
WE’VE GOT TWELVEhours, tops. But all that matters is the next sixty minutes.
“You want me to dowhat?” asks Nikolov.
We’re using Agent Sigma’s 128-bit encrypted satellite phone. No one can listen in, there’s no tapping the line, but if anyone could, they would hear me telling Nikolov to give himself up.
“You have your attorney reach out to Joyce’s office and say he’s caught wind of your impending arrest. But you’re so confident of your innocence that you’re willing to come in voluntarily for questioning. As much as Joyce would prefer the headline that she raided your house at the crack of dawn, she knows she can’t turn down this offer because it’s admissible in court. So she agrees to it.”
“Then what?” asks Nikolov. “So I go in… and then what happens?”
“You go in, answer all her questions, and make it abundantly clear that you had nothing to do with whatever she thinks you did.”
“Yeah, okay.And then what?”
“Then she arrests you,” I say.
He laughs. “You’re fucking crazy. Why would I ever do that?”
“I’ll tell you why,” I say.
Thirty minutes later, the real crazy begins.
“You want me to dowhat?” asks Skip.
“I want you to punch me in the face,” I say.
He has no intention of hitting me, even though he knows why I’m asking. “No chance, sis,” he says.
“C’mon, I’m not talking full strength, just something that will bruise up quickly. You told me Amir punched you before you first met Lugieri. It’s my turn to take one for the team.”
“Nice speech. Still not going to happen,” says Skip.
I turn to Agents Sigma and Tau. “Don’t look at us,” they say in unison.
“Fine. I’ll do it myself.”
But there’s no way I’m about to pull an Edward Norton fromFight Cluband start beating myself up. It’s one thing to take a punch; it’s an entirely different thing to be the one also delivering it.
“What, you don’t think Joyce will believe you unless you’re banged up?” asks Tau.
“Yeah,” says Sigma. “Of course she’ll believe you. She saw you get put into that trunk and now suddenly you’re alive—what’s not to believe?”
I mull it over for a moment. “I guess you’re right,” I say.
If time heals all wounds, how long do you have to wait to make new ones? I figure ten minutes.
We move on, discussing how I’ll contact Joyce and from where. Presumably, Nikolov’s guys took my cell phone. Also, how did I escape? Do I have further evidence proving Nikolov was the one who ordered the hit on Skip? The both of us? I need to have all the details locked down.
“I’ll be right back,” I say, heading off to the bathroom.
I partially close the door and stand behind it about six inches away. The laws of physics are very clear on what will happen next.
I shut my eyes, lean in forehead first, and brace myself for when they come running. On your mark, get set…
“Help!”I scream.
CHAPTER101
I MEET ELISEJoyce in the back of a bodega a few blocks from her office. I’m battered, bruised, and hysterical. Unexpectedly, she hugs me.
