Page 5 of Double or Nothing
“Let her go,” the woman says to Natasha. “I want to hear what she has to say.” She slides to one corner of the sofa and pats the cushion beside her. “Come sit by me, Jade. I apologize for the unwelcoming behavior of my associate. I’ll introduce myself again. I’m Eva, the owner of Platinum.”
Natasha slowly lowers the knife from my throat and drops her arm from around my neck before taking a step back.
“Don’t try anything stupid,” she says. “I can still cut you quickly.”
I turn around to face her. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you,” I say, giving her a slight smile. “If everything I’ve learned about you is true, we’ll get along just fine.”
I walk over to the sofa and sit beside Eva. Natasha settles down in a chair directly across from me. She’s wearing black jeans, leather boots and a tight black turtleneck sweater. Her long blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail and her beautiful face is devoid of makeup. She doesn’t need it. Not with her perfect features and huge blue eyes.
“Would you care for a cup of coffee, Jade, or a drink?” Eva asks. “Once again, I apologize. We knew you weren’t here applying for a job, so of course we were suspicious of you.”
“You have coffee?” I perk up at the mention of caffeine. “I would love a cup, if it isn’t too much trouble.”
“Not at all,” Eva says. She gives me a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes, then texts someone on her phone. “They’ll bring it right up from the bar,” she says. “In the meantime, please tell us more about the men who kidnapped you.”
“There’s not much more to tell since I don’t speak the language,” I say. “They grabbed me when I got into their car instead of my rideshare. They thought I knew where Natasha was hiding. I didn’t, since I had no idea who you were. Ivan was the nastier of the two and much rougher with me. They took me out on a boat where they planned to kill me.”
“How did you escape?” Eva asks. “Russians aren’t known for letting people walk away.”
“I kneed Ivan in the balls, jumped overboard, and swam away from the boat. They shot at me, but luckily their aim wasn’t accurate. It was at night, so they couldn’t spot me in the water. I’m a strong swimmer and could tread water until I eventually spotted the lights of a fishing boat. The fisherman dragged me aboard and took me to shore. Twenty-four hours later, I arrived in Vegas.”
“And where have you been since you arrived in Vegas?” Eva asks.
“That’s a long story and not relevant,” I reply after a brief pause. There’s no need to involve the guys at this point. “The important thing is that these men are coming.” I turn to stare directly at Natasha. “You’re her, right? You’re the Natasha I’m looking for? I saw fear in your eyes when I called your name last night here in the club. Who is Dimitri?”
“I’m not telling you anything,” Natasha says curtly. “I don’t trust you. You could be working for them.”
I nod and lean back against the sofa cushions. “You’re right, I could be. What do I need to do or say to make you believe me? The Russians are coming for you. And once they realize I’m not dead, they’re coming for me too.”
“How did you track her here?” Eva asks.
At least she’s stopped pretending the blonde woman sitting across from me is not Natasha. Which is a good start.
“The downloaded files mentioned a strip club in Vegas. Once I arrived here, I narrowed the list of strip clubs down. When none of them checked out, I moved on to the male strip clubs. Platinum was at the top of the short list, and I came here last night on a whim. When I spotted Natasha, I realized she fit the physical description, and her Eastern European accent further confirmed my suspicions.”
“You’re smart and determined,” Eva remarks. “I appreciate that in a person. You mentioned you downloaded hacked files. If you truly want us to trust you and believe what you’re saying, we’ll need access to those files.”
“Done,” I agree quickly. “I have several copies on zip drives.” I glance over at Natasha. “I assume you speak Russian?”
“Of course,” she replies. “Among many other languages.”
“Good, then you can translate the files better than Google can,” I say, standing. “I’ll go get the zip drive and bring it back to you. Is the club open all night?”
“Not so fast,” Eva says. “We can’t allow you to leave here until we go through the files ourselves. How do we know these files even exist? Or if they have anything to do with Natasha at all? You could run straight to the Russians the moment we let you walk out the door. We can’t take that chance by letting you leave.”
It’s not an unreasonable request. They have every reason to suspect me.
“I understand,” I say, nodding. “In that case, do you have a computer I can use to download the files? I uploaded them to an online cloud service too. It won’t take long. The files are useless to me; I’m happy to pass them along to you.”
Eva points to a desktop computer sitting on a large executive desk in the corner. “You can use mine.” She walks over and pulls out the large leather office chair for me to take a seat, then quickly logs into her computer before sliding the mouse over to me. “What guarantee do I have that you will not hack into my computer, too?” she asks.
I let out a sigh while trying not to get impatient with them, though they’re beginning to test me. “Why would I do that? You’re the one who said I had to download the files here rather than going to pick up the zip drive. What could you possibly have on your computer that I would want? The addresses of the male strippers who work here so I can stalk them later? The two of you might need to take a little leap of faith if you want to keep Natasha safe.”
A knock comes at the door and a handsome man dressed only in tight black pants and a bowtie sticks his head inside. “Miss Eva, here is the coffee you ordered,” he says. “Where do you want the tray?”
Eva opens the door wider for him and he places a tray with a carafe and cups on the desk.
“Can I bring you anything else?” he asks.
