The Collector
Page 114

“And yet the two of you come up with some scheme to take Vasin on yourselves.”
“To have a meeting,” Ash corrected. “One we’ve got a good chance of getting. You don’t.”
“And what do you think you’ll accomplish—if he doesn’t have the two of you disposed of on the spot? You think he’ll just turn over Maddok? He’d just hand over one of his major assets?”
“I know about men with wealth and power,” Ash said easily. “My father’s one of them. A man in Vasin’s position can always buy another asset, that’s the point, for some, of wealth and power. He wants the egg, something I have—we have,” he corrected. “Maddok’s an employee, and likely a valued one. But the egg’s worth more to him. It’s a very good deal, and he’s a businessman. He’d recognize that.”
“You really think he’d agree to a trade?”
“It’s business. And my terms don’t cost him a nickel. No employee’s indispensable, and up against the Fabergé? Yeah, she’ll come up well short.”
“You’re not cops.” Fine began ticking off negatives with her fingers. “You have no training. You have no experience. You can’t even be wired as he’d check.”
Waterstone scratched his cheek. “That could be an advantage.”
Fine stared at him. “What the f**k, Harry?”
“I’m not saying it’s a crowd-pleaser, but we can’t get near him. These two maybe can. They’re not cops, they won’t be wired. Couple of chickens to pluck, from his way of thinking, if you ask me.”
“Because they are.”
“But the chickens have the golden egg. The question is, how bad does he want it?”
“Four people are dead—including the art dealer in Florence,” Lila pointed out. “That indicates really bad on my scale. And the way she came after me? She had something to prove. Her job performance hasn’t been stellar on this assignment. Trading her for the egg seems like a deal to me.”
“Maybe a deal,” Fine agreed, “until you factor in what Maddok knows about him, what she could tell us.”
“But we’re not giving her to you,” Lila reminded her. “At least that’s what we’ll tell him.”
“Why would he believe that someone who’s never killed before intends to, and you’d go along with it?”
“He will. First, because that’s his solution to getting what he wants, and second, because Ash is pretty scary when he cuts it loose. Me?” She shrugged. “I just looked out the window. I just want it done. I’ve caught a really shiny fish here, in Ashton Archer. I want to start reaping those benefits without being worried someone wants to kill me.”
Ash cocked a brow. “Shiny fish?”
“That’s what Jai called you, and I can play on that. Rich, important name, renowned artist. A big haul for a military brat who lives in other people’s houses, and has a moderately successful young adult novel under her belt. Think what hooking up with Ashton Archer could do for my publishing career. Pretty sweet.”
He smirked at her. “You’ve been doing some thinking.”
“Trying to think like a businessman and a soulless killer. Plus, it’s all true, factually accurate. It just leaves out feelings. She doesn’t have any. He can’t have any or he wouldn’t pay her to kill people. If you don’t have feelings, you can’t understand them, can you? You get revenge, I get the shiny fish, and Vasin gets the golden egg.”
“Then what?” Fine demanded. “If you’re not dead five minutes after meeting with him—if you get that far—if he says, ‘Sure, let’s make a deal,’ then what?”
“Then we agree on when and where to make the exchange. Or for our representatives to make the exchange.” Because, Ash thought, he wanted Lila nowhere near that part. “And you take it from there. We’re just making the contact, making the deal. If he agrees, it’s conspiracy to murder on his part. And you have him with our testimony. You have her because he’ll at least pretend to deliver her. And the egg goes where it belongs. In a museum.”
“And if he doesn’t agree? If he tells you, ‘Give me the egg or I’ll have your girlfriend raped, tortured and shot in the head’?”
“As I told you, he’ll already know if he does anything to either of us, the announcement goes out publicly, and the egg moves out of his reach. Unless he plans to try to steal it from the Met. Possible,” he said before Fine could speak. “But he hasn’t tried to have any of the Imperial eggs stolen from museums or private collections.”
“That we know of.”
“Okay, that’s a factor. But it’s a hell of a lot easier, cleaner and immediate to make the deal.”
“He could threaten your family as you say he threatened Bastone’s.”
“He could, but while we’re meeting with him, my family will be inside our compound. Again, I’m making him a straightforward deal where he pays nothing for what he wants. He just trades an asset that hasn’t been paying dividends.”
“It could work,” Waterstone mused. “We’ve used civilians before.”
“Wired, protected.”
“Maybe we work something out there. We talk to Tech—see what they’ve got. See what the Feds got.”
“We’re meeting with him,” Ash pointed out. “With or without you. We’d rather with you.”
“You’re handing him two hostages,” Fine pointed out. “If you’re going to do this, you go in, she stays out.”
“Good luck with that,” Ash commented.
“We both go.” Lila met Fine’s eye with the same hard look she received. “Not negotiable. Plus it’s more likely he’d consider one of us a hostage, and the other—me—forced to turn over the egg if I was still outside. What have I got if my shiny fish is gutted?”
“Think of another metaphor,” Ash advised.
“He’s unlikely to agree to a meeting,” Fine pointed out. “He’s known for doing everything by remote. At best, you may end up talking to one of his lawyers or assistants.”
“My terms are set. We meet with him, or there’s no negotiation.” He glanced at his phone when it signaled. “That’s my lawyer, so we might have an answer. Give me a minute.”