Sinner by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online Page B

power in your hands, Billy boy. To give or take a man’s life. Power.”
    â€œI tell you, you let me live but take my arms.”
    â€œCorrect.”
    â€œI think I’d rather take a bullet in the head.”
    The man’s hand came up, snugged around a stainless nine-millimeter pistol. “If you insist.”
    â€œYou have to ask yourself, Ricardo, what else I might know about your organization. And whom I’ve told.”
    It was hard to tell in the dim light, but Billy thought the man’s cheek had twitched, so he pressed on with the slight advantage.
    â€œDo you really think I would be stupid enough to hang your man out to dry and then waltz into this gamble without an ace up my sleeve? You kill me and you’ll be taken down within the week, my friend.”
    The fact that his voice held a slight tremor didn’t help his cause, but he wasn’t accustomed to looking death in the face.
    â€œI think you’re bluffing.”
    â€œI may be a gambling addict, but I’m not a complete idiot.”He stood.
    â€œThe real question is, are you willing to gamble your life on a hunch that I’m bluffing?”
    Muness seemed at a loss for words.
    Billy knew he had the man on his heels, if only for a moment. He moved then, forcing himself to ignore the black hole of the pistol.
    â€œWhat I’m about to tell you will determine if you live out the week, Mr.Muness.”
    He slowly leaned forward, reached out his hand, and removed the man’s glasses.
    The room remained quiet. No gunshot.
    He stared into Muness’s eyes and let the man’s thoughts stream into his mind.
    â€œI hope you don’t mind. It’s important that we see things . . . eye to eye as it were.” He set the glasses down. “You wonder whom I’ve told about the nine million dollars you’ve socked away in the Dominican Republic, don’t you? Or if I’ve left instructions with my attorney to mail a letter to your wife in the event of my death, explaining why Angela has accompanied you on so many business trips.”
    He let the information settle in. Muness hadn’t been wondering anything quite so detailed, naturally, but Billy had lifted enough information to make it clear he knew about both Angela and the money in the West Indies.
    â€œShould I go on?”
    â€œYou’ve just sealed your fate.”
    â€œAnd now your fate is directly tied to mine. If I go, you go. If I get hurt, you get hurt.”
    Muness slammed a fist on the desk. “You have the audacity to even think you can blackmail me?”
    â€œI do.”
    For a long time, the man just stared at him. And in that time, Billy learned precisely how a man as filthy rich as Ricardo Muness got to be so filthy rich.
    A grin slowly split the man’s mouth. “Well, well, well, I guess I under-estimated you, didn’t I?”
    â€œSo it seems. All I want is a week to prove to you that I will never use this information against you unless you exploit me. Just give me time.”
    â€œTime.Yes, of course. Isn’t that what we all want? More time. But you’re not the only one who knows things they have no business knowing, Billy.”
    Darcy.
    The man’s thoughts wrapped around the name with disturbing images that stopped Billy cold. He knew about Darcy? What possible connection could a loan secured in New Jersey have to Darcy, wherever she was?
    Apart from scattered details, Billy didn’t even know about Darcy. But now he did, because Muness knew where she lived, what she did for a living, other details that streamed into Billy’s mind.
    Clearly,Muness assumed that Billy cared.
    â€œOnly a fool loans a man three hundred thousand dollars without doing some homework,”Muness said. “Insurance. Not everyone is as concerned about their own arms as they are someone else’s arms.”
    â€œAnd you think that’s me.”
    â€œDoes the name Darcy ring a