The Pursuit by Janet Evanovich Read Free Book Online Page B

the door for Kate.
    She strode into the interrogation room, sat down at the table, slipped the paper clip off the papers, and made a show of examining them. Everything Kate and Nick were about to say and do was for Janssen’s benefit. But Kate also had a message to convey to Nick and a delivery to make.
    “You’re looking good,” Kate said.
    “Orange is my color.”
    “I’m referring to the handcuffs,” Kate said. “You were born to wear them.”
    “They’re a bit snug.”
    She looked up from her papers. “You’re facing a long prison stretch, and once you get out there are a dozen countries lined up to lock you away again.”
    “I’ve always been a popular guy.”
    “It seems you weren’t that popular with the Road Runners. They double-crossed you and got away with hundreds of millions in diamonds. That’s got to hurt.”
    “I pulled off the biggest heist in Belgian history,” Nick said. “Making history is not a bad way to end a career.”
    “You can thank your so-called friends for your grand finale. Tell me where they are and what they’re doing with the diamonds. Maybe you can do a little less time. Where do we find Dragan Kovic?”
    “Haven’t you heard about honor among thieves?”
    “They betrayed you.”
    Nick shrugged. “Not all thieves have honor.”
    Kate leaned forward. “I’m offering you your only chance for vengeance against the people who put you here.”
    “You put me here. Not talking is how I get my revenge.” Nick leaned forward too. “Your screwups led to the success of the biggest diamond heist in Belgian history. You’ll probably lose your badge.”
    Kate gathered up her papers, leaned back in her seat, and shook her head in disappointment.
    “My job is done anyway. I vowed that I’d never let you get away, and I meant it.” She got up and went to the door, pausing for a moment to take one more look at him before leaving. “Remember that on Monday morning when you’re on your way to prison.”
    She walked out, satisfied that she’d delivered her message to Nick and more. Now Nick knew that she’d be making her move on Monday morning and, while they were nearly nose to nose over the table, he’d taken the paper clip she’d brought for him.
    Janssen met Kate in the hall. “That was a waste of time.”
    “I wouldn’t say that. I got him talking.”
    “But he didn’t say anything,” Janssen said.
    “The man loves to hear his own voice. He’ll give me something next time, and then something more after that, just to keep the conversation going. Before it’s over, he’ll give up the gang.”
    “There won’t be another meeting.” Janssen held out a plane ticket. “You’re on the eleven A.M. flight Monday to Heathrow with a connecting flight to Los Angeles.”
    Kate didn’t take the ticket. “I’m the only one he’ll talk to and the only one with a shot at breaking him.”
    “While you are somewhere over the Atlantic, there will be a press conference here announcing the arrest by Belgian police of international fugitive Nicolas Fox, the mastermind behind the vault robbery. We’ll thank the FBI for providing crucial resources, and that will be the end of U.S. involvement in our ongoing investigation and manhunt.”
    Plitt had done his job with surprising speed, Kate thought. Maybe he deserved a Nobel Prize after all. She took the ticket from Janssen.
    “This is a mistake.”
    “Bon voyage, Agent O’Hare,” Janssen said. “A police officer will be waiting at your hotel at nine A.M. to escort you to the airport.”
    With those words, Amelie Janssen officially set the timer ticking on Nicolas Fox’s escape.

A t 6:45  A.M. on Monday, Kate left her hotel for her morning run in a tank top, jogging shorts, and a running belt full of explosives.
    She jogged a block west into Stadspark and quickly veered off the paved trails into a thicket of bushes where her father had stashed a gym bag that contained a loose black sweat suit, a black balaclava, and