She shook her head, but Toro seemed to weigh his options. “Don’t think so,” he finally said.
She’d seen the tactic before. He would wait to hear the evidence against him, then decide his neck hurt and he needed to go to the hospital, where he would either attempt an escape or consult with his attorney before questioning began.
“How did you two find him?” one of the other agents asked.
Flint looked at Dani. “I was wondering the same thing.”
“The last time I had the pleasure of an encounter with our friend here,” Dani said, gesturing toward their captive. “He bolted for the nearest subway when I chased him. Everything else he’d done had been meticulously planned, so I figured he viewed subways as good escape routes.”
Toro gave his head a disgusted shake, as if he couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to become predictable.
“In a panic situation, when there was no time to plan,” Dani continued, “Toro reverted to the backup strategy he’d used to escape last time.” She shrugged. “I went to the Canal Street station to intercept him before he could hop on a train.”
Toro had nearly made it. Dani had juggernauted into him on the sidewalk a few steps away from the descending stairs that led to the platform below.
“Intercept me?” Toro said, his tone filled with indignation. “You hit me like a linebacker.” He tipped his head one way and then another. “You could have hurt me.”
“Planning to sue the FBI?” Dani said. “I wouldn’t count on it.” She scooted closer to him. “In fact, I think you’re a lucky man. You might be floating in the Hudson right now if we hadn’t found you.”
Toro gave her a hard stare but said nothing.
“He thinks he’s smart,” Flint said. “Let’s see if he has enough brains to save his own ass.”
Toro gave Flint a calculating look. “You’ve got an NYPD detective shield around your neck, but you’re not taking me to the police lockup,” he said, then shifted his gaze to Dani. “I’m in federal custody, which means Agent Badass here and her friends think I’m worth talking to.”
“Your only value is what’s inside your head,” she said.
He regarded her a long moment. “Nothing’s for free. I hope you’re willing to pay my price.”
CHAPTER 14
Dani stood outside the door to the off-site interview room with Wu. She raised a brow at him. “You think Toro is the key and I can turn him?”
“Pun intended, I’m sure,” Wu said. “He’s a vault. I want you to open him up.”
Toro was disguised and on a solitary mission, which worked in their favor when they had whisked him away in an unmarked windowless van. The FBI’s New York field office was a hive of activity, and they needed the privacy an off-site space would offer. The speed of the takedown was also fortunate. Busy pedestrians rushing to catch trains or taxis had paid little attention, and no one had posted videos of them anywhere the analysts could find online. As far as the world knew, Nathan Costner’s killer was still at large. So far the plan was working. Time for the next critical phase.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she said to Wu. “I’m anxious to get into the room with Toro, but why me?”
As the newest person in the unit, she had assumed Wu would choose a more senior agent to conduct such a sensitive interrogation.
“You’re the only one who figured out what he was going to do, and you caught him,” Wu said, then dropped his voice. “Let me be blunt. I don’t think Toro expected to be outmaneuvered by a woman. If I’m reading his physical cues right, you frustrate and annoy him.”
This was the last thing she’d expected to hear. “Then why would he be more cooperative with me?”
“Because you challenge what he views as his superiority, so I’m guessing he’ll try to get the better of you in your next encounter.”
She rested a hand on her hip. “I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted.”
“Neither,” he said flatly. “You’re the appropriate asset for this assignment.”
She was comfortable with that. As in the military, she was a tool to be used as necessary, nothing more. Toro had already been Mirandized, and he’d insisted that he did not want an attorney present.
No doubt he’d already worked out a strategy and believed he had enough valuable intel to buy his freedom. Like so many before him, he thought he was above the law. Thought he could bend the rules to escape accountability for his actions. No way would she let him weasel out of a murder rap, but he might be able to make his situation better.
If he cooperated.
Someone like him should never glimpse sunlight again except through a set of bars. Who knew how many people he’d killed? And he did it for money. Worst of all, he’d never had to answer for his crimes. The one time he’d been arrested, the case had been dismissed on a technicality. Not this time.
Her only challenge would be hiding her contempt for him. She’d interviewed enough people to understand that judgment shut them down. Despite her disdain for the man she was about to deal with, she forced herself to remember that—like her—he was a tool. Her job was to find out who had used that tool to set the chain of events in motion leading to Nathan Costner’s death. If she failed, the true perpetrator would escape justice.
Dani gestured toward the closed interview room door. “We can’t wait any longer. Whoever hired Toro may be keeping tabs on him. If it’s obvious he’s missing for long, that would make everything we’re trying to accomplish moot.”
“We’ll all be watching and listening,” Wu said. “If you want one of us to come in, ask Toro if he wants a cup of coffee. That will be our cue.” He held out a manila folder. “Keep your earpiece in listening mode. I’ll let you know if you bump up against any legal guardrails.”
She took the folder and waited for Wu to step back out of view before opening the door.
Toro leveled her with a glare. “You.”
He managed to infuse the single word with contempt before his lips curved into a slight smile. Someone had come to talk to him, which he no doubt knew strengthened his overall position.
She strode over to take the chair across from Toro, who was now out of his sweat jacket. The hood he’d pulled down to cover half his face had not been enough to hide his identity.
“What’s in the folder?” Toro said, tipping his head toward the spot where she had deliberately placed it on the table between them.
She redirected him. “First, tell me who hired you,” she said, effectively getting to the point and changing the subject at the same time. “And how they paid you.”
A money trail would go a long way toward corroborating anything Toro had to say about who had ordered the hit, while also establishing a timeline.
Toro crossed his arms over his chest. “The only reason I’m not in a cell right now is because you all want something from me, which means I can bargain.”
She leaned across the table, invading Toro’s space. “We’re giving you a chance to have a life. Right now you’re looking at spending the rest of your years in a federal penitentiary.” She jabbed a finger at him. “And I’ll make sure it’s the worst hellhole I can find.”
Toro uncrossed his arms and angled his body forward in imitation of her posture. “You don’t want me. You want the one who sent me.” He leaned back in an exaggerated show of complacency. “And I’m the only way for you to get to him, so no, I don’t think you’ll send me anywhere.”
Concerned about overplaying her hand, Dani shifted gears. “I think you should be asking yourself what you can offer us to keep yourself out of prison,” she said. “You must realize that your so-called employer will turn on you once you get a life sentence.”
The team had put together a dossier on Toro’s background. The Paris legal attaché had confirmed the address in Monaco was his primary residence. He would soon find his property seized and his accounts frozen. Other than the Spanish Harlem apartment he’d recently left, they hadn’t found much in the US. He appeared to own no property and seemed to prefer a variety of female companions rather than a steady relationship. Johnson had found no evidence of children, so Dani couldn’t use his family as leverage.
“Your situation is simple.” She placed her hands on the table. “It’s you or him. What’s it going to be?”
She kept her eyes locked on his. She had cut through an hour’s worth of talking and gotten to the heart of the matter. Would Toro spend the rest of his days in a prison cell, or would he turn on his employer? His dark-brown eyes bored into hers, assessing her. She knew the rules. Don’t break the silence. Don’t look away. Don’t fidget.
After an interminable moment, he heaved a sigh. “What you’re asking is going to be difficult.”
“I said your situation was simple. I never said it was easy.”