“Asking about any of those other things will lead to information about Gemma,” Rome told him. “But I wouldn’t use her name in there. Names have power and the less her captors know, the better for her.”
“I can set your phone up to record.” Jax held out his hand. “Then we can all hear what you find out and go over it as many times as we need to.”
Kerry fished his phone out and handed it to him to work his magic.
“Well,” I said, “you want calm or apathy?”
“Ain’t nobody in there gonna try me, and Kasparian won’t do or say anything that’ll make me crush him through a wall. Calm will work well enough.”
I poked my index finger into his palm just long enough to zap him.
“After I leave,” he said, “youallstay in this car and keep the engine running. Jax, gimme my box.”
Jax handed it to him, and he laid it on the seat between us. He took a stack of cash and stuffed it into his coat pocket, then grabbed five gold coins and slid them into a pants pocket. Finally, he counted out some diamonds into a smaller velvet bag and secreted them somewhere inside his shirt.
“You’re relying on the broker accepting diamonds over money?” I asked.
“Relax. I’ve done this enough to know what Kas wants. ’Sides, I don’t have a bag or anything to put twenty-five stacks in.”
“Are you taking enough, though?” Jax asked.
“Yeah. I told you he’ll want a quarter of a mil for the girls.”
“But there might be others in the pens.”
“So what if there are?” His face screwed up.
“You can’t leave them for something Diabolical to get its hands on.”
“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes.
“No,notwhatever.” Jax leaned over the seat again, snatched another stack of money from the box, and held it out to him. “You need to buy them, too.”
“You want me to waste my money on some strangers?”
“I thought you said you were glad to put it to good use. And it’s the right thing to do.” He waved the wad of money under Kerry’s nose. “You know that, don’t you?”
“Is this more of that virtue stuff, like mercy?” Kerry’s upper lip curled.
“Are you telling me that you would walk right past other nephs, buy Gigi and Mira, and leave?” Jax shook his head. “I refuse to believe that.”
“All right, all right! I just didn’t think of it.”
I was fairly sure he was lying.
Brushing the cash aside, he told Jax to give him two baggies of gold nuggets. Jax passed them over the seat, then handed him his phone and showed him what to do.
“Listen, Ajax,” Kerry rumbled, “donotfollow me. You, either, Rome. If you do, you could get me killed. Or the girls. Or yourself.”
“Understood. We’ll stay in the car,” Rome promised.
“But if things go south,” Jax said, “send up a flare and we—”
“I ain’t gonna let it go south. I’ll get her out, Jax. I swear it.”
“I know you will.”
They bumped fists, then Kerry got out of the car, and we could only watch as he strode alone into the lions’ den.
