DECEPTIO (Excerpt)

“Maxwell, what are we doing here? Why are we stopping?” he asked, his tone rising. “I thought I said that I wanted to go home?”

“Let’s just say that you’re not going home yet. At least not until you answer some questions. And then, maybe not ever.”

“Who are you? You’re not Maxwell,” Rankin shouted.

“You’re very perceptive aren’t you? Somebody give the man a prize.”

“If what you’re after is money, I don’t have any on me so you’ve made a mistake.” Rankin said even as he tried to open the door. The door refused to open.

“Don’t bother trying. It’s locked from here. And that’s a very wrong this to tell someone who wants money. He might think you have no value for your life.”

The mention of his life stopped Rankin cold. “Are you here to kill me? I can assure you that if you kill me, the FBI will track you down and you’ll burn for murder. You can’t kill a United States senator and expect to get away with it.”

“Well someone killed Robert Partridge and he’s still at large. The FBI haven’t caught him and I don’t think they will.”

The mention of Robert Partridge’s name made Rankin break out in a cold sweat. Either the guy knew something or he was fishing. “Who are you? What do you know about Robert Partridge?”  

Morton turned and pointed a gun at Rankin making the other man cringe. “George sends his greetings. He would have loved to be here but he couldn’t make it.”

“You killed him didn’t you?”

“Let’s just say it was a case of him or me. And like I said, I need some questions answered or you just might join him.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Why do you people want to kill Susan Partridge?”

Rankin was taken aback. “Wherever did you get that idea from?”

“It’s quite obvious that someone or a group of people are behind her sudden rise. It seems to me like some people are building her up so that they can make a statement with her death. Why do you want to kill her?”

“I don’t know where you got that idea from but nothing could be further from the truth,” Rankin said. It was quite obvious that the man knew nothing and he was only fishing.

“What do you have to gain by killing her? What are you people after?”

“Really,” Rankin said smiling, “I don’t know where you got all your ideas from. We have nothing whatsoever to gain from Susan Partridge’s death. I don’t know what you intend to gain by all this but don’t you think that you should let me go before the police catch you?”

“What about if I tortured you? I’m sure I have enough time to break a few of your fingers or your jaw. That should get you talking.”

Rankin blanched. “You wouldn’t.”

“So if you’re not trying to kill her and there’s no plot to kill her, why don’t you tell me what connection there is between you and George.”

“Because of my work, I know a lot of people, some of whom I can’t remember where I met them,” Rankin said smiling. “I really can’t remember where I met George or put a face with the name.”

“Isn’t it quite interesting that the same person whom you can’t remember had your number as the only number on his phone? And it shows that he called you when he arrived in Washington.”

Rankin shrugged. “He called me but I didn’t remember him. He wanted us to meet up so that we could catch up on old times but we never met. Because you killed him.”

Morton had a strong desire to do something to wipe the smirk off Rankin’s face. He released the safety catch of the gun and leaned forward to press the gun into his temple. “Since you know that I killed George, then you should be aware that I won’t have any compunction about putting a bullet through your skull.”

“But the question is “Will you”? Let me give you a piece of advice. You’re way in over your head here whoever you are. The best thing would be for you to stop pushing your nose into areas where you have no business. That kind of thing is what gets people killed.”

It was Morton’s turn to smile. “So now you’re threatening me?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Rankin said. “Like I said, it’s advice. You either take it or leave it.”

Morton looked at him intently. “I’ll leave it. Could you pass a message to your people for me? Rankin continued staring at him without acknowledging that he heard or understood the question. “Tell them it’s not over. I’m watching.”

With that, he opened the door and stepped out of the car into the dark night.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO. The book is published by WestBow Press (www.westbowpress.com) , a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers.