Page 112 of Locked and Loaded

Lennox turned and faced Georgiou, who seemed momentarily confused by what was going on.

The bodyguards began pounding on the window in the fire door, shouting something she couldn't make out through the thick laminated panel. One of them was already reaching beneath his jacket.

She didn't care. For the first time in three months, she stood face to face with the man who might know where Chloe was.

Georgiou regarded her with mild hostility. "Get out of the way." His voice was calm. Cultured. Almost bored.

Lennox drew the knife from beneath her shawl. The polished blade caught the overhead lights. “My name is Lennox Crowe. I want to know where my sister Chloe is.”

Surprise and then recognition lit his face briefly before a mask of practiced indifference slipped into place. "I’m afraid I can't help you. I don’t know anyone named Chloe Crowe."

"Liar."

He gave a small shrug. "Perhaps I’ve met her, but I meet many people."

"You traffic many people,” she responded.

The indifference disappeared.

His security was still banging on the door, but Lennox wasn’t budging.

Georgiou studied her more carefully now, weighing possibilities, calculating distances, looking for weaknesses the way she imagined he'd done his entire life.

"I think you've made a very serious mistake."

"I've been making mistakes for weeks." She tightened her grip on the knife. "Tonight I'm correcting one of them."

Behind him, the bodyguards slammed against the glass again. One drew his pistol and smashed the butt against the window. A spiderweb of cracks spread across the outer layer. The glass held.

Georgiou glanced over his shoulder.

Lennox shook her head.

"They'll get through eventually."

"They probably will," she agreed.

"They'll kill you."

"Maybe." She shrugged. "But by the time they get in here, the police will already be inside the building. Your choices are disappearing by the second."

He looked back at her.

She stepped directly into his path.

"The only way out is through me."

His gaze dropped briefly to the knife before returning to her face.

"You don't have it in you."

She smiled. "You seem awfully confident for a man who's trapped."

"I've met women like you before."

"I doubt that."

He took a deliberate step toward her. Testing. Expecting her to give way.