The Debt 5 by Kelly Favor Page B

speaking to me,” she said.   “He sent me away, he broke off our
relationship.”
    Zeke’s dead eyes just stared at her.   “Our sources tell us that’s not the
case.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means we know that Jake Novak is
still susceptible to your power of feminine persuasion.   It means that he has a weakness for you,
and you only, as far as we can determine.   Therefore, you will find a way to
rekindle your relationship with him, and you will begin telling us everything
he tells you.”   Clip.   Clip.   Clip.   “That means you’ll dig for the truth
about what Jake did in Afghanistan, and you won’t rest until you find out.   And I won’t rest until the truth has
been told to me,” Zeke said, spittle flying from his lips.
    Raven looked down and saw that he was
gripping the nail clippers so tightly that his hand had gone white around the
knuckles.
    He’s
crazy , she thought.   Whoever
this man is—he’s completely out of his mind .
    “I’ll…I’ll think about it,” she said
softly.
    “No, you’ll do it,” Max told her.
    Zeke glanced at him and slightly shook
his head before turning to Raven with a renewed
smile.   “I’ve laid all of our cards
on the table,” he said.   “I didn’t
need to do that, but it’s my way.   I
presented you with the opportunity, and I explained our point of view.   Now it’s up to you, Raven .”
    “I don’t seem to have much of a choice,”
she said.
    “Oh, but you do.   Everyone has choice.”   He went back to clipping his nails.   Clip.   Clip.   The thumbnail, in particular, seemed to
be getting rather short.   “Everyone
has a choice,” he repeated.  
    “Will you kill me if I don’t help you?”
she asked.
    He didn’t even pause.   “Not at first.”
    “But you will eventually.”
    “No, I believe that eventually we will
convince you to do what’s needed.”
    Raven’s insides felt wrung out, empty and
barren.   “What if Jake turns me
down?” she asked.
    “That would be very unfortunate for you,”
Zeke said.   “It would be unfortunate
for you, and your friend Skylar, and your mother, your father, even your
brother Daniel.”
    Raven was frozen from the coldness of
Zeke’s eyes, and the chilling words that had crossed his lips.   He had just threatened everyone in the
world that was close to her without hesitation.
    “Leave my family out of this,” she
whispered.
    Zeke sat up in his seat and craned his
head.   “Oh, look what we have
here.   Some kind
of concert?   See all the
teenyboppers running around—what a silly thing it all looks from a
distance.   And yet, this silly
little event is worth millions of dollars.”
    Raven saw that they had been driving
quite a distance, and she’d been so engrossed in the conversation with Zeke
that she hadn’t noticed where they were even going.  
    But now she realized that they’d arrived
at Jake’s concert.   In fact, the
concert was due to start soon.   The
parking lots were already filling up with cars and there were people
everywhere, walking around, eating, drinking, playing Jake Novak songs, even carrying signs.
    There was even a fairly large group of a
couple dozen protestors, picketing the concert.   Their signs said JAKE THE SNAKE and WE
DON’T PAY FOR BULLIES TO PLAY and things of that nature.
    More than a few cops were patrolling and
walking around, keeping an eye on things in case they got out of hand.
    “What are we doing here?” she asked.
    Zeke finally put his nail clippers away
and brushed the trimmings from his pants.   His motions were short, brusque, and economical.   “We’re here to start you back on the right
track, Raven.   I like to give my
employees a helping hand whenever possible.”
    Max gave a signal to the driver and the
car stopped in its tracks.
    Zeke pointed toward the front of the
car.   “If you were to walk a few
hundred yards past this car, straight towards the arena, you’d eventually run
into a member