"This is Emerson's sister?" Dubaku asked, looking me up and down in a fashion that made me tremble.
"Yeah," Tony replied. "She's pretty docile and submissive."
I knew he was telling me what he wanted me to do. Obeying orders and not fighting back might keep me alive a little bit longer, especially since death seemed inevitable.
"Put her in the bedroom," Dubaku told Bauer. "Mr. Almeida and I will handle the financial aspects of our transactions."
Bauer took my arm roughly and led me back to the bedroom. I glanced back at Tony and gave him a brave smile. His face didn't have any expression, but his dark eyes were full of concern.
When Bauer opened the door to the bedroom, the sight in front of us stopped us both in our tracks. Henry Taylor, the First Gentleman, was tightly bound to a chair in the room, a gag stuffed in his mouth. His eyes got wide when he saw us coming in, but they weren't wide with fear.
Without any hesitation, Jack shoved me down on the ground opposite Mr. Taylor. "Be good," he ordered me.
Out in the living room, Dubaku handed Tony a silver briefcase. "Here is the ten-thousand dollars we agreed on," he said in his heavily accented voice.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Tony replied, a slight hint of sarcasm tinting the tone of his speech.
"She's a beautiful girl. She'll bring a fairly good price on the slave market, don't you think?" Dubaku's faced twisted into an evil smile, if such a man could actually smile.
"That's your plan?" Jack spoke as he closed the door behind him and came back into the room. "You're going to sell her?"
"That, or I might just kill her. First, I need some information about where she's hidden my money. Then, I will decide what to do with her."
After a few more hostile words between the three, Jack and Tony left, money in hand. Tony's expression was blank and, for once, Jack couldn't read his friend. Something that Dubaku had said had peaked his interest, however.
"He said that she knew where his money was," Jack remarked to Tony as the started down the stairwell.
"She's only involved in this because of who her brother was, Jack," Tony insisted. "She doesn't have anything to do with what David and I did."
"Are you sure?" Jack persisted. He wasn't as convinced as Tony was. "Maybe she was involved and didn't know it."
"Listen, Jack, the only thing that David ever did for his sister was to send her money and expensive jewelry, which she never wore. She put the money in a savings account and the jewelry in a safe deposit box. I know because I helped her put it in there," Tony told him.
Back in the bedroom, I glanced over at Henry Taylor. I really wanted to remove the gag from his mouth and ask him how he had gotten here, but I was frozen with fear by what I'd heard Dubaku say just before Bauer closed the bedroom door. He was thinking about selling me to the highest bidder. I'd kill myself before I let that happen.