Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
“Hey, Kay,” Kun said, the words slurring. Her eyes were clouded as though she was on some really nice drugs. Death. Apparently death looked like that, too. “Tell Smith…something bad’s coming. There’s something deeper moving the pieces around. Heard hints of it, but can’t get close. Businesses and power players are changing the game. It’s bigger than either of our governments. Hate those fuckers.”
Kay reached out to put a hand on her sister’s. “We’ll call an ambulance.”
Bishop stopped her. “I’m sorry. You can’t touch her. You can’t leave anything to chance if the cops get hold of her body.”
There was a barely perceptible shake of her sister’s head. “I’m too far gone for help. And don’t worry about the cops. I suspect the Americans will clean it all up. Kayla, there’s so much I need to tell you. My organization is dangerous. Dangerous to your country.” Her words started to come slower and slower, fading with her life. “Dangerous to you…”
The hand dropped to her side and her sister’s whole body went still.
Ten showed up at the door, a gun at his side and a chill to his eyes.
“Is it done?” Bishop asked.
“Yes. The body is in a dumpster. We need to move out,” Ten said. “Kayla, it’s time to go.”
She found herself stuck on the floor. Was that really her sister’s body? How had things gone so wrong? “Where are we going?”
Ten holstered his weapon, slipping it under the light button-down he hadn’t tucked in. “I’m going to get you to the extraction point and you’ll be home soon. I’ll even let them debrief you on the plane so you can get on with your life. I know we talked about you continuing training, but this should change your mind. It’s too dangerous. Let’s get you home and you can rethink everything.”
Get on with her life? What would that look like? Did they think she could go back to her business classes? That she could study fucking marketing when she knew what the rest of the world didn’t? How was she supposed to sell dog food to bored housewives when her sister was dead? When the fuckers who made her life hell were still out there?
What group had her sister been talking about? Bigger than any government?
“There’s another way,” a silky voice said.
She’d never heard John Bishop speak this low and deep, his voice almost like rich, decadent chocolate. Then again, she’d never heard him play Mephistopheles before, either. Even in her emotional state, she knew that was the role he’d taken on.
“I think I should take her home, John.” Ten’s tone had gone low and insistent.
Bishop ignored him, putting a hand on her elbow and leading her out of the room. “Kayla, we have a unique opportunity to make something out of this mess. The truth is MSS has no idea your sister is dead and Ten has taken care of her assassin. It’s an easy leap of logic that Jiang Kun won the battle and took care of the Korean agent. Nothing has to change in their minds.”
Jiang Kun didn’t have to be dead. “How would I take her place?”
Ten looked back as though he could see through the wall and into the room that held her sister’s body. “You haven’t had enough training. A few months isn’t going to cut it.”
“Kun wasn’t expected back for a few days. I can teach her a lot in that time. Besides, as far as we can tell, the Chinese government has no idea she was a twin,” Bishop pointed out. “Kayla speaks perfect Mandarin. Hell, we can even use this little brushup as an excuse for any issues that come up. She got knocked out during the fight. She’s having some trouble with memory but she was smart enough to follow protocol. We’ll clean up. She’ll claim the kill, make her contact, and go back to base. She’s read the file on her sister.”
“That file isn’t the same as real knowledge,” Smith shot back. “You’re going to get her killed.”
They continued to argue, but Kay knew what she was going to do. Her mother had sacrificed so both her children could live. Kay was the only one left.
She couldn’t sacrifice to save them, but she could avenge them. She could finish her sister’s work.
It was the only gift she had to give.
* * * *
California
Joshua Hunt came awake with a start, his hand immediately going for the knife he kept under his pillow. The hilt was always the first thing he felt as he came out of that warm darkness, the first thing that made the nightmare real. When he slept, he was back in a world he understood, a world where his mom was alive, where his dad hadn’t been a wretched drunk. A world where someone loved him, took care of him.