“Why do you keep that goddamn photo around? It's dangerous!”
Victor placed the photo tenderly back on the shelf. “To keep you honest, Edward,” he said softly.
“You are one crazy, twisted son-of-a-bitch.”
Victor shrugged. “Perhaps. Since you won't take advantage of my hospitality, let's move on directly to the favor I want from you.”
“Yeah. Spit it out, and quit fucking with my head.”
“The task is simple enough. I want you to guard my niece.”
“What?” Riggs's eyes widened, and the broken capillaries over his nose seemed to throb visibly. “You're out of your mind!”
“Not at all. Don't worry, you won't have to deal with her personally. I don't want her to know about our arrangement. I just want you to keep her under your eye at all times. Keep her house under surveillance. Watch her every move. Follow her wherever she goes.”
“That's insane! The Cave—”
“You haven't taken a vacation from the Cave in over five years, Edward,” Victor cut in. “Arrange one.”
Riggs stared at him, aghast. “But I just got promoted! I can't—”
“Of course you can. Don’t play the victim, for God's sake. You're a rich man, thanks to your association with me. You have no cause to complain. And this is the last favor I will ever ask of you.”
Riggs squinted, disbelieving. “Really?” “Absolutely the last,” Victor assured him. “With this simple task, our account will be closed. You have my word.”
“What does she need to be protected from?” Riggs demanded. “Who wants to whack her? And why the secrecy?”
“That doesn't concern you,” Victor said.
“It's Novak, right?” Riggs said slowly. “Novak wants to get to you. Through her.”
Every now and then the man inconvenienced him with brief flashes of genuine intelligence. “It is not necessary for you to know why” he said coldly. “Just do as you are told. If you should be discovered, you know exactly what will happen if you mention me.”
“This is insane “ Riggs muttered. “How am I supposed to—”
“Don't whine,” Victor snapped. “Do I have to spell out everything for you? A federal agent at the pinnacle of his career, and you need instructions from me as to how to keep your eye on an innocent young woman? Use your dirty mind, Edward. I've seen it at work in those videos, so I know damn well you have one.”
Hatred glowed hot in Riggs's eyes. His hands clenched into fists. “Just watching the girl? That's all you want from me?”
“That's all.” Victor opened a cabinet and pulled out a handheld monitor. “Take this. It's already keyed to the transmitters planted in her clothing and jewelry. The device is simple enough so that even you should be able to figure it out. Her identifying icon is a tiny jewel. You must stay within five kilometers for the monitor to work. This enables you to find her more easily should she slip away, but I would prefer it if you kept her physically under your eye. Do you understand?”
Riggs took the monitor, holding it as if it were a ticking bomb. “How long do I have to do this?”
“I don't know yet.”
Riggs began to shake his head, and Victor let his voice soften. “Just this one last thing, and it will be all over” he said. “Think of the freedom, the peace of mind. And Edward?”
Riggs turned back from the door, looking hunted.
“I do not want a hair on her head harmed.” Victor enunciated very clearly. “At your hand, or anyone else's. If you fail me, I will destroy you completely. Completely. Do you understand?”
Riggs's face twisted. “You're out of your mind, Victor. Why are you doing this? That girl could destroy both of us!”
“Because that girl is worth ten of you, you miserable piece of shit. Now get out of my sight. I can't bear to look at you for another second.”
Riggs flinched, lips drawn back in an animal snarl. The mortal hatred between the two of them flashed in the dim room, as perceptible as a drawn blade. “You hate me for doing in Peter, don't you? You didn't have the balls to do it yourself, you arrogant prick. And you hate me for doing your dirty work.”
Victor's nostrils dilated in disgust The man stank of ruin, decay, and violent, premature death. “Don't push me, Edward,” he said, from between his clenched teeth. “I'm out of patience.”
Riggs's mouth worked. “Remember what you said about betrayal and self-loathing? Look in the mirror, Victor. You spit on me, you're spitting on yourself.”
“Shut up and do as you're told. Get out.”
Victor listened to the man clump away. He was clenching his fists, almost unbearably tempted to go after Riggs and put him out of his misery, once and for all. In the dark, from behind, as he deserved.
Yes, it was past time to devise a fitting retirement gift for Edward Riggs. Something very special, to pay him back for all his years of loyal service. He had been a walking dead man ever since he had soiled his hands with Peter's blood, but it was clear that Riggs's life was worth nothing anyway. Victor had been squeezing every last drop of usefulness out of him before his sentence was carried out. Waste not, want not.
He knew it was hypocritical. The order to kill his younger brother had been his own, after all. But Victor had given Peter every chance. He had reasoned with him, pleaded, and finally threatened him. A lifetime of wheeling and dealing, of holding his nose and doing what had to be done for the sake of the family. Protecting their interests, insuring their future. All the dirty work he had willingly taken on so that Peter and his family could sit in the lap of luxury, serene and pampered.
After all that, betrayal.
There was no point in thinking about it. Every thought that passed through his mind he'd thought a thousand times before. He poured himself a drink and gulped the liquor down, trying not to compare himself to Edward Riggs. He was not yet quite so reduced.
Ordering Peter's murderer to protect Katya was somewhat bizarre, he thought, with a twinge of doubt. But it made a certain crazy sense. Riggs was the perfect man for the job. For all his personal failings, he was a skilled professional. Best of all, he was expendable. He would do what had to be done, and Mackey was sure to notice that his lover was being followed. His reaction would be swift and predictable.
How amusing it would be if Mackey should end up killing Riggs. So much the better. It would be a fitting end, and it would save Victor the trouble and expense of arranging it himself. And since Mackey would never know who had hired the man, he would remain on guard for Novak or anyone else that Novak might send. It was perfect. Airtight.
But sadly, Riggs had ruined the rare good mood that the party had put him in. It had given him such pleasure to see Katya's beauty polished to a high gloss and displayed in a proper setting, out of Alix's long shadow at last. But Riggs had pried open Pandora's box. Ugly memories were fluttering out like bats.
The door behind him opened, and he recognized Mara's perfume, an earthy, alluring blend of essential oils. She made no sound as she padded across the cream-colored Aubusson carpet. “I saw Riggs out,” she said. “Charlie took him back to the mainland.”
'Thank you, Mara.”
He almost dismissed her then and there. He knew from bitter experience that sex could be disastrous when his mood was so precarious, but he had his weaknesses, too. He turned and looked.
She had changed her clothing. Gone was the black evening gown slit up to the hip that had been chosen to set off an exquisite antique, a Japanese pearl and lapis headdress that she had worn over her braided coil of dark hair. She had taken down her hair. The braids had left soft ripples in it, giving her a softer, more vulnerable look. She was wearing a short tunic of white silk, simple and stark, which showed off the length of her bronze thighs. The toe ring was gone.