“We also found a half-eaten sandwich and milk on the counter,” Arthur said.
“She’d never do that.” Cass didn’t know if she should feel relieved or more worried. It was becoming clear Jack hadn’t just left or done something to hurt herself, so that meant… “She left to protect me from something.”
“Someone,” Pierce said.
“Who?”
“Do you know if she had any contact with past…clients?”
“Yuri Dratshev was in touch a week or so ago. He said he had a job for her.”
“You said she stopped taking hits,” Arthur said.
“She has.” Cassady didn’t bother to hide her irritation. “Jack said Dratshev wouldn’t stop trying to reach her, so she planned to call him to tell him she’d retired.”
“I want to meet with Dratshev,” Pierce said to Arthur.
“With what excuse? Arthur asked.
“I’ll think of something.”
“You don’t think he did something to Jaclyn?” Grant asked.
“I doubt it,” Cassady replied. “As far as I know, he has a lot of respect for her, especially after the Owens case.”
Pierce got up. “Maybe, just maybe, Jaclyn decided—”
“I know where you’re going,” Cass glared at him, her temper rising, “and no…Jack promised she’d never go back to that life.”
Pierce raised his hand to calm her. “Cassady, listen to me. Maybe she was threatened to do so.”
“What would Dratshev threaten her with? He doesn’t know where to find her. He doesn’t even have her real name. He doesn’t know anything.”
“Maybe he managed to find her, somehow. It’s possible he took Jaclyn at gunpoint, which would explain the sandwich.”
“Why would he come with it now, nearly two years later?”
“Could be something good came up, and he desperately wants Jaclyn for the job,” Arthur said.
“And is using something,” Pierce added, “evidence, or whatever, against her if she doesn’t accept his offer.”
“Do you think he’s threatening her with me?” Cass asked.
“Why would you think that?” Pierce replied.
“Yes, I think he is.” Grant looked at Cassady. “Jack wrote that she had to do this because she couldn’t bear the thought of anyone ever hurting you again. I think Jack decided to go to him to protect you.”
“Then why the undertone of finality?” Cassady looked down at the piece of paper. “‘Know that I will always love you,’” she read. “Jack knows I’d forgive her. I’d understand her having to take a job to save her own or my life. I’d do the same.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Cassady,” Grant said.
Pierce turned to Arthur. “Does the Russian still live in Manhattan Beach?”
“I’ll have Reno check,” Arthur replied.
“Have me booked on the first flight out tomorrow,” Pierce said. “I want to see him ASAP.”
Arthur started to leave, but Cassady put a hand out to stop him. “Make that two tickets.”
Pierce frowned. “We don’t know what he’s holding against her. It may be you, or it may not. It’s not wise to expose the company or your relationship to Jaclyn and give him ammo.”
“How would I be exposing the company?”
“He knows who I am,” Pierce replied. “Yuri and I have met.”
*
Houston, Texas
TQ smiled as she looked out the window of her office at the downtown skyline. Everything was falling nicely into place. Her guest, confined to another of her apartments in the same building, was cooperative, the double was performing even better than she’d hoped for, and the culmination of her plan to cripple the illegal-weapons agenda was only hours away. She couldn’t wait to be able to return her attention fully to growing her business and, with it, her power. Now all that remained was to tie up all the loose ends. She called Kenneth Moore to make sure everything was on track for the big announcement.
“We are going public with it tomorrow,” Moore said.
“As scheduled then. I’ll call the Russian imbecile to have his people get Thomas ready.”
“Oh, and the florist and her gal pal need to be taken care of as soon as the switch takes place,” Moore said.
“Of course. You sound worried. Do you want to share something?”
“I think Wagner talked to the bodyguard.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I caught them talking, and when I asked what it was about, Kennedy said the president had promised to play tennis with her.”
TQ straightened in her chair. She knew the double’s capabilities well; she’d studied every facet of the woman’s past and had herself decided what should be included in her training. “What did Wagner have to say about that?”
“She looked uncomfortable,” Moore replied. “I doubt Wagner offered to play anything against the guard.”
“Of course not, you idiot. She’s never held a racket in her life.”
“How sure are we about that?”
“Sure enough to know Kennedy made it up on the spot.”
“We’re going to upset some very dangerous people by killing one of theirs,” Moore said.
“They’ll never find out who did it.”
“You seem to have a lot of faith in the unpredictable Russian.”
“It’s not Dratshev I’m placing my chips on. I know he’s capable of using the florist as a bargaining tool, either with me or with the police.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s why I’ve chosen someone with too much at stake to disappoint us.”
“How do you know he has the nuts to do it, let alone do it right? Threatening someone’s life or their family doesn’t mean they won’t screw up.”
“First of all, it’s a she,” TQ replied. “Secondly, she’s one of the best in the business, and last but not least, her Achilles’s heel is worth more than anybody’s money can buy.”
“And you own that heel.”
“Obviously.”
“Well, good.” He sounded relieved. “Because frankly, I’m ready to have this over with. I haven’t slept in six months, my wife won’t stop complaining about my lack of libido, and I’m losing my hair.”
TQ sighed. Moore was an essential ingredient to her plan’s success, but he was proving to be too high-maintenance. “Aside from irrelevant, it’s also an I-don’t-give-a-damn tidbit of information. Make sure Wagner does her homework and stop whining. It’s very unbecoming.”
She disconnected and dialed again. Yuri Dratshev already knew the time and location for the switch back; she needed only to tell him that things could proceed as scheduled.
Yuri Dratshev picked up immediately. “Da?”
“Your guest is ready to go home,” she said.
“I will take care of it.”
“You are not to touch the florist,” she reminded him, “or her friend. My people will deal with them.”
“What friend?” he asked.
“It doesn’t concern you. Once your delivery is made, your job is done.”
She’d barely hung up the phone when it rang again. The caller ID told her it was the guy she’d put in charge of watching Cassady Monroe. “Yes?”
“We lost Monroe.”
She put the call on speakerphone. “Tell me I heard wrong.”
He cleared his throat. “I don’t know how it happened.”
“I pay you enough to make sure you know how everything happens.”
“She must have left late last night or very early this morning.”
“Where were you?”
“The hotel across the street.”
“Sleeping.”
“I stayed on watch until two.”
“I don’t pay you to fucking sleep.” TQ slammed her hand on the desk.
“We were taking turns. The lights in her room were still on when Mike took over.”