“Okay,” Jack replied.
Bill stopped laughing. “TQ puts him to shame,” he said seriously.
“Look, I don’t want trouble with the authorities. My record’s a mile long, and they’ll use anything to lock me up for life. I can’t afford to have some money-hungry contractor looking for me. Why not let this one walk?”
“Because I enjoy breathing. I’ve done three years in Attica and I can tell you, it’s nothing compared to how the bitch handles treason. She’d never buy some broad got away from the four of us.”
The van pulled into an industrial complex on the edge of Alexandria, Virginia. The streets were vacant, the buildings closed and shuttered. This wasn’t looking at all good, and Jack was running out of ideas.
“You know, scar aside, you’re one fine-looking woman,” Bill said.
“Say what?”
“I’m just saying, maybe we could get together later and fuck.” He glanced at her. “What do you say?”
“I say, I’d rather fuck my hand for all eternity.”
Bill smiled, as though oblivious to Jack’s answer. “Well, think about it.” He nodded toward a warehouse just ahead. “We’re here.”
Jack peered out the window at the dark, abandoned building as they parked. Both got out, and once Bill had retrieved an assault rifle from behind his seat, he opened the back. The sedan that had been following parked as well, several yards behind, its headlights illuminating the scene.
“Let’s go, ladies,” he said.
Wagner got out first and looked around, her expression one of terror.
Once she got her first good look at Wagner, Jack understood a great deal more about the exchange she’d witnessed earlier. The woman was a dead ringer for the president. What had she been assigned to do for TQ? The possibilities were mind-boggling.
“Where are you taking us?” Wagner asked.
“No questions,” Bill replied.
“I was promised money and freedom,” Wagner insisted. “I did what you people asked me to. I kept my word. Now you had better keep yours.”
“Or what?” He pointed his AK-47 at her.
Kennedy jumped out of the van and stood in front of Wagner. She placed her hand on the weapon’s muzzle. “Relax. She’s afraid, that’s all.”
Bill pulled the automatic away and pointed it at Kennedy. “Don’t touch my shit.”
Kennedy raised her hands. “No offense.”
He poked the muzzle in Kennedy’s stomach. “You don’t seem too worried. I can change that.”
Jack could tell he was getting irritated. Their orders were to off the two inside, but if Kennedy pushed, Jack didn’t put it beyond the idiot to shoot. It wasn’t like anyone would hear them out here. Just then, the two goons from the sedan came to stand next to them.
Kennedy stared Bill straight in the eye. “You look pretty stupid pointing your shit at two defenseless women.”
The two guys from the sedan laughed, which irritated Bill even more.
“Who the fuck are you calling stupid, Kennedy?” He shifted the muzzle from Kennedy’s stomach to her head. “If anyone looks stupid, it’s a fucking private contractor with a gun pointed at her head.”
Maybe the words rang too true to Kennedy, because her stance said she was about to pounce, which would be a disaster.
“Whoa, big guy.” Jack went to stand next to him, grateful he was too distracted to notice her hand slip in and out of his pocket. She looked intently at Kennedy. “Same goes for you.”
Bill lowered his weapon. “Fucking contractor.”
“Understand?” Jack asked, her serious gaze still on the op.
Kennedy continued to look at Jack as if trying to follow her.
“My people use whatever means necessary.” Jack used the EOO motto.
“So do mine.” Kennedy looked confused.
“I’m scared,” Bill said, oblivious to what was taking place. “This way.” He gestured with his assault rifle toward the dark building.
Kennedy looked at Jack one last time and moved forward with Wagner, one hand on her elbow.
“I want to talk to my lawyer,” Wagner shouted. “We had a deal.”
“Hold on, I’ll get him on the phone for you.” Bill laughed.
Wagner pleaded. “Kennedy had nothing to do with this.”
“Don’t know what her deal is, but I’d take her out for the fun of it,” he replied.
Wagner stopped walking and turned around. “Let her go, she hasn’t done—”
He slapped her so hard across the face that Wagner fell down. “You don’t tell me what to do, bitch. Now shut the fuck up.”
Kennedy helped her back on her feet. “You have very bad timing when it comes to telling the truth.”
Wagner was bleeding from her lip and nose. “I kept my mouth shut to protect both of us.”
“Keep walking,” Bill said. They moved forward again as a small group, with the two guys from the sedan following all of them from behind.
Once in the building, Bill turned on a flashlight and led everyone down a short, dark stairwell to the basement. While he covered the two women, one of TQ’s men from the sedan flipped a switch and a single dangling light bulb came to life, casting shadows in the cavernous room.
The beams above their heads were damp with moisture, and large dark stains marred the concrete floor, both contributing to the rank, stale air. A few broken pallets lay beside a small half-wall of concrete to Jack’s left, and stacks of metal barrels were bunched in groups around the perimeter, but the center of the room was empty. The EMERGENCY EXIT sign above a heavy door at the far end of the room illuminated it.
The second man from the sedan walked over to the most foreboding feature of the room, the massive industrial furnace that dominated one wall. He turned on the burner and opened the heavy steel door. “Should be nice and toasty in a few minutes.”
TQ’s three henchmen had clearly all been here before; separately, or together, they had used this building for similar purposes. Their expressions and demeanor indicated this was just another day at the office for them.
Wagner looked terrified. “What’s going on? Why are we here?”
One of TQ’s men laughed and turned to Jack. “Tell her. It’s your show, after all.”
Jack looked at Kennedy. “It would appear my new boss likes to haze her newcomers.”
Kennedy simply nodded once.
Wagner stepped forward. “What does that mean?”
“It means Silent Death here is new, and this is her first test,” one of the men said. He looked at the furnace and back to Jack, then crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re on.” He smiled as if anxious to see her perform.
Bill took the pistol from his shoulder holster and handed it to Jack. He stood to her right, facing Wagner and Kennedy, while TQ’s two other goons stood to her left.
Jack stared at Kennedy. “Showtime.”
Bill patted her on the back. “Damn right, and no worries about the contractor. She’s all words. Take her out, and you never have to worry about her or her people coming after you.”
*
Shield stared intently at the dark-haired woman with the scar, trying to anticipate her intentions as she checked the pistol her associate had given her. Was she reading her right? Was this mysterious stranger trying to help them? She seemed to be their only possible way out of this situation.
“This is crazy,” Wagner said with a trembling voice from her right. “Kennedy hasn’t done anything.” She went to step in front of Shield, but Shield quickly pulled her back behind her as the woman raised the weapon and pointed it at them. They were only ten feet apart.
Shield could feel Wagner’s trembling hand on her back, and her rapid breathing from behind filled her ears.