No, she wasn’t thinking about vacationing with Hugh. She. Was. Not.
“You sure that’s all it is?” Kensie could always read her moods.
“I’m positive. Tell Francesca to hold her horses and I’ll even mention to Christian that the next top priority job ought to go to her.”
“Okay then. See you in a few.”
The bedroom door closed and Tess hurried into the bathroom to finish getting ready for what might be her last trip to P.I.E.
When forty-five minutes later they strolled into the well-appointed office, Tess’s stomach back-flipped. The clandestine operation tucked several floors below ground level inside a Los Angeles high-rise had never before made her queasy. Today the copper walls, marble flooring, refrigerated temperature and minimal furnishings took discomfort to a new level. She’d swear Alien was about to burst from her belly.
Francesca headed to see Christian, and Tess and Kensie chatted with the front office secretary, a lovely woman who had been with P.I.E. for only a few months. She wrapped her thick arms around each of them in a hug that suggested motherly pride and affection. After a few minutes of pleasantries, Tess took off for her small corner of the sterile environment.
She stepped into her fancy-shmancy office, threw Hugh’s file on her desk and took a seat in her swivel chair. God, she’d spent endless hours here poring over assignments and feeling like she was helping rid the world of evil. She’d been a dutiful employee and thrived on going undercover and eliminating. The mental reminder that all her previous targets had deserved to die didn’t help the sour stomach plaguing her.
Her phone buzzed, a red light blinking in Morse code to alert her that Christian was ready to see her. Time to put on your tough girl persona, Tess. Don’t let him see what’s going on inside you. Don’t give him reason to doubt your strength.
She walked down the hallway and tapped on his door.
“Come in,” he commanded.
The hundreds of time she’d entered before didn’t make this any easier. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes. Have a seat.”
One never sat unless instructed to do so. She took the single velvet upholstered chair centered across from his expansive mahogany desk. “Thank you.”
“How is the Langston case going?” He sat behind his desk like he owned the world. Impeccably dressed in a charcoal suit, black shirt and crimson tie, he oozed confidence. His dark brown hair reminded her of Bobby Darren’s in Gidget, her favorite movie when she was a teenager. Too bad the similarities ended there.
His eyes betrayed any semblance of decency. He leered at her, thin dark slits seeing, she knew, far more than one would expect with so little openness. If she looked at them too long, it felt like spiders crawling up her neck.
“Fine.” She couldn’t muster anything else to say.
“The client has phoned me several times inquiring as to when the elimination will occur.”
“I’m working on it.” Okay. That was better. She’d gathered more vocal strength.
“I told him it would be taken care of by Friday because I need to pull you from the case for a couple of days.”
Tess hoped her shock didn’t show. She prayed he couldn’t detect the fluctuation in her breathing pattern. He’d never pulled her from an assignment before. Never. Was he trying to leave her as little time as possible to take care of Hugh? Was he on to her?
“I don’t”—she paused, trying to correct the little glitch in her voice—“understand.”
He lifted his hands from his lap and placed them on the desk, one on top of the other. His silver and diamond pinky ring sparkled. “What is there to understand? I’m assigning you to an elimination that you must finish up in the next two days. Then you will return to your undercover work with Langston and kill him.”
There were too many damn questions swirling in her head so she decided to start with the new target. “Finish up? The assignment’s started?” Another first. What the hell was going on?
“Francesca’s been compromised. I just took her off the case. You’ll go in and finish. I’m confident you can handle it.”
Worry circulated through Tess. Had he given Francesca the same ultimatum he’d given her? Would she have one more chance to prove her worth too? “Why not assign Kensie since I’m on assignment already?”
Silence from the man across the desk.
Which gave her time to think.
Truthfully, being pulled from Hugh’s case for a couple of days might be a blessing in disguise. She needed distance from him. Needed something to keep her busy and remind her that she was a contracted assassin.
“I take that back. I’m happy to do it.”
“Exactly.” He handed her a single piece of paper. “This fact sheet is all you need. Francesca finished the preliminary work. All I want you to do is infiltrate and eliminate by Thursday. I trust that won’t be a problem.”
“No problem,” she said, reading over the sheet. In fact, it looked like a piece of cake. So easy that she might have time to get to San Diego and locate Dobson before Friday as well. Because she needed to find him before she could figure out what to do about Hugh.
“Back to the Langston case,” he began. “I sense some apprehension from you.”
The guy never missed a beat. That was why she knew she had to tell him the truth about what she’d found out.
“Yes. My investigation hasn’t turned up anything to warrant elimination.” There. She’d said what she came to say.
“I don’t care,” he said, his voice unwavering, authoritarian. “You are to eliminate the target on Friday.”
Since she’d never uncovered information to prove a Veiler innocent, she wondered if this would have been his standard reply on previous cases. She didn’t think so. Something about the way he didn’t move a muscle, didn’t let any more air escape his weathered lips than was necessary, told her this time was unique. Why?
“Actually, information I’ve found proves he’s—”
“Guilty. I told you this was your last chance. If you do not follow through with the elimination, there will be consequences.”
“Like me at the bottom of the river? You told me. I know.” Suddenly, his threats held little power over her. Once she found Dobson and figured out a way to save Hugh, he could put twenty-pound ankle weights on her for all she cared.
“Not you. Kensie and Francesca.” His lips barely moved yet the message came through loud and clear.
A weight knotted the back of her throat and plummeted to her stomach. Horror at the words he’d said swept a chill over her lips and down her spine.
He didn’t care about Hugh’s innocence. And he didn’t care about punishing her friends—and his employees—if she didn’t comply.
She’d dedicated herself to P.I.E. and in the blink of an eye she hated herself for it. The man she’d thought worked with integrity did no such thing. He’d just solidified her worst fears and confirmed all her doubts.
She hated him. Hated him for taking her loyalty and…and… God, if she’d been complicit in eliminating other innocents, what did that make her?
Goddamn him. She held her breath as she willed her body not to shake and her voice not to waver when she said, “This is my deal. Take it out on me and me alone.”
“I’ve come to the conclusion there’s no fun in that. You’re reckless, brash. Couldn’t care less about what happens to you. And despite your recent failures, still my best employee.”