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  “Oops, my mistake,” he said. “So where’s Reginald?”

  “What do you know about him?”

  “He’s the cheering squad for screwing up your team,” he murmured. “And when DeeDee finds out, she’ll be hunting for his blood.”

  “She ain’t getting it though,” he said, laughing. “Doesn’t matter who the hell she thinks she is, she’s nothing but a dame.”

  “Funny how you make that sound like an insult.”

  “She thinks she’s as good as a guy, and that’s just bullshit. You’re only as good as you are for the next five minutes of your life in this business,” he said. “The minute you lose control, it’s all over.”

  “I agree with that,” he said. “But I highly doubt that DeeDee will believe or accept that she’s lost control.”

  “Too bad,” he said, “because she probably should.”

  “Accept that she’s lost control? No, I can’t see her doing that,” he said.

  “That’s her mistake. The fact that she’s got so many going rogue just means that something is shifting right now.”

  “Yep, the Queen’s losing control, so everybody’s moving in for the kill, huh?”

  “You’ve seen it happen a time or two, just like I have,” he said.

  “That’s true,” Kano nodded. “And the building’s not very big, so your guys are in here somewhere. Not sure why they’re hiding though.”

  “Aren’t you hiding?”

  “Nope, I’m standing right here in the doorway,” he said.

  “Still looks like hiding to me.”

  Kano looked at Catherine. “Did they hurt you?”

  “No,” she said, “not really. But I was definitely the draw to get you here.”

  “Of course,” he said. “Guys like this have no loyalty,” he said. “Absolutely no standards and definitely no honor among them.”

  “Honor? You want to talk about honor?” he sneered. “You work for Bullard, one of the most lethal men out there.”

  “Only when he has to be,” he said. “And that’s a big difference.”

  “Depends on which side of that lethal force you’re on,” he said.

  At that, he looked at him closely. “Why? Did you ever apply to work for him?”

  He just shrugged.

  “Ah, and you got turned down, did ya? Bullard’s standards are pretty high,” he said. “So don’t take it the wrong way. He doesn’t accept everybody.”

  “He accepted you,” he said, with a sneer.

  “Yeah, Bullard and I go way back,” he said. “Most of the team and I do. And what we don’t have in time, we have in experience together, where we know we’ve got each other’s back.”

  “So you won’t mind if we put a bullet in your buddy’s head then?”

  “I’m likely to put a bullet in your guy’s head, so that’s possibly fair play.”

  He heard Catherine gasp in shock.

  He smiled at her. “My team is pretty talented,” he said. She relaxed ever-so-slightly, but her gaze was watchful, and then she slipped her focus to the right of Kano and then back to him and then to the right again.

  He nodded and said, “You got two guys here to help you out, huh? Three guys to handle one woman? Sounds like she’s a danger to you.”

  “Grabbing her was a piece of cake. We just want to make sure that we get this finished finally.”

  “You want to tell me why you guys were after Bullard in the first place?”

  “Because we were paid, why else?” he said in astonishment. “Why do you do something? You only do it because money is involved.”

  “But you won’t tell me who paid?” Kano asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I honestly thought it was DeeDee, but apparently it wasn’t.”

  “But her guy Reginald, he’s involved.”

  “I think DeeDee turned it down, and this guy decided it was such good money that he should do it privately.”

  “That makes sense,” Kano murmured, “and so much like these guys. It’s all about the highest bidder.”

  “I don’t think any of us are rich enough to make any kind of argument there,” he said. “When you think about it, we don’t have a whole lot of options to make good money. And this was good money.”

  “It’s really frustrating that we still don’t know who’s behind all this,” Kano said.

  “I’m pretty damn sure you’re only one leg away from it here,” he said.

  “Maybe. On the other hand, it seems a little too simple.”

  “Good money’s too simple? You think it’ll come at a freebie price?”

  “You didn’t have to involve Catherine at all, if Bullard is who you wanted to kill,” he said. “Got to be something more here.”

  “They want proof of death,” the guy said suddenly.

  “Interesting, and that’ll be the person who’s behind Bullard’s death because they don’t know for sure he’s gone.”

  “Everybody knows he’s gone,” he said, “but because nobody has proof of death, nobody can get paid for it.”

  At that, Kano started to laugh. “That’s great,” he said. “So now you know. Next time you want to kill somebody, don’t blow them up over the South Pacific Ocean and expect to find body parts.”

  “Right. Not exactly the brainiest action, but it was effective in the sense that he’s gone. So, whatever.”

  “But now it’s all about wanting to make sure anybody who had anything to do with it is taken out as well. Which is bullshit,” he said, “but then I still don’t understand why somebody is taking out Bullard in the first place.”

  “Competition,” he said.

  “Maybe,” Kano said, “but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

  “It doesn’t matter if it makes sense to you or not,” he said.

  “No, I suppose not, but I’m still looking to see who it is and why somebody is trying to kill me,” Kano said.

  “I told you. Jesus, are you stupid or what? It’s all about the payout.”

  “Which still doesn’t explain why my head is on the chopping block though. Me dead is not proof that Bullard is dead.”

  “Somebody put a price on you,” he said. “That’s all you need to know.”

  “Right.” In the meantime, Kano had slowly withdrawn his weapon and had it tucked up against his back. “So will you let me take her out of here?”

  “You can come and get her,” he said, with a laugh, meaning, of course not.

  “Perfect.” He walked forward a few steps, knowing that the door could open at any moment, still without surety if the new entrant was on his side or the other side because he really didn’t know the true alliance of who had arrived in that vehicle. As he went to take another step forward, Catherine called out, “Stop.”

  He froze and looked at her.

  She took a deep breath. “Just leave,” she said. “Turn around and walk away.”

  He looked at her, smiled, and said, “Sweetheart, that’ll never happen.” He could see the tears in her eyes and realized she thought he wouldn’t survive this.

  “I didn’t want to see you again only to have to say goodbye,” she said.

  “We never really said goodbye the first time,” he said. “It really should have been just a see you later, until we saw each other the next time anyway.”

  She gave him a crooked smile. “It’s a little late for you to say that now.”

  “We’ve been dancing toward this since the moment we saw each other again,” he said easily.

  “Are you guys nuts?” the gunman said. “I don’t give a shit about your relationship. I don’t want to hear all the little bits and pieces of it,” he said.

  But Kano ignored him.

  She looked at the gunman and said, “That’s because you lost yours,” she murmured. “We still have a chance.”

  “You don’t have any fucking chance,” he roared, pulling out his handgun and placing it against her head.

  “If you shoot her, you’re de
ad,” Kano said quietly.

  “So what? You are too,” he snapped.

  Kano lifted the handgun he held, and, as he did so, firing from the hip, Kano shot that gunman in the head. Instead of running toward Catherine, he bolted deeper into the shadows, amid the boxes.

  Chapter 14

  Catherine sat here quietly, wishing the light were off. But, with a dead gunman down beside her, she saw just a corner of the handgun under his body. She could just reach down and snatch it up. But, right now, she knew two men were hunting Kano, and, if she did anything, it would get her in trouble too. Using her boot, she slowly moved the handgun toward her and then, in a sudden movement, bent down, picked it up, hiding it under her shirt. And she sat and waited.

  And waited.

  The sweat trickled down her back, as she waited for somebody to make a move. She knew if she stood, there would probably be a bullet with her name on it. With one guy down and two to go, she had no idea what was going on outside, but she knew that she couldn’t make a mistake.

  “Don’t move,” Kano called out to her.

  She heard a rustle and realized that he had deliberately waited to move so nobody would know where his position was. She just sat here, knowing that, when it happened, it would happen hard and fast. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it anymore, a door opened in the darkness. She froze, as a new element entered the game. She looked at the boxes ahead of her, wondering if she should dash for the shadows. It was quite possible that she’d get shot in the process, but, right now, she felt like a sitting duck, with anybody able to do whatever the hell they wanted. She noted a door behind her, around a stack of boxes and a desk.

  Making a decision, she lunged and jumped around the boxes. A shot rang out and hit the chair, but it missed her. In the darkness, close to the door, she hid and waited. At least she had a better chance of survival now that she wasn’t in the bright light. Of course, now it was also a problem because Kano didn’t know where she was, so he would be leery about firing, possibly hitting her. She closed her eyes, trying to slow down her heart rate, breathing shallowly so nobody heard her. She clenched the handgun in her right hand, careful to not pull the trigger, since it represented both safety and another danger.

  She’d always heard that people needed to know how to use a weapon; otherwise it could be taken away and used against them. She could see that happening, but she’d be damned if she’d go down without a fight this time. Too many people had taken advantage of her for too long. She wouldn’t tolerate it. When she heard a voice call out her name, she froze. It was her mother. Please no. She shook her head at that sudden turn of events.

  “Catherine, are you here?”

  Her mother seemed to be standing at the door that Kano had come in. Catherine didn’t know what to say.

  When a shot rang out, it hit something hard. There was no cry of pain, no sudden thump of a body. Catherine realized just too many factors were involved right now. She studied the distance to the door behind her and wondered if she could make it. Was it locked? It’s not the door she had come in, and she hadn’t seen this one open. It was at the edge of the shadows, but, if she could make it out of here, she had a chance that could get her out of this death cell.

  She didn’t know what the hell she was supposed to do or where Fallon was in all this. She took a deep breath and took a step forward. Instantly the sound of footsteps slid toward her. She froze, looked at the door, and bolted. A shot rang out, hitting the door in front of her face. She skidded to a stop, and a voice called out.

  “Nice try,” Reginald said. “You don’t get to walk out of here that easily.”

  “Why not?” she asked. “I’ve got nothing to do with this. You wanted Kano. He’s here.”

  “Oh, such an honorable thought,” Reginald said, with a jeer. “You really have no clue what’s going on here, do you?”

  “No, I don’t,” she snapped, “and nobody’s explaining it.” She looked around and couldn’t see where Reginald was, but she knew everybody else was listening.

  “Why it’s just a simple takeover and cleaning up loose ends, of course.”

  “So you’re helping the kidnappers?”

  “Partially.”

  “What’s this got to do with my mother?”

  “She’s lost control,” he said. “The minute you start caring about somebody, it becomes a bigger issue. But now that she’s lost control, you can bet we’re all over her.”

  “Go ahead and say that again,” her mother called out. “You think I haven’t got you in my sights?”

  “Doesn’t matter if you do or not. We’ve got more men in here than you do.”

  “Maybe so,” she said, “doesn’t mean any of them are good shots.”

  “Maybe not,” he said, “but you can bet you won’t get out of here unscathed.”

  “I’m not afraid of you,” she snapped. “You’ve been nothing but a little pisser since the day you were born.”

  “DeeDee, did you ever tell Catherine that I’m her brother?” he sneered.

  At that, Catherine froze. “Reginald? You’re my brother?”

  “Funny how you know my name, huh?”

  “I always knew you as her number two man.”

  “Yep, I was. Until she decided she wouldn’t hand over the reins after all. I was supposed to take over from her, you know?”

  “Ah, shit,” Catherine said. “That’s why she hasn’t done anything about it. She keeps talking about cleaning house, but she can’t because the traitor is you.”

  “Nope, she’s gotten soft,” he said cheerfully.

  “That’s okay. That softness will play into my hand because you won’t be soft, right?” Catherine murmured, still at the rear doorway.

  “No, that’s for idiots,” he said.

  “Have you always known I was your sister?” That betrayal hurt her like something she’d never felt before.

  “Absolutely,” he said, “it was her choice not to tell you. You were always her perfect little angel.”

  “I don’t even remember you being around all that many years,” she said, puzzled now.

  “No, I was a bad boy for a while, so she had me put away for a few years to get straightened out.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” she murmured.

  “Nope, you should always keep your eye on the viper,” he said. “We have a tendency to come back and bite when you least expect it.”

  She could barely even believe this conversation, and it hurt her to discover she’d had a brother this whole time. She didn’t have a clue what was going on, but everyone else had been in on it. “Why, Mom?” she called out. “Why would you have kept that from me?”

  “For your own safety,” she said tiredly.

  “Is he that dangerous?”

  “He’s that jealous,” she murmured.

  “Does this, any of this, have to do with Bullard or with Kano?”

  “Only in that they wanted to make sure Kano was taken care of at the same time,” her mother said.

  “And do you know anything about it?”

  She snapped. “I don’t know who’s doing it, except that it looks like Reginald’s taken on a contract of his own.”

  “Of course I have, Mommy Dearest. You wouldn’t let me take over the company, so I had to.”

  “You didn’t have to,” she snapped. “We were clean. We were operating properly and within the law.”

  “I wasn’t and never intended on it,” he said. “And, like you always said, water finds its own level.”

  “Yeah, and it did in your case.”

  “And yet here your bloody little girl is such a perfect angel. You could never see just how wrong she was.”

  “Wrong?”

  “How absolutely pathetic she was and how she didn’t have a strong-willed bone in her body.”

  The insults kept flying fast from this man, this brother that Catherine didn’t even know. “I don’t even know who you are. How do you know anything about me?
” she murmured.

  “I’ve spent a lifetime hating you,” he said.

  “That’s so bizarre,” she muttered. “I didn’t even know you existed until now, and here you are trying to kill me and take over our mom’s company. And she’s already somebody that I’m struggling to even like.”

  “Why would you like her?” he said. “She’s well named for the spider, the black widow,” he snapped.

  “You should never turn your back on her,” said Kano in the shadows.

  Just then a shot was fired.

  Reginald swore. “I don’t know who the hell did that,” he said, “but it was one lucky shot.”

  “Yeah, I suppose,” Kano said. “But then you’ll never really know until the one that isn’t a lucky shot,” he said. “Because that’s the one that’ll take you out.”

  “That ain’t coming from you,” he snarled. “Do you think I came this far and worked this hard to lose it because of you? You’re not even part of this.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have touched Catherine,” he snapped.

  “Oh, go fuck yourself,” he said. “You’ll find another bitch someplace. My sister’s not worth this. She’s just a pawn, and that’s it.”

  To even hear them relegate her world down to something so insignificant was so disheartening. She knew she would have a ton of work to sit with and to process when this was all over, but she was still struck and stunned by the fact that she actually had a brother, a brother intent on killing her. Suddenly Reginald stepped into the light. She looked at him clearly and could almost see the resemblance. But so much hate was in his expression.

  “Why do you hate me?” she murmured.

  He stared at her. “Because of who you are,” he said. “You were the protected golden child. I was nothing.”

  “She sent you away so you would become good enough to take over, but, at the same time, she was probably afraid that you would take over,” Catherine noted.

  “She’s damn right,” he said. “She’s old and used up. It’s time for her to disappear.”

  “Is that what this is all about?” Catherine asked.

  “It is. But you know something? Your death will be my satisfaction.”