In For the Kill (McClouds & Friends #11)(133)

“Jesus, Misha! Right now? You catch me at a bad time!”

“Hah, do not talk to me about bad time. Forget Sveti’s trace if you cannot be bothered. Besides, I cannot call them now anyway. The charge on my phone has finished, and I cannot—”

Suddenly, he was gone. His phone’s battery was dead.

Sam wanted to howl. He could call the cops for Misha himself, but everything in Cherchenko’s house, most particularly the computers, was possible evidence in any number of crimes. He could explain the situation, get the local cops’ help, but it would take time to straighten things out, get an all clear. He didn’t have time. The only way to keep Sveti absolute top priority was to collect Misha and the trace himself.

He made a guttural, barely human sound as he lurched to his feet. Agony made everything go black . . . then the lights flickered back on in his mind, just in time to catch himself from falling. He launched himself toward the suitcase. So far away. The pain was sickening.

But the fear was worse.





CHAPTER 27

Michael Hazlett’s smile was no different than it had ever been. It was her vision that had changed. A filter had been lifted. Now she saw him with the stark, torn-open clarity of the twelve-year-old girl she had once been back when they were about to tear out her heart.

It seemed impossible, that she had not seen the ice in his eyes.

She ignored the gun pointed at her face, intensely conscious of the Micro-Glock, pressing against her hip inside her jeans.

“It was you,” she said. “You had my mama killed. You built that lab. You murdered all those people.”

He kissed his fingertips in a mocking salute. “You clever, beautiful thing. I have been struggling with this all day.”

“Struggling with what?”

“Letting you go,” he said. “I’ve become so attached. That doesn’t happen to me often. I don’t bond easily, you see.”

Bond? She would have laughed if she hadn’t been frozen in stark horror. A leech or a louse did not bond with its host. It just fed.

But there was no point in saying it. He only heard his own voice.

“Renato and I have been arguing,” he said. “He’s put out with me, letting base animal desires stand in the way of business. But reason has prevailed.”

“And just in time, too, I see!”

Sveti turned as Renato strode into the room, and gazed at his scowling face for a long moment. “I always thought you were a prick.”

Renato’s eyes flashed. “As I thought you were just like your lying cunt of a mother. But are you as good in bed? Shall we find out?”

“Renato.” Hazlett looked pained. “Such language. Please.”

“I knew you were a human bloodhound, just like her. Willing to lie and cheat and f*ck your way in a straight line toward whatever you wanted. So she told you about the lab somehow? We monitored every scrap of paper she sent, but she coded it for you, eh? Slippery bitch.”

“So you saw her last letter,” Sveti said softly.

“Of course,” Renato said. “We were still waiting and watching at that point, trying to see what she was up to. We waited too long. I didn’t want to make the same mistake with you. I wanted you killed years ago, but Michael said no, Sonia’s daughter is just a sad, insignificant little twat who will waft along into some unremarkable, mediocre life and not give us any trouble. But no.” Renato shot a furious look at Hazlett. “Why risk it, you said! But I was right this time! We waited just long enough for her to come stab us to the heart!”

“We had also been informed that running afoul of your American protectors could be problematic. Calm down, Renato.” Hazlett’s apologetic smile was weirdly incongruous behind the pistol. “You’ll have to forgive Renato his venom. Your mother had him fooled for some time while she gathered information about our project. He never saw or met her in the Ukraine, you see, so she targeted him when she began snooping in Italy. She introduced herself using her maiden name. She was very charming, very beautiful. Very seductive. It was months before I put it all together and told Renato what she was really up to. He’s still upset with me. He got his feelings very deeply hurt.”

“Whore,” Renato said through his teeth. “Lying whore cunt. You look like her. You whore like her. You’ll die like her, too.”

“Yes, yes, Renato. Not now.” Hazlett sounded bored. “We were fortunate that the lab was already closed when she discovered it. None of our research was compromised, like last time. It was just a matter of silencing her, making sure she hadn’t told anyone.” He shrugged. “I thought it was handled. But she slipped something past us evidently.”

“We should have killed her sooner,” Renato snarled. “And you just had to lure the daughter here, dangling the bait. Self-indulgent fool.”

Hazlett looked wistful. “I was so glad, back in the day, when your fierce protectors gave us an excuse to wait to kill you. You were such a lovely little cream puff. They say, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, right? You’re an enemy I wanted to keep oh, so close.”

“I would never have had sex with you,” she said.

Hazlett did not appear to hear her. “I was disappointed when you soiled yourself with your pit bull. It compromised your virginal glow. But girls will be girls. Everyone needs a range of sexual experiences. That way, they can appreciate true skill when they finally encounter it.”