Dead Drop (The Guild #2)(7)

She glared. “Uhhhh, some details for starters? This was no normal one-night stand, and you fucking know it. What aren’t you telling me? How did you find out he’s an executioner? You never explained that part.”

I licked my lips. I wondered what she’d say if I admitted to finding out because I woke up with his knife at my throat, my own blood trickling down my skin. Or what she’d say if she heard how we tried to kill each other and ended up fucking… over and over and over. Shit, my pussy was heating again just thinking about it.

“Um, he told me,” I said instead, vague as shit but not totally lying. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Can we talk about something less depressing?”

Jude huffed. “Like what?”

“Like… why the Guild is trying to have me killed unofficially?” Yeah, that’s what I considered a less depressing topic. “Last I checked, I’ve been nothing but loyal, so what the fuck have I done to make someone want me dead?”

I hadn’t told her that Leon actually tried to kill me, nor had I told her that I knew who one of the Circle really was. Just knowing Blanchet’s identity was breaking some major Guild rules, and I wasn’t going to be careless with my friend’s fate like that. Yes, it could be argued that I was putting her in danger by staying with her instead of going home, but she was injured, not incompetent. She could still put up a good fight if necessary.

Jude nodded, her fingernail tapping her martini glass as she thought. “I agree on that point, you’re probably the most loyal mercenary ever born into the Guild.” She shot me a teasing smile. “But I don’t think you’re being targeted specifically. I mean, yes, someone clearly wants you dead, but it’s not just you.”

My brows rose in surprise. “What do you know, and why have you been holding out on me, Judith Mackenzie?”

She smirked. “Oh, because you tell me everything? Besides, I just heard this last night when I was working late, and you were already out cold when I got in. I overheard Franklin talking with someone on the phone.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Overheard?”

Franklin—uptight old bastard that he was—had been an impressive mercenary in his own right back in his prime. He was careful enough not to be overheard if he was talking Guild business within the library.

She gave a sly shrug. “I have my ways, DeLuna. Anyway, you wanna hear this or not?”

“Obviously,” I drawled.

“So, apparently there have been a few unexplained mercenary deaths lately,” she told me in a conspiratorial voice. “Like, more unexplained than usual. Mercs being killed in their own homes, not on a mission, with no motive or reason. Did you ever meet Petr Wagner? Hacker merc, super cute, thick German accent? He was found in his own bed, throat slit, no signs of forced entry. Hell, his own security systems were still active, and they were super high tech.”

I frowned. Petr Wagner. Why did that sound so familiar?

“Okay, but mercs get killed for all kinds of reasons, why do you think it’s connected to these attempts on me?”

“Because it’s not just him. Franklin seemed to be alluding to a lot of mercs being killed or just disappearing. It’s almost like someone is targeting the whole Guild. Not just a few mercs.” She finished her martini, then held the empty glass out to me. “Refill, please!”

I got up and went to make her another cocktail, pondering her theory that it wasn’t me being targeted. But… why would Emmanuel Blanchet want to kill off the Guild? He was on the Circle. That seemed illogical. Unless he wanted to establish a new mercenary guild in the power vacuum it would create? One that didn’t require seven ruling members, perhaps? Maybe one that only he was in charge of?

Damn it, this was only giving me more questions. Though, I’d admit, it made me feel a little better to hear I wasn’t being specifically targeted. Surely Leon knew more than he’d told me. He was an executioner and a tech bunny. He knew the identity of the Circle, something not even the Circle themselves knew. So he must know more.

Something wasn’t adding up. A lot of somethings, actually.

“It can’t be all Guild assets being targeted,” I mused aloud as I mixed Jude’s drink and threw in extra olives. “Do you know if there was anything in common with everyone Franklin was talking about? Maybe… geography? Were they all European assets?” Because that would mean they—like me—fell under Emmanuel Blanchet’s purview.

“I don’t think so?” Jude replied. “I couldn’t say for sure, but I know another one was an American merc, went missing in California around the time you were there for that Halloween party, which—I might remind you—ended pretty badly for you.”

I stiffened. That was my Ares mission… the one I was supposed to collaborate with a different tech bunny on, but Leon had turned up last minute.

“What was his name?” I demanded, returning to the couch with Jude’s drink. “The American.”

She shrugged. “No idea. Why?”

I bit the inside of my cheek and raked a hand through my hair. Shit. Now I knew why Petr Wagner had sounded so familiar… He was the hacker I was meant to run the Ted mission with.

They hadn’t been killed by an unknown assassin. They’d been killed by Leon. I was sure of it.

Ding dong.