Chapter 20

I awoke suddenlyand in pitch-black, my heart pounding in my chest. Merlin stood on the end of the bed, his back arched, and I could see the ridge of fur on his spine standing straight up. The house was quiet except for the occasional sounds of the tree outside brushing against the window. But I hadn’t been dreaming and even if I had, it wasn’t a nightmare that had Merlin on alert.

I grabbed my cell phone and checked the alarm. The app showed an error, which meant someone had a jamming app—and one that worked on military-grade equipment. The cameras were all black, and when I replayed motion footage, I could see two figures—in all black clothes and masks—approach them and spray the lenses with paint.

I threw the covers back and grabbed my gun as I slid out of bed. I slid my phone into my shorts pocket and slipped silently into the hallway and listened. Their movement approaching the cameras was with military precision, and I had no doubt this was a hit and knew exactly where it had originated.

The house was eerily quiet, but I heard a faint sliding sound at the back of the house and realized they were entering through a window in my office. I motioned to Merlin and crept into the master bedroom closet, which contained the secret panel and ladder into the attic. Merlin, for once, took instructions like a soldier and padded silently beside me into the closet and didn’t make a sound when I carried him up the ladder.

As soon as we were secure, I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Carter.

Intruders. Military. Protect yourself.

Merlin had gone to perch on top of some boxes, and all I could see were his eyes glowing in the dark room, but I didn’t need to see anything else. I knew my way in the dark—had specifically designed a way out of the house, complete with a padded walkway and reinforced structure so there was no sound at all as I passed. All the people in my house would find was an empty bedroom, and as they started searching for me, I’d flank them.

Because no way in hell I was going to flee.

Breaking into an assassin’s house to kill her was like signing your own death warrant.

I eased up the window at the end of the attic and crept onto the roof. I made my way across and into the tree that took me onto Ronald’s roof, then I scaled down another tree and dropped down into his bushes. I crept around to my backyard to see if I could spot movement in the windows and saw a shadow pass across the upstairs window in the guest room.

I headed for the office, planning on entering the house the same way the intruders had. I eased myself through the open window without a hint of a sound and crept to the doorway. I could hear them moving upstairs—one set of footsteps in the master bedroom, the other in the guest room. It wouldn’t be long before they decided I was no longer in the house and retreated.

I edged into the living room and set my cell phone on a bookshelf, recording. Then I crouched behind the recliner, in position to strike as soon as they stepped off the stairs. I heard footsteps in the hallway and then low voices, and slowly drew in a breath, preparing to make my move.

Their footsteps sounded on the stairwell, and I counted down the steps as they drew closer…five, four, three, two, one, STRIKE!

I leaped like a jaguar, grabbing the arm of the first man. I ducked and twisted, breaking his shoulder and wrist as I aimed the pistol in his hand at the man behind him and shot him right between the eyes. The first man reached for his backup weapon with his good arm, and I twisted his broken arm again and fired a round into his other shoulder.

He let go of the gun, screaming in pain, then stumbled backward. I spun around and kicked him into the living room, where he fell over the coffee table and crashed onto the floor. But this was no ordinary intruder. Even with two broken limbs, he still reached for his backup weapon.

I fired another round into his thigh, just an inch from the thing that mattered most to men. “The next shot will be one inch up and over,” I said, and he finally went still.

I gave the guy on the stairs a glance, but he was no longer a threat, then I stepped toward the other man and pointed my nine right at his crotch.

“Who sent you?”

His jaw was clenched, and he shook, trying to control the pain, but didn’t say a word.

“You’ve got one more chance to answer me and save yourself. Otherwise, I’m going to put a round through you and have a beer while you bleed out on my living room rug. Your choice.”

“You know I can’t say,” he managed to sputter, waves of pain flashing across his face.

“Why would you protect the man who sent you here to die? He knew you couldn’t take me. He just gambled with your life that I might make a mistake. Well, here’s a tip—I don’t make mistakes.”

I fired a round into the floor, right between his legs, so close to his crotch that the round split the seam of his jeans. He flinched and then groaned as the movement sent waves of pain through his shattered shoulders.

“You had to know what I was. Did Kitts tell you I had let my training go? If so, he lied. I just cleaned up his mess in Iran. He knew that when he sent you here to be executed. You don’t matter any more than the soldiers he’s sent to the slaughter. He was gambling, and your life was a cheap ante.”

I leaned over and looked him straight in the eyes. “The house always wins.”

He cursed and spat blood onto the floor. “Kitts! But you’ll never take him down. He’s got too many behind him.”

“We’ll see about that. Thanks for your confession,” I said and pointed to my phone. “I don’t figure you’ll last too long in lockup. Kitts will see to it that you don’t. But this might put that final nail in his coffin if you’re not around to tell it to the DOD.”

“He’s untouchable.”

“Maybe by the justice system. But if I can’t get him through proper channels, he’ll find himself looking down the same barrel you are.”

As I reached for my phone, Carter burst through my front door, weapon drawn and clearly panicked. He took in the guy writhing in pain on my floor and the body slumped on my stairs and relief flooded his face.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m going to need a new rug. What about you?”

“Ha!” He ran one hand over his head. “There’s no one at my house. Only one team, maybe, and they decided to start here.”

I nodded. It made sense. With Carter’s recent injuries, I was more of a threat. A smart assassin always eliminated the biggest threat first.

A dumb one underestimated his prey.

* * *

It only tooktwenty minutes for the state police to get someone out to accompany Intruder Number 1 to the hospital. They’d taken one look at the situation and at me, calmly eating cookies on the couch while my rug slowly turned rust brown, and had clamped his broken arms to the gurney. Carter had given them a brief explanation of the situation and of my background, so they understood the danger the man presented.

Because the real threat wasn’t diminished by his broken shoulders. The real threat was his mouth, and we both knew Kitts would do everything he could to ensure he didn’t open it again. I had my video, but live witnesses were always a much better sell. Still, I hoped this would be enough to get Kitts brought up on charges and eliminate or at least reduce the number of people willing to stick their neck out on his behalf. Money spoke volumes, but how much you had didn’t matter if you were dead. Intruder Number 2 had learned that the hard way.

I’d sent a text to Ida Belle, Gertie, and Ronald—who had called the cops when he heard the gunfire—and let them know that the situation was in hand and to stay put because the state police would need to process my house. I assured them that everyone who mattered was safe and promised to give them all the details in the morning. Then I’d excused myself to check on Merlin and had freed him from the attic. As soon as I put him down on the closet floor, he’d shot right under the bed, and I figured he might be there until sometime next June.

The first police unit left with the paramedics and a second one arrived shortly after. I’d called Alexander while the paramedics were doing their thing, and he’d advised me to mostly tell the truth about the night’s events but to make sure the video was saved to the cloud and forwarded to him before I turned over my phone.

The second state police duo walked in slowly, studying me, and I knew they’d already been brought up to speed about who I was and how I’d dispatched two men with relative ease. They asked me to explain what happened, so I did. Sort of. Obviously, I left out my secret closet space and my attic escape hatch. Instead, I played it off as I heard them coming through my office window as I was asleep on the couch, so I hid behind the recliner.

I went on to say I’d checked my cameras and alarm on my phone and knew they’d been disabled, so I’d set my phone to record and upload to the cloud so that if I didn’t make it out, Carter would know what happened.

“But you didn’t call 911?” the first cop asked.

“Even if I could have gotten word to dispatch without signaling where I was, the deputy on duty is a young man with no military training and has rarely had to discharge his weapon. Why would I invite him to a duel with professionals that he would have lost before he got in the front door? I don’t need or want that on my conscience.”

The first cop glanced at the second one when I was done, cleared his throat, and then asked, “So when they went upstairs, why didn’t you run out the front door?”

“Because I can’t outrun bullets and they would have had clean shots from the upstairs windows.”

“So you were hoping they’d decide you weren’t here when they didn’t find you upstairs and leave?”

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

They glanced at each other again and the second one said, “Can we see that video?”

I clicked on my television, so we could watch it on the big screen, and queued it up from the cloud. Carter’s jaw clenched as he watched me dispatch the first man on the stairs and I know he was seething that Kitts had made a move like this against me. The two cops stood there, jaws dropped, and watched the entire thing play out. For several seconds after the footage ended, neither of them moved or spoke. I have to admit, it was kinda impressive on playback.

Finally, the first cop swallowed. “Are you standing by your statement concerning not fleeing when you had the opportunity?”

I cocked my head to the side. “Those men are mercenaries, not Mormons. Do you think when they didn’t find me, they’d just move on to the next house?”

Carter gave them both a hard stare. “Need I remind you gentlemen that Ms. Redding is well within her rights to defend herself in her own home. I’m sure the men were debriefed on who their target was before they took the job. Maybe they should have taken their intel more seriously.”

Both their eyes widened, and the first cop nodded. “We’ll need to take your phone into evidence.”

I looked over at Carter. “Now you see why I have two phones.”

The first cop frowned, and I knew he was wondering how often people tried to kill me. “Who is this Kitts you referred to?” he asked.

I smiled. “A four-star general in the Marine Corps.”

“Good God,” the second one said. “Are those men…”

“Soldiers? I’m sure they were at one time, but it’s offensive to all the good men and women who served and are serving to acknowledge them as such now.”

He nodded and looked slightly panicked. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to process the house as a crime scene as well before we move that body. Is there somewhere else you can stay until we finish?”

“No problem,” I said, trying to sound calm and reasonable, but I’m pretty sure that just unnerved them even more. “I have a cat hiding upstairs that I need to collect, though, and my spare phone in my office, and I’ll need a change of clothes. I have blood on these, and it stinks after it sits in fabric a while.”

Carter covered his mouth with his hand to cover the smile threatening to break through. I gave him a wink as I headed upstairs to wrangle Merlin into a pet taxi. I was pretty sure that was going to be the most dangerous thing I’d attempted all night.

* * *

Since Tiny wasin residence at Carter’s place, and I had no desire to play referee between the two of them, I dropped Merlin off at Ally’s. A very alert and not quite fully clad Mannie let us inside and it was funny to see the enormous tower of a man giving Merlin the side-eye. It was also cute to see Ally blushing over the man standing in her living room in the middle of the night and showing more skin than I’d ever seen. I was absolutely in love with Carter, but I’m not blind and had to admit, Mannie was as nicely built as he was scary.

I gave them a brief rundown of what happened, and Ally gave me a terrified look and grabbed my hand to squeeze it. Mannie just shook his head.

“Kitts either has rocks the size of Texas or he’s desperate,” he said. “Either way, I don’t like it. I’ll put out some feelers tomorrow and see what I can find out. Let me know if you get an ID on the men.”

“I’ll send you the video on the off chance you recognize them.”

He nodded. “And in the future, call me if you need backup. And I don’t mean catsitting.”

Carter snorted. “She didn’t call me for backup. She sent me a warning to protect myself.”

Mannie grinned and clapped his hand on Carter’s shoulder. “Good luck with all of that, my brother.”

We headed out and I looked over at Carter. “Maybe you should have dated a baker.”

He shook his head. “So I could worry even more? At least I know you can handle the trouble you attract. You’re certain the guys were mercenaries?”

“Yeah. I checked the video footage history from before they took out the cameras. Classic military movement.”

“What the hell is Kitts thinking?”

I shrugged. “That maybe he’d get lucky? That those two guys didn’t matter so it was no loss if they failed? I’m guessing the one thing he didn’t consider was that I’d leave one in good enough shape to talk.”

“Yeah, we just have to make sure he stays that way. Kitts will immediately move to cover his tracks.”

“Denial is his fallback. He can claim that it was well-known in our realm that he and I had a beef, and one of my enemies used that as a cover for their own retaliation. You won’t find a paper trail linking that guy to Kitts.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to ask this but if you knew his story wouldn’t stick, why leave him alive?”

“Because it should be enough potential for a huge stinky media mess to get the Marines to back off their support. And it will just make the DOD even more stringent in their evaluation and pursuit of Kitts.”

“So you’re throwing jet fuel on the fire.”

“It’s what I do best.”

* * *

I gota phone call from Kelsey early the next morning just as I’d joined Carter on the back porch for coffee. She was wound up so tight that if she let go she might have sprung into the stratosphere.

“What’s going on?” I asked as she blurted out her breathless, obligatory greeting.

“Your attorney—he’s a miracle worker. The DNA test has been done already and Ryan is the father. I know we already knew that, but I can’t help feeling this is huge.”

“It is huge. And a relief that he got it accomplished so quickly.”

“I don’t know what your attorney has on the warden, but I need something similar on everyone who’s ever wronged me.”

“For the right amount of money and time, he could probably get it.”

“Ha. Anyway, the next step is the medical testing for the transplant. The prison doctor told me that they’ll be transporting Ryan to the hospital sometime today. If he’s a match and he’s in good enough shape to warrant the surgery himself, the transplant could happen within a week or two.”

“That’s incredible news!”

“But there’s a problem. Brett has to sign off on the transplant, and I can tell he’s hesitant.”

“Is the man so proud and vain that he’d risk his son’s life over his hurt feelings?”

“I don’t know, but I’m afraid that when the documents are presented, he’ll refuse to sign, or just hesitate long enough for them to call it off. The warden still has the last say. If Brett doesn’t look completely invested, he could use his behavior as an excuse to delay the surgery or cancel it altogether.”

“Has Brett said anything outright?”

“No. He barely speaks to me, and even then, it’s only when he absolutely has to. I get why he’s angry, but it’s not helping things.”

“Do you think it would help if I talked to him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I suppose it couldn’t hurt. You’re an unbiased third party, per se. I know I hired you, but this isn’t personal for you.”

On paper, her statement was accurate. But in reality, every case I took was personal.

“I’ll run him down today,” I said. “Maybe if I can blindside him somewhere, I can get him to be real with me, instead of wielding that brick wall in front of him like last time.”

“Monday is always chicken breast and boiled eggs for lunch. He hasn’t deviated since I’ve known him. There’s a small park around the corner from his building. If the weather is good, he likes to eat outside. I just have no idea when that might be.”

“I can figure that out. Try not to worry. I really don’t think Brett is foolish enough to ruin this chance to save Ben. But I’ll make sure he understands the stakes.”

I shook my head as I dropped my phone on the table and Carter frowned.

“He’s playing a dangerous game. Trying to punish his wife might cost him his son.”

“I know. And the ridiculous part is that he doesn’t have any right to be mad about Kelsey sleeping with Ryan. They’d broken up and according to Kelsey, he was off with other women before she’d changed her status on social media.”

“I don’t think that’s what he’s mad about. At least, it’s not all that he’s mad about. He sounds like a controlling person, so I’m sure he hates that he couldn’t control what she did then and still can’t today. But ultimately, what he’s angry about is that he’s not Ben’s father, and because of that, he can’t do anything to save him.”

“But he can do something. He can stop with the attitude and roadblocks and put up the money so that Ben gets the absolute best care available.”

Carter nodded. “Then maybe you should tell him just that.”

“I plan to.”

“You didn’t tell her about Holly Beech?”

“No. She’s got enough on her plate. I know she wants Ryan cleared, but she needs to focus on Ben and let me handle Ryan’s case.”

He nodded his agreement.

I stared out across the lawn and huffed. “I guess I have to get someone to clean my house. I am not big on domestics and no way am I trying to get blood out of the hardwood. I’m just going to toss the rug.”

“I have a couple services I can call. Let me see who has availability and I’ll get someone over there. Don’t worry about timing. If you’re not available, I’ll stay myself or get someone you trust who can.”

I shook my head. “What exactly does it say about the two of us that I’m put out over the dead guy stinking up my house and ruining my rug and you know more than one person who can handle it?”

“That we’ve got the right contacts for our jobs? That we have the proper perspective when it comes to the bad guys? Although, I’m guessing Ronald will accuse you of having a poor attitude concerning your rug.”

“It was ugly and drab. If anything, the bloodstains dressed it up a bit, but the smell is intolerable, especially in wool. I just left it there when I bought the place because I hate shopping and had no desire to spend a lot of money on a rug. Have you ever priced them?”

He nodded. “And that is why I have bare bachelor floors. Well, that and Tiny. He still chews up my bath mats. If I spent thousands on a living room rug and came home to find he’d eaten half of it, then I’d have to make decisions I don’t want to make.”

I heard the side gate creak, and then Ida Belle and Gertie walked through.

“We rang the doorbell,” Ida Belle said, “but when no one answered, we figured you were back here having your coffee.”

Gertie cut a glance at Ida Belle. “Figured it because it’s too early to be doing anything else,” she grumbled.

“Stop your grousing,” Ida Belle said. “You know you wanted to get the details on everything that happened last night as much as I did.”

“True, but I could have waited long enough to shower.”

Carter wrinkled his nose. “We could have waited long enough for you to shower as well. What’s that smell?”

“If you must know, I was too wound up to sleep after I got Fortune’s text, so I canned pickles. And yes, I took a shower—two as a matter of fact—but it takes forever for that smell to get off your skin.”

I grimaced, getting a whiff of the pickle smell myself. “Carter’s going to call someone about a forensic clean for my house. Maybe we could include Gertie in the deal.”

“When none of you get fresh pickles this year, you’ll know why,” Gertie said.

Since I didn’t particularly like pickles, it didn’t seem like much of a threat. But then, in the past twenty-four hours, I’d been stalked by a woman with an ice pick, and two mercenaries had entered my home to assassinate me, so the whole pickle thing wasn’t likely to gain much ground.

“So what happened?” Ida Belle asked.

I filled them in on everything that had happened, and when I was done, I asked if they’d like to see video of the takedown.

“Good God, woman!” Gertie said, jumping out of her chair. “You have video and you’ve been wasting time with words.”

We all headed inside, and I queued up the video on Carter’s big screen. They watched in silence until I sprang, and then Gertie sent up a big cheer and an arm pump. When it was over, she turned to me, shaking her head.

“You know, every time I see you in action, it’s incredible, but this one was magical. You dispatched them like they were vacuum cleaner salesmen. I know you took them by surprise, but you eliminated the threat so quickly and you weren’t remotely winded.”

Carter studied me for a second and I knew what he was thinking.

Or fazed.

He wasn’t wrong. The mission to save him had sent me a step or two back into my dark past. I’d hoped that my reemergence from the other side would be as swift as my return to it, but so many years of training and a single-minded focus were hard to undo. We all had our baggage, I guessed. At least mine kept me and the people I loved from harm. I knew Carter was worried that everything that I’d been forced to do would return me to the person I was when I first arrived in Sinful.

But that was my past, and this was my future.

“If you’d take up running with me,” I said to Gertie, “you wouldn’t be as winded after one of your flukes.”

“Ha!” Ida Belle laughed. “You’d be just as successful telling her to stop having them altogether. Since Carter’s generously offered to handle the house, what’s on our agenda for today? Getting the security system back up and running?”

“Nope. Mannie is going to get his people on it right away. And Merlin is hanging out at Ally’s until I can bring him home and not have to worry about him attacking me in my sleep. He was pretty shook up over the whole thing but didn’t make so much as a sound or extend a claw when I carried him up into the attic.”

“Animals know,” Ida Belle said. “Merlin might be a typical disgruntled, self-centered cat, but he also knows when he and the person who feeds him are in danger.”

I nodded. “Since everything in Sinful is covered, we’re going to head into NOLA for a chat with Brett Spalding.”

I told them about my conversation with Kelsey, and they both cheered when I got to the part about the DNA match.

“I think Brett will do the right thing,” Ida Belle said, “but I agree that a bit of urging from your end might help him remember exactly why he needs to be 100 percent committed in voice and action. What about Alexander? Have you heard anything from him yet about the video?”

“Just a lot of exclamation points and compliments. He’ll try to run down identities. The state police will balk at giving him information, but I’m sure he knows which arms to twist. I figure I’ll text him on the way and let him know we’ll be in town in case he wants to meet up and cover anything he doesn’t want to say over the phone.”

“Road trip!” Gertie clapped her hands, and Carter cringed.

“Can you three please try not to get into any trouble? I’m running on two hours of sleep.”

“For the record, I didn’t ask Holly to come stalking me with an ice pick, nor did I invite mercenaries into my house. I will admit that I brought that one on myself by going toe to toe with Kitts, but it was unavoidable.”

He sighed. “Do you realize how many situations you get in that fit that ‘unavoidable’ description?”

I grinned. “All of them—well, except for anything Gertie does. I’m not taking responsibility for any of that.”

“Me either,” Ida Belle agreed.

“Anyway,” I continued. “I’ll need to swing by my house and change clothes, and then we can grab some breakfast at Francine’s and head out after.”

“It’s 7:00 a.m.,” Carter said. “Even if you take your time changing and eating, you’ll be in NOLA midmorning. What do you plan on doing until Brett heads out for his sad lunch in the park?”

“Rug shopping.”