Chapter 17

"Do not touch this with your bare hands no matter what you do. The instructions are inside."

"Wait!"

"I know nothing." He just left like that. I had barely made it back to the house when I received the message of an incoming package.

I went back to my home office and opened the little package. There was a pair of gloves that looked like something from a sci-fi movie with a note that said, ‘Wear these.' I slipped them on. They felt like silk but were light as a feather.

Inside was another note with a vial of clear liquid that I guess was the reason for the gloves. I read the note and reread it to be sure. "Oh my!" Well, this is just cruel. I smiled and slipped the notes and everything else back into the package before locking it away in one of the drawers of my desk.

It was time to go oversee dinner preparations. I'd been running the streets all day and hadn't given any thought to my husband's evening. I think tonight we will sit out in the gazebo with a glass of wine under the moonlight and watch the swans and ducks on our lake.

I might even talk my husband into taking us out on his pontoon to make love under the stars.

* * *

The next day,I left the house feeling as though I was carrying a ticking timebomb. There was no surprise when I showed up at the apartment building. I just waved at the concierge and a member of the housekeeping staff who stood at the front desk chatting.

I didn't go directly to Jessica's apartment. I'd watched her jump around her apartment after sleeping in the bathtub the night before to get ready for work. She almost gave herself a heart attack when she saw the snake asleep on the top of the bedroom door.

Now she was gone, looking a little more haggard than usual, and I can only imagine the night she'd had while I was wrapped up in my husband's arms all night. I should send her a thank-you gift for unleashing this new phase in our lives, but I think her bad deeds outweigh the good, so I'll hold off on that.

Once I'd puttered around in the empty apartment long enough, I headed down to Jessica's place. Unlike her, I knew where the snake was at all times, and since he was nocturnal and I had no plans of awakening him, I was able to do what I came for and was out the door in less than five minutes.

I was amazed at how calm I was and how effortlessly and flawlessly I carried out the instructions given the material I was working with. Now, all that was left was to wait for Jessica's return that evening to see the rest of this unfold.

I felt no guilt at what was about to come. Not that I knew all of it, but I had a pretty good idea and was on pins and needles all day, waiting for the business day to come to an end.

I was a little worried after the fact the day before that Mark might have seen what I'd done due to his mention of always knowing where I am, but Cierra had warned me not to go down that road to just live as if I always have eyes on me, which is going to take some getting used to.

But he didn't mention anything about it; he just asked me how my day was and if I'd had fun with the girls at lunch. It was hard picking over my words to find the right ones, so I didn't lie to him, like telling him that I went to the apartment building but not why I was there and telling him that it was Trudy who had asked Melissa to recommend Jack. Wow, that was a mouthful.

Now, I was sitting upstairs in my office, where I seem to spend most of my time these days, watching the screen as I waited for Jessica to return to her stolen apartment.

* * *

JESSICA

I hate this fucking place.I've been here too long, and everything is falling apart. It's as if the universe is against me. Anything that can go wrong since I came to this town has come to pass. The man I was supposed to seduce was either a robot or he was into men, which made no sense because he had a wife and four kids.

So why the hell would something that usually takes me a couple of weeks max be taking me this long? It's like he's always ten steps ahead of me, and now there's his stupid wife. I've never been intimidated by any of the wives of the men I've taken before, and I wasn't now. But there was something about those two that seemed off.

They were almost too in sync with each other in a way that seemed beyond normal. And what the hell was going on with this place all of a sudden? It's a luxury apartment, so there's no way there should be a smell like that and it seems to be concentrated only in my apartment, and now there was the snake.

Obviously, someone's pet had escaped, but I can't alert anyone to that fact because I'm not supposed to be here. I can't stay anywhere else because the guys in charge don't like us to deviate from the plan unless there are dire circumstances, and having someone's pet reptile in my apartment would not be seen as a dire emergency.

I opened the door and walked in. Too late, I remembered the damn snake and was almost under it when I reached the bedroom door. It looked to be asleep; at least, I think it was because its eyes were still open. I went in and out of the room as quickly as I could and grabbed a change of clothes before heading into the bathroom.

I changed out of my clothes and was about to hang my work suit on a hanger when my phone rang, startling me. I answered it quickly because I didn't want the noise to wake the snake, and walked back into the bathroom and closed the door so the noise wouldn't carry.

"Hello!"

"Hello, Jessica."

"Who is this?"

"That's not important; what's important is that in about five seconds, you are going to start feeling lightheaded and nauseous; shortly thereafter, you're going to black out and be out for at least an hour. When you awaken, you will have ten minutes to save your life. Tell me what I want to know, and I will give you the antidote: decline, and you die. Who do you work for?"

"Hello, hello, what the hell?" I fell against the bathroom wall as the room started to spin and felt my body fall, barely missing the tub with my face. My last thought before I passed out was I hope the snake didn't make its way in there.

* * *

brITTANY

* * *

What the helldid I just watch? What am I a part of? My hands wanted to shake, but I gripped them tight. I looked down at the now empty vial that I had brought back with me, too spooked to toss it anywhere else. I still didn't know what it was. I just followed the instructions given, which was to wipe the substance on the doorknobs inside, where only Jessica would be affected.

I'm not sure what I expected to happen but this wasn't it. I couldn't hear what was being said on the other end of the line; of course, I just heard Jessica ask who it was, then kept going hello, hello, before stumbling around the bathroom and face-planting onto the hard tiled floor, barely missing the edge of the tub with her face.

I was still in shock when my special phone rang, jarring me out of my stupor. "Hello!"

"It's done."

"Is she going to die?"

"Maybe, if she doesn't give me what I want." I took the phone away from my ear and looked at it. I'm almost certain that there's a kid on the other end of this call. But that's not possible, right?

"What now?"

"We wait for her to wake up and give us the name."

"It's going to be that easy?"

"Most people choose life over death if given the chance."

"Will she really die?" Why am I whispering?

"Yes!" Okay, I need to have my head examined. You've got to understand she sounds like Shirley Temple in her heyday. Young, cute, chirpy. But the things she's saying… I felt a shiver go down my spine. I didn't even realize she hung up because of the ringing in my ear. "My goodness."

* * *

LYON

* * *

"How is she doing?"

"She, uh, she went with biological warfare, I think. Straight out the gate."

"Did they give it up?"

"Not yet; the chick is still out cold on the floor."

"Hmm, she's playing with her food again."

"I don't think so. I think this was part of the plan."

"Whatever, just hurry back; we have to head to New York in a few and my kid needs to get married before my wife offs me in my sleep."

"Why are you so nervous? The date's set, everything's taken care of."

"That's easy for you to say, your kids are fucking three and one. Mine are lining up for this shit. I gotta go; Hitler's youth just walked in." I hung up with Mancini and watched my little terror walk in. I'm not sure why Kat persists in dressing this kid in frills and lacey shit; she should be in a balaclava and camouflage.

She walked in and climbed into the chair across from me with her tiny ass, her feet still not touching the floor. At least she wasn't in my lap, so that meant she wasn't about to annoy my ass. Then her mother walked in, and I wasn't so sure. These two like to tag team my ass with their stupid shit.

"What do you want, Katarina Lyon?"

"What? I can't just come say hi to you?" She walked over and kissed my cheek before taking a seat.

"Mommy's probably here to talk about the wedding, so let me go first, Daddy."

"Go ahead."

"Daddy?"

Fuck! "Yes?"

"I wanna jump out of a plane."

"Okay!"

"COLTON!" Kat had perfected the art of screeching.

"What? All the shit she does, and this is what scares you? Go ahead, baby, I'll set that up for you."

The way she smiles when she gets her way. Nothing makes me feel better than giving my kids what they want. Though with Mengele, it's a toss-up. At least this time, it was something normal. Her damn dog showed up at the door, and she climbed down from the chair and went to follow him from the room.

"What's she and that damn dog up to?"

"I wouldn't know. Colton, you know, no is a complete sentence. You can try using it with her sometimes."

"Why, if I say no one of these fucks around here will do it anyway, so what's the point?"

"I thought we moved to this island for peace and comfort; she seems to be getting worse since we came here."

"Don't talk about my kid, Kat."

"Your kid? So, she's yours today, huh!"

"Was there something you wanted, baby? Cause I don't trust you either."

"Me? What have I done?"

"All of you women are sneaky as fuck. What did she and Russo send to that woman?"

"What woman?" Her eye started glitching. That's her new trick. When she wants to get out of something, she starts twitching her damn eyes at me.

"You need a factory reset or some shit? I can help you out with that." She smacked me on the shoulder.

"Caitlin is getting restless. I told her you've taken care of everything, but she won't relax."

"That's why I said, just do that shit right here and be done with it."

"We can't because Alex and Cassie are getting married in France as well; that's why everything is so chaotic."

"You people are the damn authors of chaos. One wedding was too much, so you decided that planning two was a good idea. What is it that you want from me?"

"Talk to Caitlin when you get a chance. You're the only one who can get her to calm down."

"Where is she?"

"That's why I'm here. I think her sister and grandfather gave her something; she's been acting weird."

"What do you mean gave her something?" She mimicked smoking, and the tic in my jaw activated.

"Where are you going, Colton?"

"To kill the pothead and send your daughter off to that MCS school in London."

"Now, Colt, you wouldn't do that to those people."

"Yeah, you're right. She'd have those people retiring at thirty." Fuck!

* * *

JESSICA

* * *

I wokefrom the strangest dream I've ever had, only to realize that it wasn't a dream. I was still lying on the cold floor, my head still felt like it was filled with cotton wool, and my chest was about to cave in. From the smell all around me, I was sure I had soiled myself, and I just felt all around miserable.

My phone rang as if on cue and I rushed to answer as everything that happened before I fell came rushing back to me. I fumbled with the phone before answering as quickly as I could. "Hello!"

"Who?"

"Gilbert Charleston Wallis…. Hello, hello, are you there?"

"One minute, I'm checking the information."

"Where's the antidote?"

"In the bedroom, but so is the snake. Good luck." She hung up on me again. "You bitch!" How much time do I have? Where in the bedroom? And where is the snake? I had trouble getting to my feet and fell twice before I was able to.

I still have no idea what happened or even how it happened. I hadn't eaten anything since walking through the door. Was this like the time I shit myself at work? No, this felt even worse than that. I needed to jump in the shower to get cleaned up, but I only had minutes to find the antidote.

I crawled out of the bathroom on my hands and knees because my head was still spinning, looking around for the snake. It wasn't hanging off the door like it was before and it was nowhere in the living spaces that I could see.

She'd said it was in the bedroom. Wait, how did she know there was a snake in here or where it was? The feeling of eyes on me was more disconcerting than anything else that had happened thus far.

I heard the hissing sound of the snake just as the door behind me opened, and someone stood over me. Then, there was a prick in my arm, and everything went dark again.

* * *

brITTANY

* * *

I almost jumpedout of my skin when the screen went black. I'd been watching Jessica crawl around on the floor after the phone call, enjoying her fear and confusion. And then, suddenly, things went dark. What the hell happened?

I tapped on my phone as if that would bring the video back, but nothing happened, of course. I sat there for a few minutes, not sure what I should do next. Did she get to the antidote in time? Was she dead?

I'm not sure I wanted her dead. Just as I was about to go into panic overload, the image came back, but only this time she wasn't there. I switched to the cameras in the other rooms, and nothing, poof, she was gone. "What the hell is going on?"

There was a sound at my office door, and I looked up to see my husband standing there. "Mark?"

"Come!" He opened his arms, and I ran to him on trembling legs.

"What happened? Do you know?"

"She's not dead. But you won't be seeing her again."

"Where did she go? Who took her?"

"Didn't you ask Marcus for help? What did you think was going to happen? As the former director's daughter-in-law, they wouldn't take chances."

"What does all this mean? I don't understand."

"I'll explain later; I just came to make sure you were okay." He kissed my hair and wrapped his arms around me and I felt safe and loved but oh so confused.