Theo drew his fist back. “Who the fuck do you work for?”
The man only smiled, blood coating his teeth and dripping down the sides of his mouth. “Someone smarter than you.”
Theo snorted and grabbed hold of the guy’s shirt, lifting him up off the ground. “If that were true, I’d be the one getting beat to shit, wouldn’t I? So why don’t you continue being a pathetic fuck and tell me why you were trying to kill me, and I’ll think about letting you go with your head still attached.”
The man opened his mouth, like maybe, just maybe, he’d give up the goods, but when he spat in Theo’s face instead, my stomach dropped.
I knew what was coming next, and as quick as I was, I wouldn’t be able to stop Theo in time.
He grabbed hold of the man’s head and, before I could tell him not to, snapped his neck. The assassin went limp instantly, dropping to the ground with a thud.
“Fuck.” I lowered the gun and groaned as Theo wiped his bloody knuckles off on the man’s shirt. At least most of it wasn’t his.
“Smarter than me,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Doesn’t look like it, does it, motherfucker?”
“You really couldn’t wait to get some answers? Seriously, Theo. Not to mentionwe’re in the middle of a fucking alley with a dead body.”
He rose to his feet, the blood from the cut on his forehead smeared down his face and the rage in his eyes only somewhat dimmed by the justice he’d just served. “Well,” he said, and kicked at the corpse, “guess we’d better fucking move it, then.”
27
THEO
“FUCK THIS SHIT,” I fumed as we slammed into our hotel suite after somehow managing to dodge the influx of cops and ambulances that had descended on and around the stadium.
Today had been a clusterfuck of epic proportions, but one of the perks of having lived a life cloaked in secrecy was that our missions with Libertine had taught Shep and I to blend in or, at times, vanish altogether.
Something that had come in handy, since I’d just offed my attempted assassin.
“I’m getting really sick and tired of this motherfucker,” I continued as I stormed into the massive en suite and pulled the tails of my shirt from my pants. “First he sends some bullshit AI video to all of you, trying to make me look like a traitor, then he’s snapping photos of us like some dick-stroking creep, and now this. Some botched attempt at blowing me up?”
I glanced in the mirror to see Shep leaning against the doorjamb as though it would fall down without him. His wig was hanging over his shoulders from under a ball cap, and the fake contacts masking his ice-blue eyes were trained on me as though I was about to fly off the handle.
So I was a little worked up. That tended to happen when someone was trying to kill me.
“You got a problem?” I snapped when Mr. Stoic continued to stare me down.
“Other than the fact I just had to call and have a body removed? Nope.” Shep pushed off the door and turned to walk back out to the living quarters. “Just another day in lovely Cardiff.”
Smug fuck.How would he like to be in my position? No one believing him. A babysitter watching his every move. Someone out for his blood.
“You know what?” I called out as I tore my shirt off, following him to the door. “Fuck you.”
Shep stopped in the middle of the room and turned. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Just as I could hear myself, and while I knew I should shut up, the adrenaline of the day had my mouth in overdrive. “I don’t need your sanctimonious judgment. Hell, I don’t even need your twenty-four-seven protection. All I need is to be left the fuck alone.”
I spun on my heel, about to make a truly epic exit by storming away and slamming the en suite door, but Shep grabbed my wrist and spun me back to face him.
“So you can what? Murder your way through all of Europe? I don’t think so.”
“It was him or me. Sorry if you don’t like the way things turned out.”
“Don’t be such a drama queen. There are ways to neutralize without pulverizing. We could’ve taken him somewhere, questioned him.”
“Oh yeah?” I sneered. “You don’t think the concierge might’ve had a few questions for me if we’d dragged a bloodied, lifeless body through the front lobby?”
“I don’t meanhere.”
